Exquisite

Rating: 9/10 (25 October 2006)

Hero, China's most expensive film, is the best in the series of recent martial arts epics made by directors like Yimou Zhang and Ang Lee. I saw House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon earlier and liked both. But Hero is on another plateau altogether.
Very loosely based on historic events - the rise of the Qin empire - this is a mythical historic epic. Each and every frame of the movie is shot with care and exquisite emphasis on visuals. The colors, costumes and settings are letter-perfect in beauty and symmetry.
The plot is Rashomon like. The Nameless Hero appears before the King of Qin - ruler of one of seven warring kingdoms. He claims to have killed three dangerous assassins who threatened the life of the King. In flashback we see how all three - Sky, Broken Sword and Flying Snow - were killed. The King counters with his interpretation of what the Nameless Hero's real agenda was and how he accomplished it. Hero then tells the King what really happened. All three versions of events are told in flashback.
The beauty of the settings and the sword-fights is truly stunning. But, there are two moments which are truly amazing. The first is with the thousands of arrows flying through the air. The second is the fight between Nameless Hero and Broken Sword on water. I don't know where it was shot, but I'd love to see the place. Apart from these two scenes, all the other scenes are visually stunning as well. The A-List cast includes favorites like Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang, but Jet Li and Maggie Cheung are the central figures.