A different kind of hero

Rating: 7/10 (23 September 2004)

Hero is a very good film and well worth seeing for the beautiful and highly stylized fight scenes, which are superbly photographed. The philosophical concepts developed are also interesting. However, there is a disconnect between the fairly serious concepts of a real hero and the beautiful but fantasized fight scenes.
Despite many people saying the flashbacks are like those in Rashomon that is not exactly correct. In Rashomon they deal with three different people's descriptions of an event, each favoring the individual speaking. The viewer is left to conclude what really happened for his or her self. This is what makes Rashomon a great movie.
Hero's flashbacks go from a simplified deception to more or less what really happened, eventually resolving the ambiguities. In Hero the flashbacks and dialog develop a concept of what makes a real hero. It is an interesting concept of a hero; not exactly the usual one we see in typical American films.