In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Friday 12 April 2013

Hero (2002)

A visually stunning film filled with colour and grace that was unfairly compared to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) upon release. Both films are about honour and sacrifice, but beyond that they're very different.
While Hero is technically a part of the martial arts genre, there's much more to it than mere spectacle. The feelings and motivations that fuel the fighting are of more importance, so if you choose to ignore that side of it, then you'll be getting less than half of the full story.
It gathered together some of the best actors in China, all of whom gave subtly different performances for each of the interconnected stories.
Composer Tan Dun's score is as beautiful as Yimou's imagery.

5 flickering flames out of 5

2 comments:

cuckoo said...

'Tis a fine little film indeed.

Not entirely sure about some of the political issues it may or may not be attempting to approach but it's still great none the less.

4 Nameless tales out of 5

Dr Faustus said...

I didn’t think you’d rate it so high. I admit my love for it is excessive, and is reflected in my score.

Using the Rashomon style of storytelling doesn’t always work but I think Yimou got it right. It takes more than one viewing to notices the subtleties.

It seemed like it’d be a perfect candidate for a stunning bluray release but so far all reports from comparison sites say it failed to meet expectations. I hope someday it’s gets a proper 1080.