Great movie

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2006)

The plot may be next average but this is no big deal for this movie as far as I see it.. There are at least four reasons for that:
1. Hero is a gorgeous film. The imagery, colors and cinematography are stunning in every scene.
2. The battle scenes are very good. No one believes that Chinese mythology's flying or walking on water but these scenes are so well crafted that I enjoyed them very much. And also there are some awesome conventional fight scenes - as when one of the assassins humiliates seven elite royal guards without unsheathing his spear.
3. The kings army strategy is the most believable I have ever seen in a movie. In all other movies archers shoot a number of volleys and then hand to hand combat begins. Stupid. In contrast the king's archers in "Hero" will shoot dense flocks of arrows literally for days whoever they confront (even helpless civilians, academies, etc.) and after that infantry moves to clean whats (if any) left.
4. Ziyi Zhang is so hot. For me the hottest actress. I never bothered to read the subtitles while she was on screen so I have little idea of her character (Moon).