Hero

gav on 2004-09-09T01:31:28

I've been a fan of Chinese and Hong Kong movies for years and nice to see they're finally getting more recognition aboad. Hero follows in the footsteps of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Iron Monkey.

Hero has a fantastic cast: Jet Li (Once Upon a Time in China, Twin Warriors, Fist of Legend, Kiss of the Dragon, etc), Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Hard Boiled), Maggie Cheung (Project A, Dragon Inn), and Donnie Yen (Dragon Inn, Iron Monkey, Blade II, Shanghai Knights). It's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen, and as you'd expect, jaw-dropping fights against stunning backdrops.

You shouldn't miss this opportunity to see it on the big screen, it's on the same scale as epics by Akira Kurusawa and Hiroshi Inagaki. You should dismiss anyone who tells you it's just the same as Crouching Tiger, it more than stands on it's own. After you're done, catch Donnie Yen and Maggie Cheung in Dragon Inn and perhaps rent some classic Jet Li, you won't regret it.

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Hero

malte on 2004-09-09T08:42:19

Is there a reason why so many people are watching Hero right now. I think it was in movie theatres last year.

Re:Hero

lachoy on 2004-09-09T10:53:04

It was just released in the US on Aug 27. Widely released, anyway; it may have been in a handful of small theaters previously.

Re:Hero

malte on 2004-09-09T10:59:02

That's weird. It's been on wide release in Germany last summer. Anyway, really good movie. Gotta see it again some day.

Re:Hero

lachoy on 2004-09-09T15:27:38

I think there were issues with the distributors (Miramax); IIRC the main honcho there (Weinstein?) wanted to trim the movie significantly, the director didn't, and it took Tarantino to step in and shepherd the movie in.

Re:Hero

Ovid on 2004-09-09T17:33:10

I'm not aware of it opening before that. It opened at over 2,000 theaters and that's a fairly significant release for a foreign film.