Aesthetically STUNNING, and some fantastic martial arts skills to boot (Hero (DVD))

Member Name: emrys10

Product:	Hero (DVD)
Date:	16/02/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a visual feast

Disadvantages: the plot may be a little confusing for some

*FILM ONLY*

This is a visually STUNNING film.

The film opens with our hero, Nameless (Jet Li), approaching a king, claiming to have killed three dangerous assassins: Flying Snow(Maggie Cheung), Sky (Donnie Yen) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung).
The king asks him to recount his story of how he accomplished such a feat, which is done three times: each telling of the tale is assigned a different colour, adding to the visual masterpiece that is Hero.
Plotwise, this film twists and turns a number of times. But, in some ways, the plot - for me anyway - is not as important. I love martial arts films in general, appreciating both the Jackie Chan style of martial artistry and the kind demonstrated in films such as Hero, and the skill and grace of these martial artists combined with the fantastic use of colour and music in this film really does make this film a feast for the eyes and ears.
Yes, it makes extensive use of wire-work, which some purists object to and thus it lacks the down-to-earth grittiness of films from Jackie Chan and others, but the use of wires has enabled such graceful, flowing movement that this becomes almost a piece of art rather than a film.

Summary: If this kind of martial artistry is your thing, then seriously watch this