Hero

Hero, 2002
Hero Special Edition (2-Disc Blu-ray with DVD + Digital Copy)[Blu-ray]



To be perfectly honest, I don't know what this is going to be about. I mean, I think we can all agree on the fact that there is going to be a bit of martial arts involved based on the cover art alone.

I added the movie to the 365 Movie Challenge, because it seems that when people start talking about movies with martial arts this title always comes up. I don't think it would be a big surprise to a lot of people, but martial arts movies (with the exception of The Karate Kid) aren't really my thing either. I'm going into it though with an open mind. I'd hardly be surprised if I end up liking the movie a lot. But at the very least, I hope it's pretty.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

This is one of those movies that almost as soon as you put it in, it's starting wether you're ready for it or not. I actually had to back the DVD up because I was talking through some of the title pages that explains the political situation China finds itself in at the time. At this time China is not a united country and continues to be at war with itself.

The movie is stunning and incredibly visual; however it does little to make up for the fact that the subtitles are barely on the screen long enough to really read what each character is saying. The biggest problem I had while watching the movie was keeping the male characters separate. I know it might sound racist and equally tacky to say, but it's not easy to distinguish between Nameless and Broken Sword at first. I also hadn't realized the movie was going to be told from two perspectives, first from Nameless's point of view and then the Kings perspective only before finally learning how all the events truly came together. At the very least I appreciate the different use of colors for each version of the story.

Final thoughts: I thought the movie was pretty, but the story was a little confusing and hard to follow. A couple of times I had to pause the movie and ask Wil for a quick recap to make sure I understood the story. However, I think if I were to re-watch the movie for a second time now knowing what the story is about I would absolutely love the movie.

*I also feel like I should say something about the martial arts that were involved with the movie, but I don't know anything about the subject matter. So, I'll just say the stunts seemed to be effortless and absolutely well done.

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