Interesting and visually spectacular

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2011)

Hero (2002) originally Ying xiong, is a Chinese drama/martial arts film based on ancient China (221-210BC) in which China was divided into several different nations. The film achieved a generally positive rating, so I decided to review it. It would be almost my third time watching this. Even though I knew the ending, I could somewhat expect what was going to happen, Hero still packed a punch. Filmed magnificently with a killer cast (Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Donnie Yen) the film moved at a swift pace. For the entire duration (less then two hours), this filmed had always a level of suspense, the audience was always waiting to see what would happen next.
The scenes were just extraordinarily filmed - one thing that I absolutely loved in all of the fighting scenes were the actual places that they were set in. Even though the martial arts in this film were simply, epic, the settings were amazing. In all of the fight scenes, the camera is never focused on the fighting, not directly, its focused on the settings themselves. From the beautiful instrumental played by the old man, accompanied with the drizzle of rain and the single drops as they splash against the oriental pavement. To the auburn leaves which are used as the setting and as a weapon. The film uses an array of different settings that make each martial arts scene unique as they are visually impressive.
Another thing that should be noted is the use of colours. In the movie, Nameless, a low-rank officer claims to have defeated Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggi Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai, or 'Little Tony') using his swift sword and wit. The film features three retellings - Nameless' version, The Emperor of Qins version and the Truth. It also has a minor scene in which it takes place in the past. Nameless' version is tainted red - something that can be said as being symbolic to hate and jealousy, but also of romance - in Nameless' version, Flying Snow and Broken Sword are displayed as being secret lovers that hate one and another now because of a past affair with Sky.
In the Emperors retelling of what happened, the scenes are tainted blue, with robes and tapestries now a light blue. The Emperors version uses blue which, again, symbolically represents a sense of control, logic and calm reasoning. The colour green is used to tell what has happened in the past, green symbolizes, for me, balance, fearlessness, protection, calmness, truth and serenity - because the past has already happened, and so cannot directly endanger the future, which however is much the case. The third, and final retelling is toned white - white has always been considered a virgin colour, and hence would symbolize the truth and clarity of the subject.
Hero is very well done film, visually spectacular and strong in its plot. Anyone looking for a relatively good length drama, action film, this is something you will have to look into - although historically not correct, the movie doesn't have any unrealism in it, which means a fast paced drama. 9/10.