Kono kuni wa mada, hontô no hero wo shiranai [Japan] (“This land doesn’t know a real hero. Yet.)
Because of lines like the above tagline I wanted to see Yimou Zhang’s Hero. From the previews I was kinda excited to see the movie and to see what it would end up being about. I did not, and still don’t, know the history of what the movie covers. The plot seemed interesting from the trailers and it seemed like a movie that I would enjoy. So, what the heck, why not see it? However, after sitting though the almost two hour movie I have some thoughts about what I saw.
Firstly, it was visually appealing. I liked how it looked. The use of simple colors in the wardrobe and in the scenery really added a lot to the movie. The colors were very vibrant and just stuck out in my mind, in a good way.
The action scenes were very well done. They were plentiful through out the entire film. However, I can only take so much of the wire-work flying/fighting style and that just ruined some of the what would otherwise be great action sequences. That one complaint aside, the action sequences were very well done.
The story line. The story was pretty good. I am not well versed in Asian history to know if the film was accurate, but the movie was very easy to follow. But, it was very drawn out. Some parts seemed to be added just because they wanted another fighting scene. That, and with all of the flashbacks (there are many) I got lost a few times in the story. I kept saying to myself, “Didn’t he already die? This is like his 5th death.” So, I got mildly confused at times, but not enough to say that I didn’t really know what was going on.
Overall it was a good movie. I enjoyed it, but found it drawn out at times and I got sick of seeing the Crouching Tiger flying fighting style time and time again. In the end I would have to give it like 3.5 out of 5.