"Crouching.." > Hero.. great film though

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 2003)

"Hero" was an excellent movie for photographic reasons, there is very much beautiful drama in these pictures.
However, a great film as this is, you can't help but compare it to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" set at virtually the same "age", with the same rules of physics, focus on aesthetics (although more of that here) and also some of the same actors.
In that comparison, Hero falls very short. "Crouching.." is a complete universe with a whole society of personalities, hierarchies, and so many complete stories behind each person. Small details like kid acrobats at the market, the nightwatch in the city and so on, it's all done in "Crouching..", and done well.
Hero is a canvas, not a movie. So I'll leave the comparison with "Crouching.." by saying "Crouching.." is completely superior as a movie. "Hero" is an an excellent experience, no doubt about it, especially aesthetically. Though - if you find loong, sad deathscenes disgusting, scary or simply annoying, skip this movie. It's got six or seven (?) of them.