Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou, tells the story of Nameless (Jet Li), who is called to the Kingdom of Qin, to tell the Emperor the story of how he defeated three assassins from the Zhao Empire, Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky.

This cinematic masterpiece nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2003 at the Academy Awards is finally coming to theaters this August, 2004, but not without some changes. The theatrical release of Hero appears to be the International Version, which features cuts and changes.

Review

For purposes of this review, I watched the Edko Video distribution of Hero in Region 3 format with the original Mandarin dialogue, subtitled in English. Unfortunately, Miramax has restricted the Asian release of the movie as well, limiting it to under 100 minutes, meaning that the version reviewed is not Zhang Yimou’s director’s cut.

Story

The story of Hero is about love, betrayal, and loyalty. Although the story seems cliché, Hero was actually quite interesting and refreshing. This film was not only a martial arts film, but surprised me for being an artistic film as well.

Nameless travels to the Kingdom of Qin to recount to the Emperor how he defeated three assassins. The story is actually told three times, each time recounted from a different perspective, starting from Nameless’ version, to the Emperor’s corrected assumption of the story, and back to Nameless’ corrected version.

Each time the story is retold, a portion of the truth is revealed along with new revelations of the characters’ being and motives. The cinematography played an important role in this aspect, building the story and portraying the scenes artistically, making the story as a whole visually stunning.

One scene that immediately comes to mind is the battle between Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Moon (Zhang Ziyi). Not only was the fight magnificently choreographed, but what stood out were the falling leaves in brilliant hues of yellow and orange surrounding the two women as they battled. The leaves would move with the fighters from the force of their strike, giving an ethereal feeling that made it seem like the two were dancing rather than attempting to kill each other.

Not all the battles were presented as such. Several battles were intense such as the fight between Nameless and Sky, where the drops of rain intensified each assault. However, despite the different atmosphere of the battles, one thing remains clear: each battle was choreographed magnificently.

Translation

The translation was done fairly well. I’m not particularly fluent in the Chinese language; however, I have a fair understanding of it, hearing it most of my life and taking two semesters of Mandarin in college. The first thing that a noticed in the translation was that the names were translated, which was odd for me and somewhat irritated me. (It reminded me of Usagi translated into Bunny in the domestic manga for Sailor Moon.) The only other thing that I noticed was the slight inconsistency of the translation – mostly due to the difference of grammar between the Chinese language and the English language. It was nothing serious, but it just surprised me how translations are somewhat lost even in a subtitled version.

Summary

Overall, this movie was excellent, and will be remembered and viewed for times to come. Despite the theatrical release’s possibility of having cuts and changes, I would recommend seeing it in the big screen for the visual sensation and magnificently choreographed martial arts sequences. And hopefully, when the domestic version of the DVD comes out, they will release the extended version of Hero.