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| This movie bleeds art, |
Tonight's movie is a work of art, a personal favorite of both my wife and I but, before we get down to business I think there should be an introduction to the return of the Asian mystique martial arts movies to the big screen. We do know that martial arts flicks were considered mostly action films that weren't anything else but that. The 70's spawned lots of martial arts films mostly, based on the Bruce Lee success and later, or at the same time on the Chuck Norrris among others golden era. All of these flicks were part of a trend in the exploitation genre, ergo they were always considered at most as good B movies. After these stories of martial arts became a parody of themselves in the 80's they mostly faded into obscurity and the newer releases where mostly directly made to the home video format.
Now, all of that changed with 2,000's Ang Lee Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That film was a masterpiece, the acting, the fighting coreographies, the plot, the photography, the scenery and the amazing soundtrack made this film an instant classic. So, what does Ang Lee's tour de force flick has to do with today's film? well, it has a lot to do with it! The whole martial arts mystique was brought back to life in a way every movie goer (the freaks, the average, all audiences if you know what I mean) could enjoy it.
Ying Xiong, AKA Hero is not a copy of Ang Lee's, in fact I would say it is a much improved vision of what the Asian ancient culture mystique is all about. Despite that, the film had to be introduced to the dumb world of fat asses with the smart hand of Quentin Tarantino and distributed by Miramax, now had it not being by Tarantino's interference with the movie director Zhang Yimou, we probably wouldn't have had the pleasure of enjoying this masterpiece. Why was Tarantino needed? honestly I don't know, the answer is beyond yours truly.
Honestly, rarely have I been so amazed by such a brilliant, inspiring film. If you have not yet seen this masterpiece of Chinese cinema then you have nothing to do but to kill yourself, sincerely. Hero is by far the best Chinese film I have ever seen, along with Shi Mian Mai Fu AKA House of the Flying Daggers, also directed by the limitless talent of Zhang Yimou.
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| Nameless, our hero. |
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| One of the many amazing fighting scenes. |
The imagery is
unparallelled, simply jaw dropping perfect scenes, with bold and vibrant use of
colour for each of the fight scenes, plenty of symbolism and scenery that would
make many photographers quit their jobs. The fluent stream of the storyline, the
delicate direction of the sword slicing action (unlike many films that
insist on gushing blood), the Chinese cultural concepts and the emotionally
charged scenes between characters combine to produce a simply remarkable
achievement. This film has a few elements from Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon, but as stated above it is far, far superior in every
way.
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| Colors have meaning in this film. |
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| A true beauty. |
The sleek direction from
Zhang Yimou is so perfectly done, just imagine two martial arts experts ensuing
in battle against each other, defying the laws of physics as we know it, and
yet following them in 360 degrees in slow motion as one deflects a droplet of
rain from one sword to the other, at the same time spinning and leaping over
water... simply beautiful. The attack sequences are also superbly set, with
hundreds of thousands of the King's warriors in formation, simultaneously
firing enough arrows into the city which literally cover the sky, in addition
to the viewer being able to watch the journey of a single arrowhead aimed
during this event. The build up to the attack along with the unnerving tune of
a Chinese stringed instrument help you, as the audience, to become firmly
engrossed in your seat. The individual martial arts is also second to
none.
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| Awesome. |
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| Martial ARTS. |
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| The water fight is beyond beatiful. |
Jet Li shows he is truly
the current grand master of martial arts. I cannot stress enough how much you
need this film in your life. The colourful imagery imposed by the director
will take your breath away with luscious, vivid, bright, wind-blown,draped
backgrounds as the setting for the important progression of the story. Even the
story itself is brought to the audience in such a way which ensures your
undivided attention, as there are twists in the tales and hidden plots which do
not develop until the end of the film.Even short individual scenes are
memorable due to their sheer awesome display of skill and speed. This film
even holds a political message which is relevant to all times, especially in
today's American-lead world dominance. This film has absolutely everything -
including an extremely sexy young Ziyi Zhang who simply is the biggest art import from China. This film was released in 2002, but this is
certainly one of my all time favourites extended neverending list.
Overall, this is visionary piece of
martial arts filming, that will leave you speechless for sure.
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