Definitions:

whooh onomatopoeia ; sound made by swinging swords, arms, legs, and all forms of sticks or poles ( with, or without metal appendages )in martial arts movies. Sometimes associated with arrows. Usually repeated at least 3 times. whooh whooh whooh

whowh onomatopoeia; sound made by magically flying protagonists and or antagonists, often found in the Wuxia sub-genre of martial arts films, as they hurl toward their enemy, often somersaulting during the approach. Often repeated at least twice, corresponding to the number of summersaults. whowh whowh

woah onomatopeoeia; sound made by audience when witnessing spectacular choreography and sumptuous cinematography often associated with the Wuxia sub-genre of martial arts films. Sometimes repeated twice, once for choreography, and then for cinematography. woah…

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Film #20 of the "Scavenger Hunt 2" Challenge!
Task #26 : A film from the wuxia genre!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt-2/

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The fight scenes were as visually stunning as they were superbly choreographed! Literally a martial arts ballet where stylistic violence translates into pure poetry on the big screen!

While our nameless hero recounts his tale of defeating his first assassin the rain ceased being an element of nature and became one of the films most formidable stars!

When our hero recounts his tale of defeating the last two assassins arrows take center stage, soaring gracefully through the air till it meets its destiny within soft meaty flesh!

Colors play a huge part in depicting mood, emotion and tone of the…

*Potential spoilers for the broad strokes of the plot. If you haven't seen this yet and are looking for a quick reason to check it out, it has some of the most beautiful photography outside of a Terrence Malick picture. If you like kung-fu movies and don't mind "wire-fu" then you'll probably like Hero.*

"A warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword."

Hero is a historical wuxia, or a king-fu period piece, but the battles between warriors stand in for a more important battle happening beneath the surface of the film. The fight scenes are highly choreographed and excessively stylized (a practice commonly referred to as "wire-fu"), and this gives them a mythical quality that indicates they may…

A Rashomonian wuxia made by the person who brought us the bright, crisp melancholy of Raise the Red Lantern, this film more or less could not fail. Though one of its themes, as far as I can follow them, seem to be about sacrifice for greater ideals in unsettling nationalistic terms, the more intriguing idea of a warrior who is unwilling to kill, this paradoxical philosophy of strength through unwielded power, overwhelms the downside. More so, though, the beautiful dance of blade, elements, and environment that this film is dominated by puts everything else to shame.

There are some who might sully this film with the qualifier that it's "cool." Those people are boorish fools. "Cool" is for pop-art and…

I was thinking of what to write for this review and found myself not having anything bad to say here, so awesome. I watched this on my TV with a decent sound setup because I figured there would be huge battles so I wanted a bigger screen. Instead, I was treated to some of the best sound design I've heard in a while! Not to mention the shots constantly bathed in red and orange really popped, and the lake fight was another real visual standout when I look back at it all.

Overall, this is one of those films where I can't find anything bad about, but for some reason I can't put my finger on, I can't rate this…