An overload of wire work scuppers this otherwise well directed historical epic

Rating: 5/10 (30 July 2016)

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of wire work. Used very sparingly in the occasional fight scene – so you stand up and think "woah!" – I can live with it. But in the likes of this film and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, the action choreographers always see fit to dispense with the laws of physics and deliver up battles where the opponents soar through the skies, perform impossible manoeuvres in mid-air, and get up to all manner of airborne mischief. I don't mind when there's a reason for the wire work in the film – for instance, SHAOLIN SOCCER used it for laughs and was great; THE MATRIX had a sci-fi premise so I could live with that. But it's my belief that these historical epics would do much better by keeping their actors' feet firmly on the ground. Firstly, it would enhance realism, and secondly, it would enable the participants to get on with the actual fighting, rather than their ballet-style trying-to-look-good antics.
HERO's fight scenes are interminable. I'll agree that they are beautifully shot, with the emphasis on lots of bright and vivid colour contrasts, and accompanied by effective 'ringing metal' and screaming sound effects, but at their heart they are hollow, taking place with no rhyme or reason; a lot of the fighters turn out not to be enemies after all, and other fights take place purely in the minds of their opponents. The trouble with this is there's nobody to root for; hell, even in those low budget kung fu flicks of the 1970s, at least the martial arts kid had a reason for fighting the bad guys; they killed a family member, or somesuch nonsense. In HERO, we get silly battles where the characters jump in the tree tops and skim across the surface of a lake. Sure, it's very pretty, but there's no reason for it.
The plot is more interesting, in that it's a simple take on the old RASHOMON story of having one tale narrated by multiple characters. Things do get pretty murky and confusing, but they straighten themselves out for the climax, which adds an epic and historical angle to the proceedings that'll make you think "aaah!". The film's strength lies in the depiction of the Chinese army, made up of 18000 extras; the soldiers here are more impressive than those CGI guys in TROY! Their method of firing arrows is also very entertaining and the film's best scene has an attack of thousands of arrows soaring through the sky as Jet Li attempts to beat them off. There's also a cool arrow bit at the end which reminded me of G.I. SAMURAI but I don't want to go there too much.
Jet Li famously returned to Hong Kong for this film, but he's unfortunately wasted in the role, which could have been played by anyone. He doesn't get an opportunity to act, just to partake in some wire work tomfoolery, and he's barely in the film. Unfortunately, greater prominence is given to unimportant secondary characters like that played by Tony Leung, who is utterly boring – and it doesn't help that I keep remembering the awful GORGEOUS every time I see his face! The best performance comes from an almost ethereal Maggie Cheung, who I thought had vanished into the woodwork since her Jackie Chan days in the 1980s; how wrong was I! This ageless actress may not be a born fighter but her acting is great and a real strength of the movie. She throws the work of the wooden Ziyi Zhang into sharp relief, revealing the latter actress to be nothing but a one-dimensional impostor.
HERO deserves kudos for cinematography and sound effects alone. The unusual method of storytelling keeps it interesting, and it's just a shame that the action is so lacking in bite. Had the film offered more meaty battles, it might have been one to watch over and over again; as it is, it works more as a passing curiosity than anything else.