Serviceable but under-whelming martial arts epic

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2005)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
In Ancient China,a nameless warrior (Jet Li) recounts his tale to a ruling warlord of how he defeated three assassins who had sworn to take him down.
The actual style and presentation of Hero is no different to any of Jet Li's many straight-to-video works over here.Quite why Quentin Tarantino would throw his weight behind it and propel it to such a grand cinema release remains a mystery.It's glaringly dubbed like the STV efforts too,which is a set-back to the days of Bruce Lee's martial arts actioners of the 70s.
Although I've said nothing good about it so far,the cinematography,scenery,sword-fight choreography (despite the presence of an obviously fake,rubbery sword in one scene!),and some of the dialogue is very good,but they all just can't contend with such a boring and unengaging story.It really says it all that,at just 95 minutes,I found myself constantly checking the digital clock on my video player to see when it would finish and it seemed to go on forever.And time only flies when you're having a good time.***