Too similar to Crouching Tiger

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2003)

Encouraged by good word of mouth reviews and my enjoyment and admiration for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon I was really looking forward to this. The most satisfying elements were the brilliant colours and sets.The fights were effective, but really only functional, with a few exceptions they lacked the expressive qualities of CTHD. The characters and plot development weren't quite as accomplished either, it came off like they were straining for the same level of pathos and tragedy as CTHD.
It sounds harsh but on the whole I'm going to have to call Hero Crouching Tiger-lite. The music is almost exactly the same as CTHD (Tan Dun composes again without much variation from his former work) and they even pinch the scene of Zhang Ziyi riding slow-mo on a horse near the end. I'm sorry to say that I couldn't get past these similarities and enjoy the film in its own right.