beautiful for sure, but also very worrying.

Rating: 3/10 (28 May 2006)

Hero is a beautiful film, no doubt about that. The cinematography is nothing short of spectacular, incredible martial arts display and the script itself isn't exactly shallow as well.... i'm not going too much into details here, since other viewers have cheered about this movie at length already.
But there is a flaw, and it's an overshadowing flaw, and thats the message. This message of "all under heaven" (or greater china) being the supreme idea to uphold even if it means death and suffering for many is indeed an unforgivable slap in the face for all those who have suffered from tyranny or even found death when trying to challenge the people in power. The "message" is taken to an extreme when the "wise" King of Qin orders, with a tear in his eyes, to execute the nameless hero even after he aborted his plans to kill the king.... since the law needs to be enforced to keep order in the kingdom, right? In the movie, Nameless accepts his faith willingly and is obviously aware that it's all for the "greater good". For everyone remembering the tienanmen square massacre in 1989 this kind of blatant propaganda is just disgusting. And i find it deeply worrying that so many people can rave about this movie without even noticing the ugly and i think pretty obvious connection to the china from the cultural revolution till now.