Beautifully Shot, Amazing Fighting and Well Told Story!

Rating: 9/10 (25 August 2004)

Hero is beautifully shot. The scenes are mesmerizing and the fighting is flawlessly displayed. This is an instant movie classic on par with Crouching Tiger. And like Crouching Tiger, this film stands firmly as an adventure/drama and does NOT attempt to weave in comedy or slapstick, as the last follow-up to Tiger did (Iron Monkey - also a great and classic film but very different). And also like Iron Monkey, Hero was previously released in Asia years before the American debut. I would highly recommend this film to any fan of martial arts films. Jet Li has a champion role, but Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung & Zhang Ziyi are all in top fighting form. Plus, the acting from this all-star cast is excellent as expected. Unlike Iron Monkey and Crouching Tiger, Hero uses a non-linear approach to tell the story. This approach works very well for Hero, even though some of the flash-backs/perspectives may confuse some. However, in our post-Pulp Fiction era, this approach is to me always refreshing. And in Hero, it is an appropriate device to slowly reveal the true essence of each character and their real motives in the tale. Hero is the kind of movie to be watched again and again!