Excellent film

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2003)

If you have a chance, do give this film a try. It's an excellent film by acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
Arthouse fans will be familiar with Zhang's works (Raise The Red Lantern, Judou, Red Sorghum, etc) which have propelled him to international fame. This is Zhang's first foray into the martial arts genre, and you'd be surprised that his first attempt is actually a very good one.
One needs to understand a bit of Chinese history to appreciate the film, as it draws parallels between the Warring States period and the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. One reviewer put the film down to Zhang's considered response to the Tiananmen Square incident, but you can simply watch it for its stunning cinematography and art direction. Scenery was absolutely breathtaking, but then again, Chinese landscape has always been stunning.
Zhang has pulled out all stops for this film, although neither he nor his actors and actresses would think about the film being Oscar material. You have Tan Dun (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Itzhak Perlman doing the music aspect, and throw in Christopher Doyle for photography and Tony Ching for martial arts direction, and you have to admire Zhang's zeal for perfection. One thing I liked about the music was the use of drums to illustrate simmering tension, excitement, and suspense. And the sound effects for the flying arrows were simply amazing (the Qin state was famed for its archery).
For fans bred on swordfighting serials, Crouching Tiger was just but Hero goes quite a creditable way towards making up for that disappointment. For starters, Zhang was prudent enough to dub the voices of Tony Leung (who portrayed Broken Sword) and Maggie Cheung (as Flying Snow), because of their less than flawless Mandarin. And that was a plus point (imagine another Chow Yun Fatt and Michelle Yeoh language disaster). Then you have Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi (respectively portraying Nameless and Moon) speaking flawless Mandarin that was simply music to my ears. And the subtitles were very well done, so that very little was lost in the translation. Trust me on this one. I've seen countless films with horrendous bad subtitling, and and that detracted from the enjoyment of the film as a whole. But because the characters speak in old style Chinese, the subtitles will come in useful for those whose Mandarin isn't all that perfect.
Action scenes were good. It's such a treat to have two martial arts experts sweat it out onscreen. Wuxia fans will be familiar with Jet Li and Donnie Yen, and they're a joy to watch as they are famed for their skills (real gongfu, mind you!) and their acting. In fact, even Zhang Ziyi, the youngest among the talented cast, delivered a solid performance. My opinion of her acting changed for the better after this film.
The film was done in five colours. Zhang Yimou explained that red was meant to show passion, blue for romance and tenderness, white for truth, and green... because he liked it. Some have interpreted the scenes in green to depict valour and youth, and that's a valid interpretation too. Black was used to depict the Qin state as sombre and oppressive. This is quite a refreshing way to show the different perspectives of the story, simple as the plot may be.
Be warned that although action scenes were good, some fight scenes were rather exaggerated. But this is because Hero isn't your usual chop chop martial arts film, as the West have come to associate Chinese martial arts films to be. That's a mistaken perception. It's about what makes one a hero, and what being a hero truly means. It's about the art of swordsmanship, and the search for peace, and much more. The film's philosophical tinges, mixed with the historical setting, gives you both sides of the story (and more), and asks you subtly to judge for yourself the value of history, of action, and the consequences of that action.
And if this is a response (or rather, Zhang's stance) to the Tiananmen Square incident, then it's a subtle take on the pros and cons of that particular decision of the Chinese government. It doesn't say that the decision was right and wrong, it's up to you to give your verdict on the issue. It's propaganda, all right. But think about it. Which Hollywood film isn't propaganda for the country? In fact, which film isn't propaganda in some way?
Just my two cents worth. Don't shoot me for it. :)
P.S: I have previously posted this on another forum.