Hero (Ying Xiong)

C Roberts · 01-07-2004, 10:26 PM

This is a thread to discuss the technical and/or thematic merits of "Hero."

The purpose being to foster intelligent discussion of films without resorting to "It's a piece of crap." or "It's the greatest film ever." (And so that we all can gain a bit of a film education from everyone.)

****SPOILER WARNING**** of course this entire thread is going to be full of spoilers.

C Roberts · 01-08-2004, 09:33 PM

I know this movie isn't widely available yet, but it is on R3 and R0 DVDs for those who look hard enough. Anyways I figured its such a well made film it deserved some discussion. So here goes...

The story was pretty basic, but effective. The large scale events that take place in the movie are balanced well by the small story of a few people. Although the story was inaccurate to the real King & Assassin story I think this is one of those cases where a movie becomes its own story separate from what it was actually based on.
Some people have claimed the “your side, their side, and the truth” style of the film copies Rashomon. I won’t deny similarities, but I don’t think there is nearly enough to say Yimou tried to copy that movie.
I like looking for the connections in the stories. Flying Snow stabs Broken Sword in every story even the Kings. But you have to figure his story is based on Nameless’s, his own logic, and whatever news/rumors he’s told by advisors. He also knows that Nameless fought Flying Snow alone (due to his own army witnessing it) so something must have happened to Broken Sword before that. Flying Snow and Broken Sword aren’t speaking in Nameless’s stories, but they are in the Kings. The King couldn’t confirm that in any way for his story.

This is without a doubt Jet Li’s best role and possibly the best one he’ll ever get. I thought his character of what amounts to an honorable assassin was done very well. He shows no emotions, but gives the impression the character is very emotional.
I also liked how he stopped fighting Broken Sword once he saw that he had left the fight to wipe the water from Flying Snow’s face. He could have killed Broken Sword right then (within 10 paces), but didn’t. In a way Nameless messed his own plans up from being so honorable. He told the King in the final story that he considered it dishonorable to strike from behind. It was after that the King gave him his sword and turned his back on him. He knew Nameless would have a hard time backstabbing him.

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung were as good as usual. I was so impressed with their screen chemistry that I blind bought In The Mood For Love. Zhang Ziyi just gets better with every movie she does. Donnie Yen was only in the movie for a short time, but it was arguably the best wire-fu fight scene ever put on film. Plus he can actually act as well so along with Daoming Chen there were all good actors in the movie.

Its interesting that some people notice the color changes and some don’t. I’m a very visual person so I definitely noticed them changing whenever the story changed. But the colors chosen for this actually have meaning by themselves. Red represents lies or anger, Blue represents reason or logic, White represents truth or purity, and Green represents nature I believe.
Every shot in this film looks like Yimou spent hours getting it just right. A lot of HK action movies try to force the audience to see the characters as “cool” by having them pose for the camera during fights and stuff. If this movie shows Broken Sword with the wind blowing his hair and clothes around it doesn’t seem forced at all.

The soundtrack was really good and well scored to the movie. It picked up a sort of spaghetti western soundtrack feel to it in parts, especially the end with all the arrows in the wall. I hope I’m able to add this soundtrack to my CTHD one someday. C’mon, you knew there would be a Crouching Tiger comparison sooner or later.

The movie seems to consider a “Hero” as someone willing to sacrifice their own life or happiness for the good of others. This is true for everyone who followed the “All Under Heaven” statement, including the King (even though he was an evil tyrant in real life). I’ve read in some places that All Under Heaven refers to communism. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that theory. For me at least it means that if the seven kingdoms are under one banner they’d stop warring each other and there could be peace. The form of government isn’t why the assassins want to kill the King either. Its because he’s warred on their homelands, but that won’t happen again if all are part of the same kingdom.

I’ll probably have more to say on this later as its one of my favorite movies. I know there is the “uncut” version on the horizon, but I think this version is well paced and covers everything that needs to be covered.

01-07-2004, 10:26 PM	#1 (permalink)
C Roberts Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Multiple Account Ban	Hero (Ying Xiong) This is a thread to discuss the technical and/or thematic merits of "Hero." The purpose being to foster intelligent discussion of films without resorting to "It's a piece of crap." or "It's the greatest film ever." (And so that we all can gain a bit of a film education from everyone.) **SPOILER WARNING** of course this entire thread is going to be full of spoilers.

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01-08-2004, 09:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
C Roberts Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Multiple Account Ban	I know this movie isn't widely available yet, but it is on R3 and R0 DVDs for those who look hard enough. Anyways I figured its such a well made film it deserved some discussion. So here goes... The story was pretty basic, but effective. The large scale events that take place in the movie are balanced well by the small story of a few people. Although the story was inaccurate to the real King & Assassin story I think this is one of those cases where a movie becomes its own story separate from what it was actually based on. Some people have claimed the “your side, their side, and the truth” style of the film copies Rashomon. I won’t deny similarities, but I don’t think there is nearly enough to say Yimou tried to copy that movie. I like looking for the connections in the stories. Flying Snow stabs Broken Sword in every story even the Kings. But you have to figure his story is based on Nameless’s, his own logic, and whatever news/rumors he’s told by advisors. He also knows that Nameless fought Flying Snow alone (due to his own army witnessing it) so something must have happened to Broken Sword before that. Flying Snow and Broken Sword aren’t speaking in Nameless’s stories, but they are in the Kings. The King couldn’t confirm that in any way for his story. This is without a doubt Jet Li’s best role and possibly the best one he’ll ever get. I thought his character of what amounts to an honorable assassin was done very well. He shows no emotions, but gives the impression the character is very emotional. I also liked how he stopped fighting Broken Sword once he saw that he had left the fight to wipe the water from Flying Snow’s face. He could have killed Broken Sword right then (within 10 paces), but didn’t. In a way Nameless messed his own plans up from being so honorable. He told the King in the final story that he considered it dishonorable to strike from behind. It was after that the King gave him his sword and turned his back on him. He knew Nameless would have a hard time backstabbing him. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung were as good as usual. I was so impressed with their screen chemistry that I blind bought In The Mood For Love. Zhang Ziyi just gets better with every movie she does. Donnie Yen was only in the movie for a short time, but it was arguably the best wire-fu fight scene ever put on film. Plus he can actually act as well so along with Daoming Chen there were all good actors in the movie. Its interesting that some people notice the color changes and some don’t. I’m a very visual person so I definitely noticed them changing whenever the story changed. But the colors chosen for this actually have meaning by themselves. Red represents lies or anger, Blue represents reason or logic, White represents truth or purity, and Green represents nature I believe. Every shot in this film looks like Yimou spent hours getting it just right. A lot of HK action movies try to force the audience to see the characters as “cool” by having them pose for the camera during fights and stuff. If this movie shows Broken Sword with the wind blowing his hair and clothes around it doesn’t seem forced at all. The soundtrack was really good and well scored to the movie. It picked up a sort of spaghetti western soundtrack feel to it in parts, especially the end with all the arrows in the wall. I hope I’m able to add this soundtrack to my CTHD one someday. C’mon, you knew there would be a Crouching Tiger comparison sooner or later. The movie seems to consider a “Hero” as someone willing to sacrifice their own life or happiness for the good of others. This is true for everyone who followed the “All Under Heaven” statement, including the King (even though he was an evil tyrant in real life). I’ve read in some places that All Under Heaven refers to communism. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that theory. For me at least it means that if the seven kingdoms are under one banner they’d stop warring each other and there could be peace. The form of government isn’t why the assassins want to kill the King either. Its because he’s warred on their homelands, but that won’t happen again if all are part of the same kingdom. I’ll probably have more to say on this later as its one of my favorite movies. I know there is the “uncut” version on the horizon, but I think this version is well paced and covers everything that needs to be covered.