Hero ("Ying xiong")
Written: Aug 30 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Seeing good ol' fashion story telling
Cons: A little long
The Bottom Line: Good ol' fashion Hong Kong-style story telling.
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| johnhighway's Full Review: Hero (2004) |
Back when I was a kid, living in Washington DC -- I recall watching old black-n-white (some in color) movies in which characters would perform the most incredible acts of martial arts. Watching this movie reminded me of those days -- a story telling of legends and tales of the days of old. As Robert Evans once said,
"There are three sides to every story: my side, your side and the truth."
This was the case in the movie HERO (Ying xiong) presented by Quentin Tarantino. Not to be confused with the 1992 movie of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis and Andy Garcia -- totally different era and culture. First off, this movie is done entirely in chinese (guoyu/putonghua) with english subtitles. You might think this would distract you from the combat action, that's what you won't really see alot of, as this movie is all about tell a story, three different sides. I won't say much about the different parts of the movie as that would quickly give away much of the plot.
The camera work is very Hong Kong style filming -- you'll be flipped from one angle to another when actors fly over each other and parry each other's attack. Now, the question is -- fighting sequence done several times with different cameras or was it done with a single sequence with different cameras. No matter. The movie is long so I would recommend that you flex your eye muscles from left to right so that you can prepare yourself in reading the subtitles.
Jet Li lends his charismatic charm and emotionless-facial expression in this film. Zhang Ziyi (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) played a supporting role in this film. As previously mentioned, the amount of martial-arts combat is quite less in this movie so the attractive actress Zhang Ziyi didn't get much camera time showing off her combat skills.
My final opinion about watching this movie? I liked it because of the story it told (which I didn't go into only because it would ruin the movie). Don't expect too much of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and more of "Once upon a time...". If you don't speak guoyu or putonghua, I would also recommend that you stay a bit back so there's less work for your eye muscles as you read the subtitles throughout the movie.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
johnhighway
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Member: John Highway Wu
Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland
Reviews written: 97
Trusted by: 9 members
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