Poetry in Motion

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2003)

Ying Xiong (Hero) is poetry in motion. But that doesn't necessarily transfer to a good movie. I have not seen any movie with cinematography and choreography done in such pure artistic style, resulting in an almost surreal visual experience. By using traditional Chinese instrumental music, the score of the movie is also excellent. The story itself, though very much modernized and contrive, is actually somewhat believable ¨C stories of assassins at this particular time period were abundant. Most lead actors perform adequately, including Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Chen Dao Ming and Zhang Ziyi. But the substance does not measure up to the style. First of all, the dialog is just way too modernized, and at times very pretentious. Second, Jet Li may be the best martial artist ever on the silver screen, still he really cannot act. Since much of the movie depends on him delivering convincing lines, it just falls flat right here. A good film, for the visual and score along, but not a great one worthy of an Oscar.