Hannibal

I understand the beginning and the very end of Hero wasn't translated on the Chinese dvd, so here they are. This is crucial to the storyline and was an huge oversight in the dvd. Looking forward to watching this in the next couple of days. I put the end text in spoilers, in case you might not want any hints...come back when you've watched it. Looking forward to watching this in the next couple days. Also you need some hot buttered popcorn with a couple dashes of tabasco and garlic powder, and some ice cold brew. Oh wait, that's me preparing for the movie.


Beginning Text

Two thousand years ago...
during the Warring States period,
China was divided into seven Kingdoms.

For years they battled for supremacy
while the people suffered.

The King of Qin was the most ruthless
in his efforts to conquer the land
and unify all under heaven.

He was regarded as a common threat
by the other six Kingdoms.

The annals of Chinese history
are abound with tales of the assassins
sent to kill the great King.

This is one of the legends...


End Text

Rypro 525

Thanks alot

Hannibal

Got my copy of Hero this morning. It is a real version, still sealed. There should be two authenticity stickers placed on the actual artwork itself. Used buy it now from a US seller on Ebay named foreign_movie_buff. Excellent service if you use paypal. He has tons in stock- great price. Can't wait to watch this!

To check authenticity:
1. A scratchable sticker with a blue strip must be presented on the front cover. After scratching off the blue strip, a number appears, SMS the number to the telephone numbers 13159223355 or 13806092315 to further confirm the authenticity.
2. A silver hologram should be on the left side of the front cover.
3. ISBN 7-88513-266-8, Bar code 9787885132668
4. Distributors' website www.wkvcd.com and www.gdface.com should be shown at the bottom of front cover
5. Catalog number GCDV184 should be presented on the back and side of the DVD box.

Trigger

Hey thanks alot... I'll revisit this thread after watching the flick.

BT

Thanks for the tip! I just ordered mine from the same eBay vendor the other day. Eagerly waiting for it to come in the mail.

-BT

C Roberts

Thanks for posting that. :-)

Hannibal

This was amazing! What a martial "ART" film this is. Not the greatest of all time but damm good. I didn't know what to expect so I was delighted to see a non-linear Rashomon way of storytelling period fantasy. CTHD haters will find it tough to sit through. Floating and wirework galore. The familiar music is from CTHD's composer. Itzhak instead of Yo-Yo Ma. Wirework is really noticable in the beginning, didn't detract however. I dug the visual scheme of using a different color to separate different versions of the narrative. It starts out with a more or less a black (the evil) and goes from red to blue, to white (the good). There is even a story within a story (green) One of my favorite scenes is when Tony (Broken Sword) and Maggie (Flying Snow) begin to storm the palace wrecking havoc and ending with Tony versus the King. Hell hath no fury like Flying Snow scorned. The painterly lake scene did nothing for me and was the one dull spot. I loved the "peeling back the layers" to reveal Jet's true intentions. Character development was just enough for Jet and Tony although the EE will give us more Maggie hopefully. Ziyi was eye candy. The King's was too evil (raining arrows at will) to change on a dime/tear. The political agenda/message you need to live with, this is China after all. I would say I like this more than CTHD. Subtitles were really good, better than most. I'm afraid the upcoming Korean dts/anamorphic release will have the simplified "learn to speak English" subs that I got on MUSA. The making of is not subtitled. Is it Christopher Doyle or Lyle Lovett? lol As beautiful as "In the Mood..." Couldn't get one menu screen to work, Thankfully subs and audio is switchable from the remote. Stop me before I keep rambling.

ps. I don't know why but the old Rainbow song "Kill the King" kept popping into my head at times.

MrBob

VCD had ending subtitles on it.

zuffy

Just finished the movie now. One of the best landscape movie EVER so far. I love landscape photography so I was watching the sceneries.

If I didn't read your translation, I would not had understand the ending of the movie. Thanks for the translation. I'm kind of split 50/50 if I like the movie or not.

Keyser Soze

Zuffy: I seen in another thread that you were having 'lock up' problems w/ this dvd (I think it was you at least).

What player were you having problems with it on? I just picked up a copy of this movie locally, and it won't play on my Sony S-530D player (which is kind of finiky anyhow).

It did play fine on my region free Pioneer 434 player, and even my xbox.

-k
###

zuffy

No lockup problem with Hero. I used to have a lockup problem with Needing You, Eastern Condor, and The East is Red. I have the Sony DAV-C700 btw.

Hannibal

I'm hoping to see now if the extended edition (original length) will make the film better. Since this is wu xia (spiritual fantasy?) and not real world skills kung fu, would more alleged character development in the original hurt the piece? Right now the only fully developed character is Broken Sword even though Nameless is the emphasis/narrator.

Raxel

Big part of the cut scenes are about Zhang ZiYi's character.

vhgong

Yeah thanks a lot. I was going to ask me friend to translate it for me. But on the whole, i think the story was so-so but the movie is visually stunnig.

ravan

Loved the movie! Got it from the same ebay seller.

Thanks for the subs!

harosa

The HK REgion 3 has the beginning and ending subtitles and an extra disc of features. I dont get people waiting for the original cut, this is the original cut of the movie people around the world have seen and was nominated for an Academy Award. DVD buyers always seem to have an itch for extra footage sometimes it becomes distracting. A little known fact is that the majority of movies released are the DIRECTOR'S CUT of the movie.

harosa

And please, i loved this movie, any more footage will just bog the story down, more talkng and flying over trees and water this movie does not need. At its length its a taut, tight story with just the right amount of emotion and substance.

cultshock

Just wanted to thank Hannibal for the translations of the opening and closing text. After watching the film, reading the translations made things a bit clearer. This was a gorgeous film to look at and as a big fan of most of the leading actors (especially Maggie Cheung) its always nice to see them in a new film. I think this is one of those films that rewards multiple viewings and I plan to watch it again this weekend (I'm with Zuffy, right now I'm 50/50 about it. Maybe my expections were too high?)

This being my first DVD from mainland China, I was very impressed with the subtitle translations, and the video and audio was quite nice. I also had problems accessing one of the menu screens, but it might have been audio/subtitle options, which in any case can be selected while watching the film, so no problem.

darqleo

Thanks for the translation, I wish I had it before I watched it!

Don't have too much more to add that wasn't already said, it was a great movie. The only thing I didn't like was that the tail end of the main music theme sounded almost note for note like the tail end of the main music theme of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", just played slighty different. I realize it's the same composer, but did he have to write such a similar theme?

Oh and Zhang Ziyi was pretty much playing the same character she did in "CT,HD" right down to the brattiness and the flat of the sword beatin's she takes from swordsmen better than her.

buckee1

This is an absolutley awesome movie. I loved CTHD and am crazy about Wuxia films anyway so this really fit my cup of tea. I have the initial release and can't see it getting any better than this. Thanks again for the ending subtitles. It definately made the film'e ending make sense.

Bill Geiger

Is this it?

darqleo

That's the limited edition version of it, but yes.

Bill Geiger

Okay, I just ordered the one that I posted. Obviously no different with the fiulm, just the extra stuff. Should be a nice "show off" piece.

suomynona

picked up the dvd9 version (w/dts) from "herodvd" on ebay... $2.95 for the buy it now, then i emailed the seller (dennis) and upgraded to the dvd9 for only $3 more.

looking forward to buying the R1 version when it eventually comes out so i can watch the extras in english...

(if this is unacceptable to post here, please accept my apologies and remove... thanks.)

DVDude!

I've been debating whether or not to order the DVD-9 version of Hero from foreign_movie_buff on eBay. (I ordered and received Returner from him and was very pleased with his service.) However, what concerns me is that the beginning and ending are not subtitled. Call me a perfectionist, but I find this very annoying.

Another version (mentioned by harosa) is the HK region 3 version. I searched, but couldn't find any comparisions online. I'm wondering how the two versions compare in terms of picture quality, sound, etc.

The HK R3 version is available at DDDHouse.com for around $15 (not including shipping). The DVD-9 version from eBay is about $13 (again, not including shipping). IMO, the extra few bucks would be well spent for the added subtitles at the beginning and end.

Speaking of subtitles, how do the two compare in terms of the translation? The version I've seen uses "The World" instead of "All In Heaven" that another version uses--based on the subtitles that I downloaded to check. There were also quite a few mistakes, including problems with past/present tense. (Sorry, I don't know which version I saw; it was a friend's burned VCD--with beginning and end subtitles.)

Any advice would be most helpful. Thanks!