Hero

[trekgeezer]

How come I haven't seen anybody mention this film? I've seen the TV ads and this morning on the way to work I heard a review on the radio.  The reviewer said it was worth watching just for the beautiful visuals.

Anybody got the scoop on this one?

[the bouncer]

All i know is that Jet li is the lead cast.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Trek,

This flick has been on my radar for a while now.  Miramax has owned the film since 2002 when it was released in Asia but is just now releasing it in America.  I'm trying (without much luck) to convince my wife into seeing Hero instead of Exorcist this weekend.

Harry put up a pretty good review of the film at Aintitcoolnews.com:

http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18230

There are slight spoilers in there so beware.

As for the film looking beautiful, lets just say that I drooled when I saw the trailer at the theater.  It looks absolutely amazing.  There is one scene in particular in the trailer that is a shot from underwater looking up as Jet Li runs across the surface of the water.  I do believe this flick will be fun times.

[Chopper]

i don't know a whole lot about it, but i probably will catch it. it has been a while since i saw a good, Asian action film.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

I've seen it. It's really just (in everything except name and story) Crouching Tiger 2... the typical unbelievable/impossible flying martial arts type stuff. It's enjoyable but sillier than CTHD. The fight scenes are better but I'd say the story is weaker - so it balances out (although it doesn't have anything as distracting as the major flashback like CTHD did).

All in all, it's worth checking out - Jet Li is really just himself but he does that rather well. Certainly if you liked CTHD, check this out - but if you didn't don't bother, it really is just more of the same.

[Susan]

i wish they would quit dropping tarrantino's name in all the previews..what the crap is that about?

[Mr_Vindictive]

Susan,

To my knowledge, Tarantino has fought for this flick to get released.  I guess he loved it and took it in as his baby.

[Yaddo42]

There's a half hour promo show making the rounds on cable to drum up hype for the film. It features QT and Jet Li taling about HK action flicks, showing a few clips from older HK films including "Dragon Lord", "Master Killer", "The Legend 2", " Fist of Legend" and "Yes Madam" (starring Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock, never heard of it before) I guess as a quick history lesson before showing clips of "Hero".  

Glad to hear how much Jet Li's English has improved. QT's comb-forward just gets sadder and sadder looking, plus his fanboy gushing and joking attempts at martial arts moves were embarassing. Seeing that, makes me even more glad he didn't play a role in "Kill Bill", especially not that goofy idea he had briefly about playing Pai Mei himself , according to IMDB. I'm glad he got behind the film and did whatever he did (including lending his name with that "presents" credit) to get Miramax to quit sitting on the film, but he still comes of as a real jackass sometimes.

Like I feared "Hero" didn't open in my town, which means I'll have to drive an hour to the nearest city that has it. At least we didn't get "Baby Geniuses 2" either that would have added insult to injury.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Yaddo,

Yeah QT is starting to look worse as time goes by.  The man can still make some kick ass flicks though.

As for the film not playing in your hometown, don't feel left out cause I'm in the same situation.  Except, we are going to have to drive about two hours to see it.  Hopefully it'll be worth it.

[Susan]

Skaboi - that's great but do we need to hear it in the trailers? It's misleading, he didn't direct, produce, write nor star in it. His name is just being used as a vehicle to get people in.

[Yaddo42]

Skaboi

My sympathies on having to drive even further to see "Hero". On a hunch I ran some ZIP codes through the showtimes feature at IMDB. It's playing in Corinth MS (surprised me, they are half our population) which is slightly closer than Huntsville AL. So I have more options than I originally thought, it's at two theaters in Huntsville apparently.

The annoying thing is they are finishing up construction on a brand new 12 screen theater in my town to replace the rundown 4 screen one next door.  We'd probably have "Hero" locally if it was open. It was supposed to have opened by now, but the usual delays happened due to weather, etc. I think I heard it would be November when it opens. Then we'll be an 18 screen town instead of a 10 one. Hopefully we'll get a better shot at new releases and lower profile films then. Anytime there are more than 2 new mainstream releases opening nationwide in a given week, we get screwed.

[Mr_Vindictive]

No theaters here.  I have to drive an hour to get to work, which is in a small city.  Only two theaters here each with only 3 rooms in each.

We have to drive to a larger town (Jacksonville, NC) where they have a large Carmike cinema.  We've caught some great little flicks there like House Of Sand And Fog, 21 Grams, Fahrenheit 9/11, Beyond Re-Animator, etc.  They also seem to be the only local theater doing midnight showings of horror films like Faces Of Death and the like.

[Scott]

Just came back from HERO. Very good epic film about with some history of ancient China. If you liked CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON or IRON MONKEY then you will like this as well. Hundreds of extras are used well and make up the armies. The Armies, Forbidden City, Desert Region, and of course the battle scenes are all well done. The lake scene was a bit much for me, but it won't take much away from the film. Very memorable film.






Post Edited (08-28-04 21:42)

[Dunners]

Wonderful movie, saw it earleir today. its beautiful, mysterious, potetic and tragic.

[Neville]

I posted some comments a while ago, when I rented the DVD (it is funny how sometimes non-american films get released first in Europe, while we have to wait for all the american releases). Loved it. As people say, it plays more like CTHD than any other of the Jet Li films, but I liked it although I never really got into CTHD.

The film has an interesting plot, but most of its camera work is related to making the fights (well, and non-fights as well) beautiful as hell. If you can keep your mind from thinking on how slow the plot is advancing, it is a mesmerizing film, easily the best martial arts movie I've ever seen.

Watch out for the upcoming "House of the flying daggers", it has been made by the same team.