Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
"Hero" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 12/17/2011
A lone warrior enters the palace of his emperor and tells the tale of how he defeated the three most feared assassins in the land. The most obviously striking element of Hero is its sheer visual beauty as it is packed to brimming with stunning costumes, colours and sets and uses the same kind of graceful wire work that we encountered in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The fight choreography is also beautifully executed making for a very poetic martial arts film. The plot is a reasonably interesting hybrid of Rashomon and The Usual Suspects which adds a different twist to the usual "heroic warriors making noble sacrifices" formula of this type of thing but it is clearly languishing in the back seat to Yimou's primary concern, the visuals; in fact a few of the scenes seem completely …
Rating of
3.5/4
Hero review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 09/01/2011
Jet Li (Nameless), Tony Leung (Broken Sword), Maggie Cheung (Flying Snow), Zhang Ziyi (Moon) and Donnie Yen (Long Sky) all have endearing performances. The script was effective in relaying the themes of peace, love, character and unity. Has one of the best action sequences, stunning cinematography and locations on film. The exquisite colors used on the flick were really impressive and lush costumes were utilized well to depict the era. Good character development and score were well matched. Plot was brilliant and the tragic ending which resulted in the unification of China is unforgettable. Chen Daoming (King of Qin) did a splendid job with the dialogue as well. Overall, a visual masterpiece filled with impressive battles and drama that crafts a real “Hero.”
