Possibly the Year's Best Movie

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2004)

About halfway through the film, as Broken Sword considers the betrayal he just experienced, I was engulfed by the feeling of "this is why you go to a movie."
"Hero" is beautiful, heartbreaking, thrilling and thoughtful. The screen is constantly full of breath-taking images and perfectly balanced throughout. If you're going to watch a full-screen version of this, don't waste your time. The composition of each shot is so perfect that any hack job will only make you wonder what everyone is so hyped up about.
And the story--wow! I expected a straight-forward action movie, but "Hero" has more twists than all of M. Night Shyamalan's films combined. Is Jet Li's nameless character a hero, or does he have a secret agenda? Is the emperor a caring leader or a maniacal dictator? Just when you think you know the answer, another twist unfolds.
Some may dismiss this movie with words like "propaganda," but don't be fooled. No character in this movie makes a choice lightly. The cost of every decision is weighed heavily, and Nameless recognizes that his ultimate decision will lead to less than perfect results. Still, the ideal is there, and it is an ideal that transcends time and culture. The ultimate moral of the story is hardly a call to arms but a reminder that war doesn't lead to peace; peace comes from a vision in which war has no part. That's not propaganda. That's a message of hope in an imperfect world.