Stunning cinematography, technical 'tour de force', dubious historical accuracy make for a disappointing movie

Rating: 6/10 (9 July 2004)

Hero is a film that has to be seen, if only to make the inevitable Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon comparisons. Much-awaited wuxia, Hero is a visually-stunning mixture of art film, martial arts action, and dubious historical accuracy. Even though the oversimplified politics could raise the eyebrows of the initiated, the photography of the film only is a delight for the eye and a reason to see the movie. Looking at the film I understand better where the focus went. The scenario took 2 years of writing and yet the film fails at this level. Zhang Yimou wanted to redefine the definition of Hero and did that through an oversimplified political plot, the results from a story telling stand point is catastrophic as no emotions whatsoever arise from the characters. Their depiction is reduced to almost dull snapshots. Even the Rashomon-like storytelling does not work that well as technique can never replace substance. However the glorious cinematography of Christopher Doyle who uses specific color tones to highlight different versions of the events is a tremendous achievement. Red designates a more passionate accounting, while blue highlights a version colored by personal loss and sadness. Green, white and yellow come into play too, though to assign meanings and motifs to each and every color scheme. If anything, the different colors work as an effective narrative device that separates the various versions of the tale. In fact technique is what Hero is all about and in that matter, the film is a masterpiece. The costumes, production design, cinematography and martial arts choreography are all award-worthy. To note most martial arts fans will be delighted with the work of choreographers Ching Siu-Tung and Stephen Tung Wai. We've isolated the facts that Hero is a technical masterpiece with a catastrophic story telling dynamic but what about the message? First of all the fact that the story is based on history causes a few problems. The film posits that Ying Zheng's quest to conquer China is as much about protection as it is about tyranny, a version of events that not all historians may find agreeable. Is it proper to simplify the forces of history into a palm-sized package? More troubling are the modern political implications of the film's message. There is an obvious nod towards the importance of the greater good: "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." That's a fine message still, if one were to apply that thinking to modern times, some people (like the Taiwanese) might not be so swayed. I rarely saw cinematography that beautiful, however cinema is first about telling story, Zhang Yimou might have lost himself in the aesthetic realm of cinema...