Stylized Hero

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2004)

A Chinese proverb says that who a man is one of three things: who he thinks he is, who others think he is, and who he really is. "Hero" (Ying xiong) embodies these distinctions in it's unique visual and narrative style. In this case we have the color schemes of red, blue, and white representing the three perspectives. Director Yimou Zhang's visually stunning metaphor is ambitious and satisfying, but ultimately it is not entirely novel storytelling given the epic nature of this movie. Zhang's previous work included the great love stories, "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou". His "Hero" is also a tragic love story set in ancient China prior to unification and the building of The Great Wall. However, this is more distracting, given this is suppose to be about the "Hero", Jet Li.
Qin is one of the 6 kingdoms of pre-unified China. The King of Qin (Daoming Chen) is a ruthless, brutal, and uninspired ruler whose ambition is to rule all of China. Jet Li plays Nameless, one of his officials, who presents the king with the weapons of his three vanquished assassins-- Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung). The suspicious King listens to the story of his "Hero" determining whether he is his true savior or an assassin in a grand conspiracy. "Hero" has a great premise which falls flat. Jet Li is awesome as Nameless, probably a homage to the Clint Eastwood character in the Sergio Leone movies. Then again this character may be the Chinese mythology. Li has a silent power about him, and is perhaps the best martial arts star of his time. "Hero" illustrates the classic path of enlightenment for a warrior/ martial artist-- he trains his body and spirit to defeat his enemy, only to discover that protecting or granting life is the only noble pursuit. This is a great distinction, but I think it is muted somewhat at the very end.
The dialog at the beginning of "Hero" is very dense. One gets Nameless (Li) is man of few words and a man of action. However, we get a lot of words in the beginning, literally subtitled. The action sequences are beautiful, stunning, and very stylized much like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in the use of aerial wires. In one sense this is a waste given the world class talent of Jet Li. The best fight scene occurs early on with Nameless (Li) and Sky (Donnie Yen). That is amazing grace, power, and passion. Too bad this spirit is not carried throughout the rest of "Hero". "Hero" is beautiful to look at, and has something worthwhile to say, but the audience has little emotive investment in the outcome. That is really a shame.