Movie Review: Hero (Ying xiong (2002)) Directed by Yimou Zhang

Tania says:

Josh and I delved into our movie watching project for one reason alone – the new TV! The new TV arrived on Friday and we bought the really expensive cables on Saturday and hooked up the new DVD player (for a free TV it became awfully expensive but worth every penny!). We bought two nine dollar chairs from Target (with foot rest!) since we still had no furniture in the new place, bought a frozen pizza and decided that the movie “Hero” should be the first film viewed on the new TV. Coincidently, Hero also happened to be on the list of 482 movies we are watching for your movie watching project. Perfect!

Hero is a movie that we have both seen before (Josh will say I hated it because I feel asleep but I did not hate it at all – I was just tired!) But I thought it would be a great movie to watch on the new TV because it is just so beautiful.

I have to admit that I will be totally biased because it was the first movie on the new TV but I really do like this movie. It is insanely beautiful to watch but it also has a super compelling story. It is about an assassin and his plan to assassinate the leader of Qin. The story itself is then told in three different versions until we reach the truth. Each version is quite interesting and beautifully shot within a central color theme.

Like I said, the story is really interesting and well done but this movie is really about the visuals. Each fight scene is perfectly choreographed and gorgeous to watch. You just can’t take your eyes of some of the martial art battles (unless you are really tired then it is permissible to fall asleep). I am glad I stayed awake this time – it was nice to get the whole story. The other great thing about the beauty of this movie is it makes it easy to recommend to someone who normally doesn’t watch foreign films or hates subtitles.

So the first movie in the project was a success! The new TV is everything we expected and more! Don’t buy the nine dollar chairs from Target – Josh’s broke towards the end of the film!

Josh Says:
If you liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, good. So did I. This movie makes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon look stupid. If you haven't seen it, you may just suck at life.