Sure it's nationalistic out the wazoo, but on another, more important level, it has a lot of sword fights that look real cool.

The aim in the action sequences here isn't to excite but to move emotionally, and the pure visual poetry of these sequences (and the entire movie, really) is hard to argue with. I wish the backbone of the thing were more than just a simple parable about unity and peace vs revenge and justice, but I actually kind of like the relative simplicity of the plot as compared to most other wuxia movies I've seen.

How fucking awesome are Donnie Yen and Tony Leung, seriously.

Awesome cinematography
Awesome storytelling
Bullshit rope-tricks

Absolutely fucking gorgeous. It's more like an artful dance than a martial arts movie. Really the only thing keeping it from being a 5-star film for me is that the last 15 minutes or so REEEAALLY drag on. It is needlessly slow and somewhat boring in those last few moments.

Beautiful cinematography; ugly political philosophy. Worth watching.

I've seen this film a couple of times before and loved it, though tonight's viewing was the first time Hero's colourful art direction and over-the-top wuxia action has started to read as cheap gimmickry. Despite its lessened impact, I was still dazzled by the fantastic cast and enjoyed its intriguing, story-within-a-story narrative. I'd recommend this to fans looking for the likes of Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Donnie Yen (all of which are brilliant in this), though if you're not an Asian cinema aficionado you should still get something out of the action set pieces, especially the fight scene on a lake, which is probably my favourite scene from any Zhang Yimou film.

Hollywood, you are being put on notice. Shape the eff up and start spending your money better.

Damn that was a good movie, borderline to qualify in the top 20 ever. Well played, great story told in mindbreaking way with help of the incredible scenery from presumibly China. Everything is actually great. What brings down the rating is the somewhat annoying voiceovers.

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I remember this movie looked really great, but I remember nothing else about it.

awesome.

I like it better in retrospect, especially the mind battle scene with Donnie Yen.

In honor of Jet Li's 50th birthday!

Animado por el éxito conseguido por Ang Lee con su 'Tigre & Dragón', Zhang Yimou decidió que él podía repetir la jugada: coger un gran coreógrafo de escenas de artes marciales (en este caso Ching Siu-Tung) y algunos nombres potentes de la industria cinematográfica de Hong Kong para honrar al wuxia.

El resultado fue una epopeya abstracta que dejó con dos palmos de narices a los que esperaban otra historia romántica apta para cualquier espectador (en ese sentido, 'Tigre & Dragón' resultaba bastante más convencional), convirtiéndose en una orgía de estímulos audiovisuales que dejaba a un lado el argumento (intrincado, pero con alta carga reflexiva sobre el papel del héroe) para centrarse principalmente en la estética, logrando algunas de las secuencias más bellas que un servidor ha tenido la oportunidad de ver jamás en una sala de cine.