Buy:Grimfarrow
12-21-02, 11:21 PM
Hero (Ying Xiong)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Cinematography by Christopher Doyle
Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Daoming
Hero is not a commercial film.
Despite costing US$31 million (the largest budget yet for a Chinese film) and starring msot of the biggest Chinese stars in existence, Hero turns out to have more in common with Wong Kar-Wai's "Ashes of Time" and "In the Mood for Love" than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". In Hong Kong, people were expecting a grand, action-packed epic, only to leave the theaters utterly confused about what they had just seen.
In simplest terms, Hero can be seen as an amalgamation of four distinct influences.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
While not directly an influence, the public will nonetheless see many similarities in the use of wire-fu and scenery. Some of the scenes, such as the battle fought over a lake, is reminiscent of the 4-time Oscar winner. However, the comparisons are mostly visual and action-oriented.
RASHOMON
"Hero" has no real narrative, partly because it is played out through a conversation between two people. Like Rashomon, in which an incident is shown through the eyes of multiple viewpoints and opinions, "Hero" uses this technique to present several scenarios of what actually happened. For those expecting a linear storyline, "Hero" will prove rather confounding.
It may also seem unintentional funny that certain people keep on dying over and over, because of the different scnearios shown on how they died.
WONG KAR-WAI
Perhaps there is no way to escape this influence, partly because Zhang Yimou hired the three most famous collaborators of Wong's - Chris Doyle, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung. However, one look at Hero's absolutely luscious art direction and cinematography, and the comparison will seem apt.
In "Hero", colors express three different values: emotion, age, and element. As such, when the characters are dressed all in green, their surroundings also relefect ths same color pattern. "Green" here reflects youth, innocence, forests and trees. Each character's behavior then reflects the values of this color. Precisely because the mood of the film is expressed from the costumes, art direction, and the reservedness of the characters, the comparison between this film and "In the Mood for Love" is inevitable.
Zhang also took a chunk out of Wong's Ashes of Time, especially the idea of battles being playing within the mind rather than the physical.
ZHANG YIMOU
The final influence is the most important of all, and that is the director's own personal touches. Zhang has always been a director whose films always have underlying values or meanings. And this is what seperates "Hero" so greatly from Crouching Tiger.
"Hero" is the first modern Chinese wuxia film to truly reflect the ideas of Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. While "Ashes of Time" was a modern musing about memory and time via French New Wave, and Crouching tiger was a love story governed by more of a Western sensibility, "Hero" manages to be utterly Chinese.
And this is where it may cause some controvesy for some, especially when the film is played abroad. Western values tend to favor individualism and self, but Chinese values are never about the individual. They are about the greater good, whether this may be the family or even the whole society.
As such, the ending may prove extremely dissatisfying to those who do not understand or accept it. I could already see how this film may not go down very well in the US, where "Hero" may seem like a Chinese propagandist vehicle. Indeed, Tony Leung already started a controversy by saying that his values are similar to those espoused by "Hero", and as such the Tiannamen Massacre is necessary because it is done to keep the law and to prevent society from chaos.
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The film does, unfortunately, have a few flaws:
1) The use of Computer Graphics is, in my opinion, utterly unnecessary and wasteful on such a beautiful film. Due to this, some of the effects during the fight scenes are not done convincingly. However, in one particular fight scene amoung the falling leaves, the addition of special effects help to create one of the most stunning fight sequences in recent memory.
2) The pacing of the films seem a bit off, perhaps because the theatrical version is actually cut down from the originally planned 2-hour length. The DVD version has already been announed to be the "Director's Cut".
3) Jet Li's performance leaves something to be desired, especially when compared to Tony Leung's and Maggie Cheung's.
CONCLUSION
Despite the flaws, "Hero" manages to retain the Chinese ethics that have been missing in many other recent wuxia films. It is also one of the most stunningly beautiful films ever put on-screen. Whether one agrees with the underlying message or not, it should not detract viewers from what is another exemplary work from Zhang Yimou.
8/10
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Cinematography by Christopher Doyle
Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Daoming
Hero is not a commercial film.
Despite costing US$31 million (the largest budget yet for a Chinese film) and starring msot of the biggest Chinese stars in existence, Hero turns out to have more in common with Wong Kar-Wai's "Ashes of Time" and "In the Mood for Love" than "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". In Hong Kong, people were expecting a grand, action-packed epic, only to leave the theaters utterly confused about what they had just seen.
In simplest terms, Hero can be seen as an amalgamation of four distinct influences.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
While not directly an influence, the public will nonetheless see many similarities in the use of wire-fu and scenery. Some of the scenes, such as the battle fought over a lake, is reminiscent of the 4-time Oscar winner. However, the comparisons are mostly visual and action-oriented.
RASHOMON
"Hero" has no real narrative, partly because it is played out through a conversation between two people. Like Rashomon, in which an incident is shown through the eyes of multiple viewpoints and opinions, "Hero" uses this technique to present several scenarios of what actually happened. For those expecting a linear storyline, "Hero" will prove rather confounding.
It may also seem unintentional funny that certain people keep on dying over and over, because of the different scnearios shown on how they died.
WONG KAR-WAI
Perhaps there is no way to escape this influence, partly because Zhang Yimou hired the three most famous collaborators of Wong's - Chris Doyle, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung. However, one look at Hero's absolutely luscious art direction and cinematography, and the comparison will seem apt.
In "Hero", colors express three different values: emotion, age, and element. As such, when the characters are dressed all in green, their surroundings also relefect ths same color pattern. "Green" here reflects youth, innocence, forests and trees. Each character's behavior then reflects the values of this color. Precisely because the mood of the film is expressed from the costumes, art direction, and the reservedness of the characters, the comparison between this film and "In the Mood for Love" is inevitable.
Zhang also took a chunk out of Wong's Ashes of Time, especially the idea of battles being playing within the mind rather than the physical.
ZHANG YIMOU
The final influence is the most important of all, and that is the director's own personal touches. Zhang has always been a director whose films always have underlying values or meanings. And this is what seperates "Hero" so greatly from Crouching Tiger.
"Hero" is the first modern Chinese wuxia film to truly reflect the ideas of Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. While "Ashes of Time" was a modern musing about memory and time via French New Wave, and Crouching tiger was a love story governed by more of a Western sensibility, "Hero" manages to be utterly Chinese.
And this is where it may cause some controvesy for some, especially when the film is played abroad. Western values tend to favor individualism and self, but Chinese values are never about the individual. They are about the greater good, whether this may be the family or even the whole society.
As such, the ending may prove extremely dissatisfying to those who do not understand or accept it. I could already see how this film may not go down very well in the US, where "Hero" may seem like a Chinese propagandist vehicle. Indeed, Tony Leung already started a controversy by saying that his values are similar to those espoused by "Hero", and as such the Tiannamen Massacre is necessary because it is done to keep the law and to prevent society from chaos.
-----------------------------------------------------
The film does, unfortunately, have a few flaws:
1) The use of Computer Graphics is, in my opinion, utterly unnecessary and wasteful on such a beautiful film. Due to this, some of the effects during the fight scenes are not done convincingly. However, in one particular fight scene amoung the falling leaves, the addition of special effects help to create one of the most stunning fight sequences in recent memory.
2) The pacing of the films seem a bit off, perhaps because the theatrical version is actually cut down from the originally planned 2-hour length. The DVD version has already been announed to be the "Director's Cut".
3) Jet Li's performance leaves something to be desired, especially when compared to Tony Leung's and Maggie Cheung's.
CONCLUSION
Despite the flaws, "Hero" manages to retain the Chinese ethics that have been missing in many other recent wuxia films. It is also one of the most stunningly beautiful films ever put on-screen. Whether one agrees with the underlying message or not, it should not detract viewers from what is another exemplary work from Zhang Yimou.
8/10