Movie Review: Hero
I am going to start doing reviews of movies I saw recently here in Korea. I’m going to concentrate on Korean cinema but I am also going to slip in some Japanese and Chinese movies also. With that a great movie I saw last night was Hero. This movie was actually released in China two years ago but was released this year stateside because the publisher did not want to release the movie to soon after 2001 hit movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Well I’m glad the movie has finally been released. The movie has a great story line based on actual historical events. However, some fast, furious, and artistic fighting sequences are thrown in to add a fantasy element to the movie. The movie takes place 2000 years ago during the warring states period in acient China. Ying Zheng (played by Cheng Daoming), King of the state of Qin, brutal and ruthless, was the target of many assassination attempts by his rivals. Among them, Broken Sword, (played by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), Flying Snow, (played by Maggie Cheung) and Sky (played by Donnie Yen) play the top assassins trying to kill the King of Qin. However, their plan was challenged by No-name (played by Jet Li)who is a minor Qin official. He spoke little and no one really knew what he was up to. No-name told the king that the assassins had been wiped out by his hand and he explained his story, but the king wisely did not trust him. The events after this would lead the divided country into unification for the first time under one emperor and the building of the Great Wall of China.
The movie is a thinking mans action movie. Just like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you really need to pay attention to the plot line. This is just not mindless action. However, as great as this movie is I do have to say I liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon better. Crouching Tiger had better all around characters with Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeo, and Zhang Ziyi all playing well developed characters with distinct personalities. While in Hero, Jet Li’s character is the only one with any substance. Zhang Ziyi also plays a part in this movie but it is only a minor part. But the action and storyline help make up for the unexplored characters and I highly recommend this movie. I give it a 8 out of 10.
