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For much of their life, Chinese martial arts films have had a reputation in America for ridiculous, low-budget action sequences and cheesy dialogue. And due to the necessarily spendthrift Chinese film industry and quick, inexpertly done translations, that reputation had been fairly earned. But martial arts epics are an integral part of Chinese culture, and as the prowess and resources of their film industry have grown, their work has grown in quality and visibility around the world.
Released in China in 2002, director Yimou Zhang’s epic Hero (Ying Xiong) didn’t make it over here until 2004. Set in medieval China, during the period in which the country is divided among several warring kingdoms, it stars Jet Li as an assassin called “Nameless” who has earned the right to a private meeting with the king of Qin after defeating a trio of assassins from the kingdom of Zhou. The film unfolds in flashbacks, as Nameless describes his plan to defeat the assassins. The king, however, has his own ideas regarding Nameless’s actions and intentions. And when the truth finally emerges, Nameless is left with a choice to decide the future of China.
The first time you watch it, though, you could be forgiven for missing much of that. Hero is an opulent feast of visual and aural delights. Each aspect of a given scene—the cinematography, the costumes, the fight choreography—contributes in a noticeable and complementary way. It is a stunningly beautiful film.
For those unfamiliar with Yimou Zhang, he’s the director behind equally opulent martial arts epics House of Flying Daggers and Curse of the Golden Flower and art house favorites Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Doh. For those who don’t tend to watch movies with subtitles, he’s also the man who designed and directed the astounding opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
His main tool here is color, as each flashback scene is given a primary hue, depending on whose version of events is being presented. It seems like a simple technique, but in Yimou’s hands, it becomes breathtaking. Duels take place in forests filled with swirling yellow leaves, in white rooms stacked with rolled-up scrolls, and in giant palace chambers swathed in floor-to-ceiling green silk. One of these sequences in a lesser film would stand out. Taken all together, they give the film a dreamlike quality that completely envelopes the viewer.
I should probably take a minute to acknowledge the film’s primary ensemble, led by Jet Li and featuring accomplished actors and martial artists Donny Yen, Tony Leung, and Zhang Ziyi, as well as a heartbreaking performance by Maggie Cheung. They all do impressive work balancing their characters’ mythic grandeur and humanity while performing the wonderful action ballet that martial arts epics thrive on.
Chinese martial arts films have come a long way since the days of the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest studios. For those of us who grew up with and still love the unique flavor of down-and-dirty Chinese action cinema, there’s still plenty to enjoy, but it’s a treat to see the industry mature and offer rich, complex films that fulfill the promise we saw early on. And for those who still dismiss these films as “chop-socky,” I offer you Yimou Zhang’s Hero.
DVD Review:
The Hero DVD has been reissued as a “Special Edition” to go along with the new Blu-ray release. It includes a new featurette on one of the fights, along with the making-of and interview featurettes included on the previous release. Aside from the additional featurette, though, it’s essentially the same DVD that was released in 2004.
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