Self Glorification at it's best

Rating: 5/10 (24 December 2007)

The problem with Chinese movies is that no matter what the theme may be , what the plot may be and whatever may the requirement be there are three things common to them A WRONGED MASTER AN INCOMPARABLY TALENTED PUPIL OUTRAGEOUS MARTIAL ARTS
and all these elements are presented on such a regular basis that one can only laugh at these movies. Hero for change was a bit different. It had a strong historical-political background to it. It dealt with the individual characters quite well. Developing each one of them. Be it the character of Broken Sword or Nameless. The locales were beautiful. The action , to some extent different. and YET everything still the same. Unbelievable stunts. Glorification of Chinese virtues. Justification of of Chinese ethos and yes a highly melodramatic and charged up ending where one man gives his life for the greater Chinese cause. Now who can digest all this? surprisingly many did. In the west it was appreciated as a masterpiece. I feel most of the Chinese movies are promoted in Hollywood because of political and immigrant appeasement ends otherwise an unimaginative Bollywood commercial flick is a 1000 times more better than a seriously thought out Chinese movie , which in the end serves only some martial punches mixed with a truckload of reserved jingoism.