Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6603 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-21
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Mandarin Chinese
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Zhang Yimou brings the sumptuous visual style of his previous films (Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad) to the high-kicking kung fu genre. A nameless warrior (Jet Li, Romeo Must Die, Once Upon a Time in China) arrives at an emperor's palace with three weapons, each belonging to a famous assassin who had sworn to kill the emperor. As the nameless man spins out his story--and the emperor presents his own interpretation of what might really have happened--each episode is drenched in red, blue, white or another dominant color. Hero combines sweeping cinematography and superb performances from the cream of the Hong Kong cinema (Maggie Cheung, Irma Vep, Comrades: Almost a Love Story; Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, In the Mood for Love, Hard Boiled; and Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The result is stunning, a dazzling action movie with an emotional richness that deepens with every step. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
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 unite all of China as one nation. The proud king is forced to live trapped alone in his palace as a remarkable trio of villains--Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk), and Sky (Donnie Yen)--are out to kill him. But one day a simple country prefect (Jet Li) shows up, announcing that he has killed all three assassins. Identifying himself as Nameless, the prefect tells in great detail how he got rid of the king's sworn enemies.

Customer Reviews

A visual martial-arts treat!
A foreign-language film with subtitles becoming No1 at the American box-office? Impossible, you may feel, but Hero managed it. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had opened up a new market for Western audiences, and Hero was one of many films to benefit.

The plot? A lowly official (Jet-Li) is brought before the Emperor to be rewarded for killing three martial-arts experts who had previously attempted to assassinate the ruler; Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung). The Emperor invites him to describe just how he managed to kill all three when his own army had failed. We then see in flashback the fights that took place, but the Emperor is dissatisfied with the explanation and offers his own interpretation...

This film is a visual work of art. The style is like to Crouching Tiger in that the abilities of the characters are beyond reality - they can fly through the air and walk on water - a wuxia film, but this has been taken to epic proportions - including using the Chinese Army as extras firing thousands of arrows into the sky! Colour is of particular importance here - as most of the fights are shown in flashback and are revisited to show another perspective, the characters and scenery are colour-coded and change with each version. The soundtrack too, from Tan Dun and Itzhak Perlman, is very haunting and memorable.

The director went on to direct House of Flying Daggers after this which is also a visual treat. That film seems to get more attention but out of the two, whilst I like them both, I would actually put this one first as, to me, Daggers seems to run out about two-thirds through whereas the non-linear narrative in this film keeps the interest in the story going. Try it and see.

Finally, in this edition, you can select to watch a dubbed version - instead of with subtitles if they're not your thing.

Stunning imagery, wonderful film!
Very rarely does a film make full use of the many visual aspects of cinematography, but Hero is one of them. From the very start of the film it entrances with stunning photography, atmospheric music and assured acting. The direction of the many fight scenes makes each piece a choreographed dream, from the fight in the rain at the beginning of the film to the finale in the Emperor's hall with its billowing green sails and sweeping camera angles. For use of colour alone the film would rank highly - so few film makers manipulate that most precious of inventions - colour film. I remember seeing the Wizard of Oz as a child and feeling the wonderment people must have experienced at seeing colour after all the years of black and white. The colours were used as an aid to tell the story, to highlight character and tone, to enhance feelings - Hero takes back that sense of wonderment and I was stunned by the beauty and originality of both its story (a film with a philosophical message, how rare!) and its artistry.

Visually stunning political parable.
Hero is a film that draws heavily on both the influence of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and the collected works of Akira Kurosawa. The influence of Lee's films can be seen in the fight scenes, employing lush cinematography, balletic choreography, and a host of trick wirework and digital trickery. The references to Kurosawa lie more in the narrative drive and the overall theme of the film, with Hero utilising a barrage of different character perspectives, flashbacks and flights of fancy to tell a political tale dealing with loyalty, revenge, leadership, honour and assassination.

The plot is labyrinthine, unfolding from different perspectives, replete with flashbacks within flashbacks that only become truly clear towards the very end. As a result, the basic story, involving the revenge plot of a nameless warrior against The Emperor of Qin - who has been waging a bloody war across China in an attempt to unite the six kingdoms - initially seems quite simple... that is, until Zhang begins moving backwards and forwards between the central character's various view points, in a style not too dissimilar to Kurosawa's grand masterwork, Rashomon. This gives the film a whole new level, bringing to mind a film like Oliver Stone's JFK, crossing backwards and forwards between various perspectives and possibilities, before finally presenting us with something that could (or perhaps not?) be seen as the ultimate truth.

Like JFK, Hero has already been attacked for trying to subvert history... with some critics accusing Zhang of whitewashing political history, whilst even going so far as to label the film communist propaganda. Wherever you sit in terms of the film's politics, however, there's no denying that Hero is a film experience quite unlike anything else, with the filmmakers using the music, cinematography and editing to help convey the underlining themes and emotions central to the plot, whilst simultaneously creating some grand moments of cinematic spectacle in the process. I've always been fond of Christopher Doyle's cinematography, with Hero really going further than any of his previous projects to present us with a world that is completely lush... a sensory overload of colour, texture and movement. The use of colour in terms of photography and production design is as impressive as the sumptuous creations of Zhang's subsequent film, House Of Flying Daggers (though with the added political concerns to cut through the notions of love), whilst the use of space and landscape is as impressive as that other Chris Doyle endeavour, Wong Kar-Wai's brilliant Ashes Of Time.

The film is continually interesting, building itself around those epic set pieces and the central discussions between Nameless and The Emperor of Qin. I genuinely feel that the film works best with repeated viewings, allowing us to take in all the information, politics and emotional perspectives slowly, allowing us to follow and deconstruct the story without being distracted by the glorious design, great performances and astounding flights of fantasy. It can also be enjoyed on a number of different levels... with the action scenes appealing to those who liked Crouching Tiger and similar Hong Kong martial arts fantasies over the last few decades, whilst it can also be seen a something to discuss (check out some of the topics on other websites discussing the broader implications of the film's message and historical value).

It's also great filmmaking, which is why I like it so much, with Zhang creating some beautiful moments, not least the relationship between the characters Broken Sword and Flying Snow, perfectly created by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu Wai. As impressive as the great majority of the cast are (particularly Daoming Chen and the young Zhang Ziyi) Maggie and Tony are the real revelations here, bringing back the chemistry and tension so apparent from Wong Kar-Wai's great masterpiece In The Mood For Love, whilst simultaneously offering further proof that they're two of the greatest actors currently at work in world cinema.

Hero is a great film, one that I prefer to the subsequent (and somewhat similar) Zhang Yimou film House Of Flying Daggers, with the combination of martial-arts action and controversial politics creating a great labyrinth of ideas and emotions. The design of the film is continually astounding, with a number of jaw-dropping set pieces (deflecting the arrows, the golden forest, the fight on the lake, etc) and some nice emotional moments too (the growing tension in the confrontation between Nameless and Qin, the complex relationships between the characters, the final moments between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, and so on), whilst the story remains interesting and the relationship between the characters and their integration into the action is perfectly judged.