Hero (Ying Xiong) (2002)

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago at Apr 29 3:54

"How swift thy sword." This reviewer has never been a fan of Asian cinema, and Hero is a film that further solidifies my neutral attitude towards film exports from Asian countries. The film is seemingly inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. Like Akira's film, I found Hero to suffer from the same flaws. First of all, the filmmakers poorly distinguish what is occurring on the screen. The script is filled with convoluted lines of dialogue that don't appear to advance the plot very much at all. The movie appeared to be a random selection of action scenes that don't make a lick of sense. Even when I paid 100% attention I was frustrated at the film's difficult nature. Some say it's just the nature of the Asian filmmakers. If this is the case then I'd take a Hollywood film over an Asian p...Read more

Rating : 5/10

Posted : 2 years, 9 months ago at Feb 11 10:27

This film left a lasting impression on me and I was so glad I saw it on the big screen, because it was absolutely beautiful. The strong use of colour is something that sticks out every time you see this film. As you would expect, there are excellent fighting scenes throughout, but it's the locations that left me awe-struck on most occasions.

The two most memorable scenes of this film, for me, are: the scene where Qin attacks the caligraphy school with extreme force and the flight scene between Broken Sword and nameless, on a lake so tranquil and serene that I'd think it was computer generated if I didn't know better. It makes me happy that places in the world like that actually exist!

Rating : 9/10