Hero
2002
Jet Li stars in this Academy Award-nominated martial-arts masterpiece takes place amidst the turmoil of China's "Warring States" period. An orphan fighter (Jet Li) presents himself to an avaricious king, bearing the weapons of three assassins (Donny Yen, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung) in exchange for a generous bounty. But after .. Read more
| Starring | Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Tony Leung Chiu Wai |
|---|---|
| Director | Yimou Zhang |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, World Cinema |
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Hero
Jet Li stars in this Academy Award-nominated martial-arts masterpiece takes place amidst the turmoil of China's "Warring States" period. An orphan fighter (Jet Li) presents himself to an avaricious king, bearing the weapons of three assassins (Donny Yen, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung) in exchange for a generous bounty. But after listening to the stranger's incredible stories of how he vanquished his deadly opponents, the skeptical ruler suggests an alternate version of events.
| Starring | Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Tony Leung Chiu Wai |
|---|---|
| Director | Yimou Zhang |
| Studio | BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 35 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 35 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Cantonese, English Audio Description Blu-ray: Mandarin |
| Dubbed | English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 21 Feb 2005 Blu-ray: 14 Sep 2009 Production year: 2002 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Pomp, panache and narrative puzzles waltz their way through Zhangs martial-arts rhapsody, a luscious whirligig of... read more on Time Out
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You'll be hard pressed to find anything as visually dazzling... ever.
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Most helpful member's review
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62 out of 80 people found this review helpful
Beautiful but hollow Chinese epic
The first thing that strikes you about 'Hero' is undoubtedly how damn beautiful the whole thing is. Every frame of this Chinese epic is beautifully crafted by director Zhang Yimou and genius cinematographer Christopher Doyle. It truly is a film full of extraordinary sights quite unlike anything I've ever seen, and a look at the cast list seems to promise one of the great movies. But then something unfortunate happens, the plot kicks in.
The story of Hero takes place in a China divided into seven seperate kingdoms. The King of the largest of these, Qin(Daoming Chen) is determined to take control of all of these provinces so that peace can reign throughout a unified China. So he's delighted that Nameless(Jet Li) has turned up at his palace claiming to have killed the three assassins threatening his position - Broken Sword(Tony Leung), Flying Snow(Maggie Cheung) and Sky(Donnie Yeung).
The King invites Nameless to drink with him and receive his reward, but first he'd like to hear how such a lowly character managed to kill his three deadly foes, and Nameless proceeds, with the aid of some colourful flashbacks, to tell us. But then The King tells Nameless what he think really happened and, 'Rashomon' -style, we get to see a different spin on the story, with a different colour code.
It's a pretty thin plot on which to hang such a grand style of filmmaking, and it doesn't really work. The film is reduced to a series of stunning set-pieces and fights, and more fights, and then a few more.
The fight sequences in 'Hero' are simply too much. The actors spend so often floating through the air and engaging in slow-motion combat that it quickly becomes tedious. The similar sequences in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' worked because there weren't half as many of them, and at the time it was genuinely something new. Here, the changing costumes and settings aren't enough to disguise the repetetive nature of the fights.
The reason we remain interested throughout 'Hero' is mainly down to the wonderful cast. Jet Li is fine in the lead role, but the film surely belongs to the magnificent duo of Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. As in 'In the Mood for Love', their scenes together are electric and it's the moments of calm reflection they share that live in the memory beyond any of the battles. They are two awesome actors at the top of their game and it's a joy to watch.
Daoming Chen is also hugely impressive as the King, while Donnie Yeung and Zhang Ziyi are both underused.
'Hero' never really grabbed me, but for the most part the film is at least so incredible to look at that some of it's faults can be overlooked. The ravishing colours may mean you find it hard to tear your eyes away, even while you yawn. -
Most recent members' review
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
worth a go
well worth getting out, but not as good as i thought it would be, it did not really get going
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News and features
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Clooney in seventh heaven
- 01 Jun 2006
Internet reports suggest that George Clooney is being lined up to star in the remake of the much-lauded Japanese classic The Seven Samurai. The 1954 original, which inspired John Sturges' 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, was acclaimed as a masterpiece and set a new standard for Japanese film-making, becoming the country's highest grossing movie. Akira Kurosawa's cult movie has defined genre characteristics for many critics, with some suggesting that the recruitment of the seven heroes is a... Read more
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- Hero - BLU-RAY Version
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Set 2,000 years ago, during the time of the Warring States, when seven kingdoms were battling for dominance, and one leader--the king of Qin (Chen Dao Ming)--was determined to end up victorious and ... -
