It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This review contains spoilers.Hero is a martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou and stars Jet Li as the nameless hero. Nameless claims to have dispatched the assassins that have made an attempt on the King of Qin's life. The King allows Nameless to present his case in person to him.Hero is a beautiful movie that has a great story. Most of the movie is presented as flashbacks and renditions of Nameless' story. This plays into why the movie looks so pretty as much of the movie exists in an idealized form that exists in the character's heads. The cinematography is astounding for his fantastic work. Almost every scene is beautiful to look at with color playing a role in every scene.The story is also riveting. Although it can be hard to follow with much of it being subjective due to memory, the movie makes the main plot of the assassins easy enough to follow.The action in this movie set the bar for the time it was released. This movie had amazing stunt-work and along with the directing, it elevated the action to be both entertaining and story-driven.I highly recommend Hero. This movie is a complete package.

First of all, "Hero" is a visually stunning film with many detailed elements depicted very well, largely thanks to the cinematography work by Christopher Doyle. However, the fight sequences are mediocre and clichéd, especially the fight between Jet Li and Donnie Yen. The movie can be improved with some more innovative action choreography.

it was a great movie after all. although I have seen a lot of Chinese movies but this one of the most well delivered message movie. I loved how they pull on those different colors to indicates all different scenes. it was very fresh and new. they all did a good job of being "ancient" and reveals their own characters in their unique own way. I can see a lot of meanings that the director puts in. I think this movie should be put into a modern scene too, it would be such a good way to show all the Chinese culture in this kind of amazing way. I really liked the movie and I wish I can see some of this kind great movie in the future.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of wire work. Used very sparingly in the occasional fight scene – so you stand up and think "woah!" – I can live with it. But in the likes of this film and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, the action choreographers always see fit to dispense with the laws of physics and deliver up battles where the opponents soar through the skies, perform impossible manoeuvres in mid-air, and get up to all manner of airborne mischief. I don't mind when there's a reason for the wire work in the film – for instance, SHAOLIN SOCCER used it for laughs and was great; THE MATRIX had a sci-fi premise so I could live with that. But it's my belief that these historical epics would do much better by keeping their actors' feet firmly on the ground. Firstly, it would enhance realism, and secondly, it would enable the participants to get on with the actual fighting, rather than their ballet-style trying-to-look-good antics.HERO's fight scenes are interminable. I'll agree that they are beautifully shot, with the emphasis on lots of bright and vivid colour contrasts, and accompanied by effective 'ringing metal' and screaming sound effects, but at their heart they are hollow, taking place with no rhyme or reason; a lot of the fighters turn out not to be enemies after all, and other fights take place purely in the minds of their opponents. The trouble with this is there's nobody to root for; hell, even in those low budget kung fu flicks of the 1970s, at least the martial arts kid had a reason for fighting the bad guys; they killed a family member, or somesuch nonsense. In HERO, we get silly battles where the characters jump in the tree tops and skim across the surface of a lake. Sure, it's very pretty, but there's no reason for it.The plot is more interesting, in that it's a simple take on the old RASHOMON story of having one tale narrated by multiple characters. Things do get pretty murky and confusing, but they straighten themselves out for the climax, which adds an epic and historical angle to the proceedings that'll make you think "aaah!". The film's strength lies in the depiction of the Chinese army, made up of 18000 extras; the soldiers here are more impressive than those CGI guys in TROY! Their method of firing arrows is also very entertaining and the film's best scene has an attack of thousands of arrows soaring through the sky as Jet Li attempts to beat them off. There's also a cool arrow bit at the end which reminded me of G.I. SAMURAI but I don't want to go there too much.Jet Li famously returned to Hong Kong for this film, but he's unfortunately wasted in the role, which could have been played by anyone. He doesn't get an opportunity to act, just to partake in some wire work tomfoolery, and he's barely in the film. Unfortunately, greater prominence is given to unimportant secondary characters like that played by Tony Leung, who is utterly boring – and it doesn't help that I keep remembering the awful GORGEOUS every time I see his face! The best performance comes from an almost ethereal Maggie Cheung, who I thought had vanished into the woodwork since her Jackie Chan days in the 1980s; how wrong was I! This ageless actress may not be a born fighter but her acting is great and a real strength of the movie. She throws the work of the wooden Ziyi Zhang into sharp relief, revealing the latter actress to be nothing but a one-dimensional impostor.HERO deserves kudos for cinematography and sound effects alone. The unusual method of storytelling keeps it interesting, and it's just a shame that the action is so lacking in… bite. Had the film offered more meaty battles, it might have been one to watch over and over again; as it is, it works more as a passing curiosity than anything else.