'Rashomon' + 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' = 'Hero'

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2005)

The film takes place 2,000 years ago when China was split into seven feudal kingdoms. The tyrannical but shrewd and insightful King of Qin (Chen Dao Ming) who wants to unite seven kingdoms in one powerful country, is the target of three legendary assassins: Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung), accompanied by Moon (Zhang Ziyi), his devoted servant. The titular Hero, the man without the name (Jet Li), who defeated the assassins, receives as an award a unique private audience with the King of Qin in his Royal Palace...
I believe that this is an amazing film which has everything working perfectly: great story which is told in the manner of Kurosawa's Rashômon, romance, action (and what the action it is...), political intrigue, suspense, fantasy - and if this is not enough, 'Hero' is one of the most visually stunning films I've ever seen - Christopher Doyle's cinematography, jaw - dropping use of colors, costume design, Tan Dun's musical score, and artfully choreographed fighting sequences leave you breathless.