A magnificent film

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2003)

Hero is an unusually beautiful film.
For Western audiences, it will be natural to associate it with Crouching Tiger, but it is actually a very different film. While Crouching Tiger is an adventure story at heart, Hero is a political one. It lacks Ang Lee's comedic touches and its love story is less explored. But while all this may win it less affection, Hero is arguably the stronger work.
Crouching Tiger may make virtues of its sedate pace and plentiful speech (sometimes culturally inaccurate), but Hero demonstrates that conciseness works well also. Its love story, when touched on, is moving even without a twenty-minute interlude to establish it.
Hero's world is more stylised. As a consequence, the low-gravity acrobatics are more at home than in the often-naturalistic world of Crouching Tiger. Even objects, such as leaves and calligraphy brushes, move with supernatural elegance, making the film dreamlike. Zhang takes advantage of this to use colour extravagantly in the production design. Hero is exquisite to look at, and in this age of computer-generated armies reminds us that thousands of extras still look better.
The film's specifically Chinese politics may be uncomfortable for Western audiences, though. Hero is a hymn of praise to China, set just before the beginning of China's nationhood. China's creation out of warring kingdoms is seen to be a good thing that will end war and division. The problem is that this peace is to be achieved through conquest, and all the cruelty and tragedy that it involves. For a higher good, the film is saying, China is right to bring everybody under its rule. This will naturally win little support from anyone today who sympathises with Tibet or Taiwan, or indeed anyone who disapproves generally of subjugating a people and wiping out their culture.
But even if you disagree with its politics, Hero is a magnificent film, and deserves to be seen.