Beautiful film

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2003)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!
After hearing how great this film did in China, being that I'm a big fan of kung fu films, i felt drawn to this film. I even went to the website to see the trailer, and I was impressed...besides, Jet Li and Donnie Yen were in it. So, I purchased the DVD online, scared that when it finally came over to the States (in November 2003 i read) that they were going to butcher the film beyond recognition. I just finished watching this film, and I must say that I am kinda mixed on it. The cinematography is simply brilliant....one of the best visual pieces I've ever seen. With that said, this alone doesn't make a film. As far as the story, I was drawn into it, and was glad that the filmmakers attempted to have a deeper meaning. I found that the kung fu complimented the storyline perfectly. I was never a fan of wire-fu, but I can deal with it once I know that the film on a whole is of that surreal, folklore nature. While this would no doubt get compared to Crouching Tiger, Hero is a totally different film, and I find it a better film because it is more engaging overall. The problem i had with CTHD was the whole near hour-long diversion into the love story with Zhang Ziyi(sp?), that killed the momentum for me. Although that film rounded out nicely, I feel that Hero keeps you into the story the whole time. I will admit that I was still a bit thrown off by the moral attempts this film made...but I appreciated it nonetheless. At first I was disappointed by the end of the film; I was left a bit empty. I'm assuming that the king killed Nameless in the end...why didn't he try to escape? Why did the King still kill Nameless after he spared his life? Just WHO is THE 'hero' in the film? Does there have to be only one? Just the fact that I came out of this film thinking makes this film a very good one. It is always refreshing to have food for thought in movies nowadays.
A few disappointments I had: Donnie Yen wasn't on screen long enough (he was recovering correct? so he's the only survivor I'm assuming). Also, there was not enough character development...we're just fed everything rather than being shown the history of the characters. why were Broken Sword and Snow so eager to fight each other without second thought? weren't they lovers?? i found that a little weird. With all the hype surrounding the film, in hindsight I was bound to be disappointed somehow. Nevertheless this is one of the better films to come out in a good while, I was very impressed with it. I encourage people on the West to purchase this film now and get the film how it is meant to be shown...as it is likely it will be cut and cheapened for American audiences. Highly recommended.