'Hero' is my introduction to the genre, and not a bad film to start with at all...

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2013)

I should probably admit first off that the 'martial arts' film genre is one that is very new to me. In fact, Chinese cinema itself is something that I haven't properly experienced before. Therefore, 'Hero' was my introduction into both of these genres, and to be honest, it's not a bad film to start with at all. It's highly stylised, beautifully shot, and has some fantastic action sequences. It's also got a really interesting narrative technique, presenting three different accounts of the same story, which is both unusual and very effective.
The movie is set in ancient China, when the country was divided into warring states. It stars Jet Li as "Nameless", a hero who visits the king of the 'Qin' state claiming to have killed three assassins who have previously made an attempt on the king's life. For the first third of the film, we see flashbacks to these killings as Nameless tells his story to the king. These flashbacks contain some great fight scenes – it's all very over the top, but things like the occasional use of slow motion don't feel at all unnecessary, and it keeps you interested. The king doesn't trust Nameless' story, and gives his own view on what really happened, and following this, Nameless gives him the truth. The narrative technique is really fascinating, and it never really feels like we're getting the same story told to us three times, since each time is visually and narratively different. The film ends with a final great fight scene, and an interesting moral question that is posed by Nameless' actions.
The thing that makes the film so beautiful and captivating is Yimou Zhang's use of colour and imagery. When the fight takes place in the chess hall, everything around is black or grey, and later on he fills whole scenes with just whites, reds or blues. Each scene is like a painting, and everything is visually stunning. The scale of the film is also incredible, with huge crowd scenes and amazing visual effects. The scene where Nameless and Broken Sword are fighting on the perfectly still lake is both awe-inspiring and exciting. At times it's more like ballet than fighting, and I think the blurred line between them is what makes the film so exquisite.
If you've never seen a martial arts film before, 'Hero' is a great place to start. The one problem I had with the film was due to my viewing it with non-Chinese eyes – there were many cultural references that I didn't understand which slightly marred my overall view of the film. However, it's a stunning film, and worth putting time into.