Most expensive comedy ever made

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2003)

To say that Hero is an "epic" is a joke in itself. Even though it does boast some scenes of China's wonderfully breath-taking landscape, it doesn't fully live up to its potential. It would have been much better if the large supporting cast of Qin soldiers were involved in one or two huge battle scenes (like the Helm's Deep battle in The Two Towers), possibly with the Zhao army. Instead, this grand army is reduced to shooting arrows at a school house and chanting "Wind! Wind! Wind!", while the Zhao army is nowhere to be seen. The martial arts stunts are beautifully choreographed, but they are too exaggerated even for a fantasy flick. Obviously, none of the choreographers have been schooled in the science of physics or gravity. The Qin king was simply hilarious, especially when he literally handed his sword to his unarmed assassin, even complimenting his would-be killer as though he wanted the killer to get it over and done with. Hilarious. I was bitterly disappointed in the film's plot, where the assassination scheme was retold from 3 different points of view. The sub-plot on the pseudo-love triangle between Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Moon was weak and unnecessary. And we were never told which of the main characters was actually the "Hero". Hero is essentially a beautiful, artsy film with a so-so love story and a fake pretense of grandeur. I managed to enjoy it cos I didn't take it seriously and took every given opportunity to steal a laugh or two. 4 out of 10.