Our Land (or rather their land — their = the Chinese)
Hero is a beautifully woven tale of one man’s plight to stop a tyrant from conquering all of China. Namless (that’s his name) is a master swordsman who must go through several obstacles before finally reaching the tyrant King of Qin. Qin has destroyed countless cities, including Nameless’ own, which took the lives of his family with it.
I never thought I would really fall in love with a martial arts film. I realize that ‘martial arts’ may not be the most appropriate tag for Hero, but certainly most people view it from a far with this title. When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon first reached theaters I never really thought it was a big deal. Sure you have a lovely storyline mixed with actors/actresses flying here and there, but it all seemed so darn hokey to me. When Hero was brought over via Miramax to the United States I felt like this might be another redo for CT,HD. With that said, I avoided the movie like the ugly girl at the prom (don’t worry, I was that ugly girl…. err….. guy). When it was announced for blu-ray Steven McGehee kept pushing it that it was the next great thing; like I hadn’t heard that before. So, while he was out of town, I snagged it and reviewed it and I must say that it has changed my view on things.
The movie knows how to visually entertain. Sure you have that spinning, flying around crap, but it comes in small waves and it is done well. With a small combination of aerial movements, reinforced by breathtaking scenery, I couldn’t help but feel mesmerized by the visuals. It’s not even really the environments that drive this; sure the cinematography is nothing short of top-notch. What drives this film is the use of colors and visuals. You understand moods, moments and changes in story direction through the colors. For example, during the sword fight between an angry Moon and Snow in forest of trees sporting falling yellow leaves, you understand what happens when the leaves suddenly go from yellow to red. A cross between death and love is represented in a single shift of colors. Things like this are just simply the purest visual eye candy you will find on film.
Take the visuals and mix them with a solid story; what you get is the best of both worlds. The story, while certainly glorified just a smidge from historical facts, drives all of these things that make the film brilliant. A man hell bent on revenge tries to find a way to get close to the King of Qin through the help of others. He sacrifices everything, as well as others, to get to the point of completing his ultimate goal. The ending shows how well thought out the entire story seemed to be. While certainly the movie doesn’t end the way you expect; it ends better and on an emotional high.
Finally, Jet Li and crew really sold both the story and the visuals. Choreographed nearly perfect, thanks to their expressions, their acting and the way they never broke ranks from the main story, Hero ended up as one of the more serious films of its genre. All of the above would not have worked well without this crew of actors and actresses; so kudos to them.
So much blu
As I’ve harped on and on about the visuals, the movie is unrivaled when it comes to this category. Thanks to blu-ray, you’ll experience all of the locations, all of the colors and movements in perfect HD. A film like this has endless potential when properly put on the right format. It will certainly bring a tear to your eye to see how it looks on a 1080p set.
Now, with that said, I do understand that several people were terribly disappointed with the original audio only coming in a 5.1 and not probably transferred to HD status. I agree that if you’re going to transfer one line of audio (English) in HD you really need to transfer the other (Chinese). Miramax should have done this and I think that most people know it.
With that said, you still get a beautiful soundtrack in both forms and while not HD the Chinese track does still come through in 5.1.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Close-up of a fight scene
– Inside the Action: A Conversation with Quentin Tarantino and Jet Li
– Storyboards
– Soundtrack Spot
– Digital copy
Not a lot here, but this isn’t why you bought the blu-ray.