Beautiful Chinese Fantasy Movie

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2004)

"Ying Xiong" or "Hero" is a beautiful Chinese fantasy movie. The special effects, the colors, the sets, the armies, arrows flying, all of it comes together as an amazing artistic whole. Basically, there are four versions of the same story, one is told in red, the others in blue, white, and green. This might be a little confusing at first, but it makes sense as the film progresses. Tightly edited, fast-paced action interwoven with philosophical observations from the characters make this martial arts film head-and-shoulders above the norm. Visually, the film is a masterpiece. It doesn't hurt that two of the main characters are the beautiful Chinese actresses Maggie Cheung and Ziyi Zhang.
I've read some criticism of the plot, that this movie supports the idea of dictatorship. While that is true on some level, these criticisms overlook that this is a FANTASY film taking place 2000 years ago, with magical characters that can fly, run on water, deflect thousands of arrows, etc. There weren't any "pro-democracy" movements in China 2000 years ago, so the film would be a little awkward if it was about the same characters trying to set up an election. It's a fantasy, and the visual elements of the film outweigh its non-Western views of the appropriate kind of government to support. This film is much more about the choices the characters end up making, even if they are bad choices. See this one on the big screen, and prepare to be stunned.