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Enigmatic country sheriff from the Kingdom of Zhao, known as Nameless (Jet Li) comes to meet
and dine with the Qin Dynasty's King Chin Shi Huang Di (Chen Dao Ming), sitting within close range of each other. This is his prize, including wealth and power, for
having killed the three most capable would-be assassins after the monarch. They are Sky (Donnie Yan), Broken Sword (Tony Leung) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung).
The King has been warring with China's six other kingdoms, wanting the conquest of the whole country which the three and many others are not willing to allow happen. When asked how he has been able to defeat them, Nameless narrates the details. The King sees signs that he isn't telling the truth. Pressed again to tell all he knows, he gives more details about the sweethearts Broken Sword (TonyLeung) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and how they became responsible for their own deaths. The added revelation that Nameless has lost his family to the invading forces of Qin brings on a new dimension into their meeting with each other. What is Nameless really after: the prize or something else?
Hero is a
mesmerizing spectacle of sights, sounds and music. The director ingeniously combines the digitalized movements of nature to synchronize with the passions and emotions of
the characters. The starkness and silence of the treeless mountains match the sorrow of Flying Snow holding her fatally wounded Broken Arrow. The fight
sequencesone-on-one as well as the actions of the whole armiesare very precisely choreographed. With the addition of computerized images and movement, Hero attains a
sophisticated polish and magnificence.
In effect, the spectacle of the intensely colorful grandeur of the whole film is its selling point. The story is woven in flashback style as Nameless and the king talk. Though it is not a narrative, the plot outline is enough to provide the basis for the visualized story.
Around the beginning of the third century, King Chin Shi Huang Di of the Qin Dynasty had the
intention of conquering the different kingdoms to unify China.
This he was able to do and became its first emperor. At the same time he built a protective wall around his people, now known as the Great Wall. In the movie's fictionalized legend's details, the king appears to owe Nameless some credit for his last minute heroic decision. For what he does he has to die a criminal but the king gives him a hero's funeral. Three formidable assassins set out to kill the king, but one Broken Arrow after some study and reflection in a school of calligraphy, concludes that there is a close connection between the sword and the pen: they have the same intention to bring about change. In those times a servant Moon (Zhang Zi Yi) given to Broken Arrow at age seven falls in love with him can never hope to rise to the level of her master. Flying Snow having inadvertently fatally wounded her love Broken Arrow decides to die by the same sword that kills him, using her own hand. This incident is so romanticized that the viewer might think that suicide in such a case maybe acceptable. This can never be no matter how intense the emotions may be. There has to be positive means to express love of country, the desire to protect it and bring about change, in contrast to the intention of the assassins.
(Date reviewed: February 7, 2003)
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