Distributed by:

Weikai/Face

Language: Mandarin

Subtitle: English, Chinese

Runtime: 98 minutes

Genre: (Action/Drama)

 

 

I am so surprised that such a movie of this epic received such little media attention over here in the United States.

This movie showcased a flurry of top asian actors and actresses from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. These names include Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, and Chen Daoming. Tony and Maggie have always been one of my favorites. They recently finished the critically-acclaimed movie "In the Mood For Love" directed by Wong Kar Wai and they are currently in the process of filming another Wong Kar Wai film, "2046." Then there's Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Two of the last remaining true martial artists in cinema today. (I so hate all these crappy computer-generated, Matrix-like movies) The last film these two actors starred together was in "Once Upon a Time in China II" which is one of the better martial arts movie ever made. We also cannot forget Zhang Ziyi who made an incredible debut in "the Road Home" and starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Then there's Chen Daoming. This is the first film I have ever seen him in, so I can't really say much about him.

Just by the actors and actresses alone, I was extremely psyched to see this movie. Another reason was because of the director. The movie "Hero" was directed by Zhang Yimou, in which he is remembered most for his work on "Raise the Red Lantern" and "the Road Home." I haven't watched "Raise the Red Lantern" yet, but "the Road Home" was a powerful movie.

In addition to the great people working on this film, we have a story that is so great that it has been told and re-told for several generations. That's because it's based on China's ancient history, in a period when the country was divided into seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han, Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. It's a time when the king of the Qi Dynasty decided upon himself to unite all of China and declare himself the one true emperor. The story is about the emperor and the assassin who was sent out to kill him. This story became legend, and in time this legend became a myth. Just like the story of Camelot, we know that some of the events happened in real life, but how much of the story is actually true?

So what went wrong? Why did this movie go unnoticed in the American eye? I would have thought that any movie made by Jet Li would attract many viewers. especially when there's a rematch battle between him and Donnie Yen. But apparently it did not. I found it rather strange that although Jet Li's lesser movies was promoted so well, very few people knew that "Hero" even existed.

There are numerous talk in the internet community that it's a conspiracy by Hollywood to put Asian movies down. Apparently they were not too thrilled that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" received so many attention during the Oscars. So they decided not to release the movie into the United States in fear that the film will not sway the critics to vote for yet another chinese martial arts film as "Best Foreign Picture."

Okay, enough with the background story and on with the film.

This is a Jet Li movie. Jet Li plays the role of a character "named" Nameless and he was sent out to assassinate the Qi King played by Chen Daoming. It's not an easy task to assassinate the king. For many years, the king has been targeted for assassination by the other six kingdoms. None came more close to completing this task than Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Snow (Maggie Cheung), and Sky (Donnie Yen).

An award was pronounced throughout the kingdom of Qi, that whoever was to defeat these three assassins will be granted great wealth, power, and an audience with the king himself. The skills of the assassins were legendary and none was able to complete this task, but one day Nameless proclaimed that he himself has defeated not one, but all of the skilled assassins. The king was curious to hear about Nameless' story and granted an audience with him. But how much of the Nameless' story is true and what is his true intentions?

I love this movie! I really did. But this is not the complete movie. The original film was 118 minutes long, but had to be cut for some reasons. I heard that the director was not happy about this decision. I'm sure, like in "Lord of the Rings," the UNCUT version must be much better! Unfortunately the uncut version is not available anywhere. Perhaps someday....

Overall Score: A+