So, I’ve come from the cinema after watching Hero. I found it to be one of the most visually stunning movies I’ve seen. The panoramic landscapes are incredibly detailed, though the camera work lacked a bit in the large army-standing-around scenes.
The use of color was elegant, and the whole experience VERY operatic, kind of a Wagner meets Kabuki sans the make up kind of feel.
I’ve become a bit jaded about the wire fighting scenes, but I didn’t have to completely suspend belief. I think though, that this will be one of the last of it’s genre, since everybody and their sister is using the wire as a gag, and you’ve got to go a long way in the other direction to overcome cheesy wirefighters.
I know that the movie came out in China a couple of years ago because I remember reading threads about it. I went to the video store, and I’m almost positive they had it on the shelf (one of the good video stores that carries obscure, foreign films). Ass that I am, I didn’t get it at the time, and now it’s gone! Were they required to pull it because it’s been released here in America? I’m not actually sure why I’m complaining. I did see it in the theater and I loved it. The wire-fu was a bit more obvious than in “Crouching Tiger” so I’m sure that put off more people, but it made me want to see China in person again. What a beautiful country.
Oh, and one more question. I read that the American release cut out 27 minutes or something because they didn’t think Americans would like it. Does anybody know where those 27 minutes were cut and what they were about?
I really liked it; especially the wonderful cinematography and beautiful use of color. I thought the army & archery scenes were a bit silly, but not enough to make me not like the movie.
audiobottle, I wonder if the cut scenes may have been very nationalistic? They may have figured Americans love to see nationalistic movies but wouldn’t be interested in a Chinese nationalistic film. It still struck me as a pretty nationalistic film.
I’m far from an expert about this debacle, but my understanding is that Miramax(e) helped fund this film, and they pushed for a shorter running time. The cuts were made prior to the Chinese release, so there is only one theatrical release length.
audiobottle: This is the second US release for Hero. As I understand it, the first release was heavily edited. Quentin Tarantino took exception to this, and talked Miramax into re-releasing it, unedited. Miramax agreed, on the condition that they could use Tarantino’s name to market it. What’s in theaters now as Quentin Tarantino Presents: Hero is supposed to be the same movie everyone else on the planet got to see.
I saw it myself last week, and I thought it was good, goofy fun. Very jingoistic, but growing up on American cinema, you get used to that sort of thing. I sort of felt like it was supposed to be mainland China’s answer to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It’s got everything that was in that film, except five times as much. More high-flying kung-fu! More doomed love! More tearful, emotional monologues! And every major character gets at least three overly dramatic death scenes, minimum! Naturally, the end result feels much cheaper, emotionally, than the film they’re trying to copy, but the heedless exuberance of the action scenes more than makes up.
I think it would be hard to be really disappointed in this movie if you don’t take it too seriously. Just enjoy the beautiful scenery, laugh at the over the top martial arts and the even more over the top dramatics, and try not to get bogged down in the “message.”
Wire-fu is not usually my cup of chai, but I was really impressed with this movie. I could forgive the over-the-top excesses as everything is in flash-backs and memories. I can believe that it could feel as if you had charged across a thirty-foot circle at 300 miles per hour when you are remembering a fight.
Mostly spot on, except that this is the 1[sup]st[/sup] U.S. release for Hero. That very fact is upsetting to many considering this film was nominated for an Oscar in 2002. There was talk within Miramax to edit the film further from the initial Chinese release, but (from what I understand and Miller mentioned) Quentin Tarantino stepped in and requested it be released without further cuts.
The U.S. release is supposed to be visually the same film that everyone else has seen, but the English Subtitles used in the U.S. release are significantly different from the English Subtitles used everywhere else.
That’s odd. I know for a fact that it was playing in at least one theater in San Francisco prior to the current release, but everything I’ve seen on the web agrees with you, CheapBastid. Not sure what the story there is.
I actually hated it, although I loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There were just too many fight-scenes and not enough story. In CTHD the fighting complemented the story. I thought that in Hero the fighting overshadowed the story.
I even got to a point that I had to forward the fighting-scenes because they were boring me!!
I did love the imagery though. Some of the most stunning visuals ever seen.
I had the same reaction to the fight scenes as DrFidelius. If I were going to tell a story about my exploits to an emperor, I would play up the battles quite a bit as well. Notice at the end
he doesn’t avoid the arrows though he was able to so easily earlier in the movie.
I could have sworn the newspaper said it had stuff cut out of it. That’ll teach me to trust mass media. From now on, I’m only believing what I tell myself. And I guess what the Straight Dope tells me too.
Personally, I loved the movie when I first saw it. But the more I thought about it, the more it annoyed me. I mean, the entire message of the film is [spoiler]that it’s okay to let your people be massacred and oppressed, so long as your nation has unity.
And unity doesn’t even have to be under a good ruler. How many people died making the Great Wall? And why did the emperor kill nameless? He ended up sending a message to a world that his enemies would all be slaughtered regardless of whether or not they surrendered, just because his courtiers told him to.[/spoiler]
I disagree slightly with Reyemile about the point of the film…
I saw the message intended to be from within the historical context of the movie. Given the feudal warring society of the time, and the incessant uncontrollable hordes tearing down any civilization that tried to get established, drastic measures were required. Bloody solutions for bloody times. I don’t think the film was at all meant to say that present day society should operate on the same level, except to suggest that the needs of the nation as a whole are often more important than the needs of the individual, and long term success and growth often require short term sacrifice (i.e. the present Chinese nationalist viewpoint). Having visited China, however, there is not the slightest suggestion that the people are expected to be slaves or that life has no value. It is just socialism to a higher degree than we are used to in the west.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, the version being shown in the U.S. now has not been cut from the earlier overseas theatrical release.
However, there is an extended version that restores some of the director’s cuts that he made prior to the original theatrical release. For about the last year-and-a-half, many Asian film aficianados (myself included) have been awaiting a DVD version of this “extended cut.” (I’ve had the theatrical release Hong Kong DVD for a couple of years now).
About a month ago, this extended version was finally released by a mainland China distributor. Because of Miramax, this version can not be sold in the U.S.; however, it is available from certain Hong Kong and Korean retailers and can be bought directly from them.
Having said that and despite my waiting anxiously for the “extended version” (more is better, right?), I decided not to purchase it based on reviews and opinions from those who have seen it. Apparantly, the additional footage is mainly certain scenes that are extended without adding anything significant to the story. No new fights and no new character revelations. I was hoping that the character’s backstories would be fleshed out, because I, too, found the film to be long on cinematography and action and short on story. But alas, it was not to be.
My understanding is that pressure from Miramax may have influenced the director to release the version he did. However, this is not the same as what Mirimax has been doing to so many Asian films (i.e., cutting them down, re-editing, rescoring with rap soundtracks). Bless Tarantino for convincing Miramax to keep its hands off of this film for its U.S. release. At the end, the version you saw was the director’s vision/decision and it looks like he made the right one.
True that. Personally I thought the best line was something like “the ultimate stage of a swordsman is to lay down his sword”
That and I REALLY REALLY hoped that when the camera panned back from the 10,000,000 arrows at the end, he’d be untouched, laugh, and walk out the door.
Just my two cents.
What exactly was Quentin T’s involvement in this movie? Also, what was his involvement in Iron Monkey? I saw IM a few days before Hero, which set me wondering about what he does to get his name associated with both movies.