Hero - B-

​Quick Hit: Beautiful visuals, gorgeous fight scenes, but severely lacking in the story section while still somehow presenting us with a valid moral question.

​There are so many different types of movie styles aren’t there? Just like people, movies come in all shapes, forms, sizes, and formats. Even when you look at the individual genres, movies break down into sub-genres. For horror, you can break it into psychological thrillers, slashers, ghost movies, monster movies, etc. etc. Really, the breakdown of movies into categories can be one of the hardest things. Here, we can look at the movie Hero, which is undeniably a “Kung Fu” type film. But it’s not a typical one. It is a Chinese Kung Fu film, which shows. Allow me, Dear Readers, to get more into what I mean.

Hero stars Jet Li as a man named (or not) Nameless. He is telling the story of his accomplishments to the emperor (read – tyrant – more on this later) of the land. He has bested three assassins and has now come for his prize – a meeting within 10 paces of the king. This is a familiar storytelling format (Arabian Nights) – the ruler and a follower meet, and the ruler is amazed at the stories that are told whilst he is being hoodwinked. I did like this format, but it gets a bit confusing as the stories begin to change. This may be due to the fact that the movie is subtitled and I had to read to follow along, but I don’t think so – I’ve followed subtitled movies before that I loved.

Anybody know what this instrument is?

However, despite the fact that the format of the movie has its limitations, the film is breathtakingly beautiful. The scene in the rain, set to the music of an old man, is so beautiful. The thought of a “thought fight”, is a pretty gorgeous idea. The scene with the flower petals/tree leaves is also amazing to watch, especially when set to music. The acrobatic fights, done with the aid of lines to make the fighters float is something that Chinese cinema does a lot (told you that it would come back up). The fights aren’t about the action, so much as they are about the imagery of the scene.

One of the things that really turned me off to the movie is getting into spoiler territory, so be forewarned!
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How about this action?

At the end of the film, Nameless chooses to die rather than assassinate the emperor. He thinks that this is what is best for all of China, because one leader will keep them from fighting each other. It is a big, fat propaganda piece. It’s something that all dictators and tyrants use to get people to follow them – “Everybody else is wrong, we fight too much, I’ll kill everyone, but then there won’t be any more fighting.”

I know that the quote above is an oversimplification. There are so many terrible things happening in the world and that have happened in the past, and sometimes, it takes fights to settle disagreements between enemies (and friends). I just wish we could look at things fully and not see an “Ends Justify the means” type thing. Seems like an overused trope to me - in life and in movies.

Overall, I give Hero a B-.

For more on this movie, check out IMDB.