Jet Li/Hero (1 Viewer)

[Collin]

Anyone seen the trailor for this upcoming martial arts flick? (Ignore the Quentin Tarantino thing, he did NOT make the film.. just 'presenting' it or something, it was actually released in Asia years ago I think).
Most of the time, the Chinese martial arts movies seems to be about low-budget, cheesy plotline action flicks (minus Crouching Tiger), but this seems to bridge the gap between the quintessential Chinese martial arts flick and Hollywood special effects. I noticed a few bullet-time shots, along with some stylish cinematography and of course, the large scale battle scenes. Reminded me of John Gaeta's work for The Matrix.

Here's the trailor (better hope you're not on dialup):
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/hero/large.html

 

[Tusitula]

its been released in asia for so long, so like any asian i have it on dvd.

I couldnt believe my eyes when i saw the previews for western release at van helsing.

 

[tonberry_kun]

its pretty crap
just 3 versions of the same story

 

[Benny_]

its pretty crap
just 3 versions of the same story

Interesting comment from a Naruto fan. I must say I don't like it either, it's really a poor man's Rashomon.

Moreover, it's that a director like Zhang Yimou could create not 1 but TWO useless characters. That in itself however, I could even overlook if it weren't for the fact that all the characters were so utterly inaccessible. If you're at all familiar with Chinese cinema, you'll immediately recognise that the cast is absolutely top notch. Don't go in with any great expectations on the basis of this though, because you'd just be setting yourself up for a huge disappointment. Rather than presenting the characters as real human beings whose lives were tied to the fate of the Emperor, each and every character exists instead as mouthpieces for a 2 hour stream of half baked philosophical musings that were no more profound than a 10th grade student could produce. Consequently, two of my favourite actors in Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung (a great pairing in so many great films) have nothing to work with, becoming no more than walking clichés of the martial arts genre.
On the positive side, the movie is quite stunning visually, so as with most big epics like LotR or Spiderman, the best place to see it is at the cinemas

 

[MoNNiE]

yer its been out in asia for quite abit..
so so i gues :/

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

great cinematography but such a let down, crappy movie crappy message.

 

[hatty]

ive already seen it since early last year.
its OK. nothing 2 write home about

 

[Jago]

this thread is been done.

 

[tonberry_kun]

Interesting comment from a Naruto fan. I must say I don't like it either, it's really a poor man's Rashomon.

yeh naruto's getting crappier and more DBZ style lately -_-
disappointing really... it was good when it started

 

[Annegelic]

What the hell ? Hero's been out for yonkz.

 

[santaslayer]

Anyone seen the trailor for this upcoming martial arts flick? (Ignore the Quentin Tarantino thing, he did NOT make the film.. just 'presenting' it or something, it was actually released in Asia years ago I think).
Most of the time, the Chinese martial arts movies seems to be about low-budget, cheesy plotline action flicks (minus Crouching Tiger), but this seems to bridge the gap between the quintessential Chinese martial arts flick and Hollywood special effects. I noticed a few bullet-time shots, along with some stylish cinematography and of course, the large scale battle scenes. Reminded me of John Gaeta's work for The Matrix.

Here's the trailor (better hope you're not on dialup):
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/hero/large.html

I actually prefer the low budget Chinese Martial Arts movies rather than the high budget ones from America because most of the time, the martial arts is done on computer.

 

[sanguinivore]

Most of the time, the Chinese martial arts movies seems to be about low-budget, cheesy plotline action flicks (minus Crouching Tiger)

ALL chinese movies are low budget. some may be cheesy plotline. crouching tiger hidden dragon was both. it sucked *so* much... come to think of it.. it didnt even have a cheesy plotline... it had NO PLOTLINE

 

[Collin]

ALL chinese movies are low budget. some may be cheesy plotline. crouching tiger hidden dragon was both. it sucked *so* much... come to think of it.. it didnt even have a cheesy plotline... it had NO PLOTLINE

............

 

[zhongie]

Don't watch Hero for its plotline, watch for its cinematography only, and appreciate it as art. Hero was an attempt to bridge the cheesy martial arts film, and turn it into arthouse. On some level, it worked, because there are truly beautiful scenes in it. However, it overextended by trying to imitate Kurosawa, which no one can do very successfully. So if you don't like slow moving films without any real plot satisfaction, avoid Hero. We all know how QT is a pretentious git, who likes to promote arty things. That beings said, I love QT. Go Reservoir Dogs!

 

[Benny_]

Don't watch Hero for its plotline, watch for its cinematography only, and appreciate it as art. Hero was an attempt to bridge the cheesy martial arts film, and turn it into arthouse. On some level, it worked, because there are truly beautiful scenes in it. However, it overextended by trying to imitate Kurosawa, which no one can do very successfully. So if you don't like slow moving films without any real plot satisfaction, avoid Hero. We all know how QT is a pretentious git, who likes to promote arty things. That beings said, I love QT. Go Reservoir Dogs!

Well said..sounds good anyway, I'm not sure if it was really trying to bridge any gap however.

 

[neo o]

Chinese movies will always be a let-down while screenings of movies can only pull 8 or so people into the cinemas

 

[Li0n]

I had a copy of this movie in its 'earlier' version, wasn't subtitled though. But it looks pretty good.

About this naruto thing, from episode one you could tell naruto would have turned out to be your next DBZ, except, upgraded.

 

[lengstar]

i liked it and its message at the end. i found it very influential, much like matrix did.