Hero

[nicky g]

I think this came out a while ago in the US but I don't remember a review on here. My thoughts; looked amazing. Fights were OK. Otherwise not so impressed. I hate wire fu - kung fu is just not impressive if it's obviously a special effect; and I was disappointed that it was all sword fighting with no hand to hand. And what was with the moral at the end? Fascistastic.

[dsm]

You've succinctly nailed it, good review. Also, I really didn't like Zhang Ziyi (the female star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [2000]) playing second banana in this film. Her personality is just too big for such a small part IMO, but her primary goal (for now) is to work with great directors and Yimou is just that.

In the future I hope director Yimou Zhang will stick with the non-epic films he's famous for doing (up 'til now), like: The Road Home(2001), Not One Less(1999), Raise the Red Lantern(1992), etc..

Zhang's already done the visually stunning thing with the movie "Ju Dou" back in 1990, so after this movie (Hero), I hope he's got it out of his system for good, and can go back to doing his wonderful story telling.

[Boris]

Totally agree with your assessment. The story is only OK. Not that a kung-fu movie needs a great story but I'll take the old Bruce Lee flicks any day over these fantasy fights.

I've also noticed a disturbing trend in 3 chinese movies I've seen recently and that is the little guy never wins.

[nicky g]

Agree about Zhang Ziyi.

Is House of the Flying Daggers out there yet? I saw a trailer for it before Hero and it looked pretty good, although I suppose it will be more flying stuff.

[mikech]

Diablo posted a review when it came out; I had this to say about it at the time:

"Not many Americans would care like I did, but this movie left me with a bitter taste. To me, it was an apology for imperialism. The First Emperor was an infamous tyrant, and for this film to make him out to be a "hero" seriously ticked me off. Yes, he lived 2,000 years ago, but imagine someone 2,000 years in the future making a movie that portrays Stalin or Mao as a hero and you'll have a good analogy. No wonder why the Chinese Communist government, after years of censoring the director Zhang Yimou, was delighted by this film, and even submitted it as China's entry in the Oscars for best foreign film of 2002."

With that said, I'm really looking forward to "House of Flying Daggers"--the trailer looks incredibly cool, and the movie won't have this objectionable political message.

[dsm]

[ QUOTE ]
Is House of the Flying Daggers out there yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

No idea, but I will watch for your review.

-dsm

[whiskeytown]

I thought it was just a hack of chop suey and Rashomon - nothing terribly impressive...horrible ending. - the visuals were the whole reason to watch it...

For a better reflection of the time period, watch the Emperor and the Assassin.

RB

[Cerril]

I thought it was pretty great myself. I went into CTHD without a good understanding of what wire-fu was and had a huge letdown. Since then I've adjusted - if I go in expecting it I don't have a problem, even if I'd prefer more traditional special effects (trying to make it look more real)

Plotwise, I also had a warning going in that this was going to be very 'traditional chinese' in moral and story, and that a lot of westerners wouldn't tend to get it. Obviously, that was pretty dead on (well at least the second part) - but approaching the movie as a fairy tale for/about a culture with different values let me take a step back and enjoy it more.

I wasn't thrilled with the ending either but it definitely added to the 'alien' quality of the whole thing.