Absolutely NOT better than CTHD(spoilers)

Rating: 4/10 (19 September 2004)

Oh my did the critics ever get it wrong with this one. I'm not a big fan of martial arts films or of Jet Li, but I loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I went to see this on the recommendation of my sister, who said it was better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Plus it got a good rating from TV Guide, a source I trust the most out of all the review sites. Not only was Hero inferior to Crouching Tiger, Hidden, but it was one of the most horrifyingly pretentious, stuffy, and self-important movies I've ever seen. While Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gave us characters that we could care about, had a sweeping sense of grace and beauty, and allowed us to get emotionally absorbed into their world even outside the fight scenes, Hero merely gave us overwrought icons and a backwards tracking plot that allowed the main story to stay stuck within the same scene for the entire movie. The reward for the audience's patience is something of a puzzle for me, and I'm having a hard time figuring out what the big deal. The title of the movie is called "Hero", and yet everybody dies and the villain wins. And the movie justifies this by spouting out some imperialist propaganda stating that the only way through peace and unification is through an evil act.
Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero has that fancy wire fu flying and tries too hard to be philosophical. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, however, is also refreshingly straightforward, easy to follow, and is beautiful in its portrayal of martial arts, the world, and its romance. Hero, on the other hand, gets bogged down in heavy themes and merely loves to hear the sound of its own voice. The fight scenes don't work as well as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and one or maybe more fight scenes seem to serve no purpose. Hero is, indeed, beautiful and certainly more intelligent than the average Jet Li flick. But all this color and flair is put to no practical or entertainment purpose. I'd rather a movie be just a little bit shallow and bubblegum feeling and be entertaining(like The Matrix movies) than be too intelligent and seem stuffy. But what do I know? All the critics loved it, so maybe you might too. I'll stick to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Heck, even Brotherhood of the Wolf is better than Hero.