CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

anselmdaniel This review contains spoilers.Hero is a martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou and stars Jet Li as the nameless hero. Nameless claims to have dispatched the assassins that have made an attempt on the King of Qin's life. The King allows Nameless to present his case in person to him.Hero is a beautiful movie that has a great story. Most of the movie is presented as flashbacks and renditions of Nameless' story. This plays into why the movie looks so pretty as much of the movie exists in an idealized form that exists in the character's heads. The cinematography is astounding for his fantastic work. Almost every scene is beautiful to look at with color playing a role in every scene.The story is also riveting. Although it can be hard to follow with much of it being subjective due to memory, the movie makes the main plot of the assassins easy enough to follow.The action in this movie set the bar for the time it was released. This movie had amazing stunt-work and along with the directing, it elevated the action to be both entertaining and story-driven.I highly recommend Hero. This movie is a complete package.

Mary To give your life for a greater good is one thing. To give your life for a violent tyrant with delusions of grandeur is another. As noble as the idea "One under the sky" may be, it all depends on who unites the people and how. Because that was also Hitler's ideal, to create one big empire, never mind human casualties. Can we still justify the loss of even just one human soul as "necessary for the greater good" ? Can we still accept the barbaric idea that human souls are dispensable for the good of the cause ? And who defines the righteousness of the cause? These were cruel and savage times but we're supposed to understand better now. There is nothing truly wise or ethical or humble about the King of Qin, not even in the film. All he's after is power, as so many conquerers before him. He says at some point in this film that he does not intend to stop with China, his ultimate goal is to conquer the Earth. Just another megalomaniac , drunk with power, who justified his viciousness and lust for glory with a noble lie - we've seen so many of them in human history. I went through a few reviews and I only found one that pointed out the obvious and clarified a few things. It is indeed shocking that so many viewers cared only for the spectacular effects and the beauty in the scenes and did not even care to examine the message of the film a little deeper. I thank the user by the name "potteries" for pointing out that : "the dynasty the king founded collapsed rapidly after his death as a result of the hatred for his regime". Of course it collapsed. Such regimes are unstable by nature. Tyrannies always collapse. The goal to "unify the people" can never be reached through tyranny. That's why democracy and human rights were invented.

rdoyle29 The King of Qin (Chen Dao Ming) is waging a war to unite all the kingdoms of China under his rule. This has created enemies, and three assassins, Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) have vowed to kill him. Broken Sword and Flying Snow stormed his palace once and almost succeeded. Since then, no one is allowed within 100 paces of the King. Nameless (Jet Li) comes to the palace bearing proof that he has killed all 3 assassins. He is granted audience with the King and tells the story of how he defeated them ... with each story, he is rewarded and allowed to come closer to the King. When he is done, and only 10 paces from the King, the King expresses skepticism and offers his version of what he thinks really happened. A third version of the story is then told, which comes closer to the truth and reveals that it all comes down to these two men looking at each other face to face. The success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the reunification of Hong Kong with Mainland China made possible the situation where China's celebrated art house director teamed with a cast of prominent Hong Kong stars to make a martial arts epic. This is a happy circumstance. Zhang Yimou creates a sumptuous epic that's both visually stunning (each version of the story is uniquely colour coded) and thoughtful ... considering what a hero would actually be in Chinese culture.

TheBigSick First of all, "Hero" is a visually stunning film with many detailed elements depicted very well, largely thanks to the cinematography work by Christopher Doyle. However, the fight sequences are mediocre and clichéd, especially the fight between Jet Li and Donnie Yen. The movie can be improved with some more innovative action choreography.