Watched Hero with Rhi today. It is a film that came out kinda on the heels of the global success of Crouching Tiger...
It doesn't have the strength of narrative that CTHD has, but what it lacks in story it makes up for in staged fight scenes. Again these are mesmerising ballets of wire work, martial arts and a little CGI. They one-up each other throughout the movie, with an extraordinary beauty of movement and athleticism that is breathtaking to watch.
The use of colour in the 4 segments of the film is stunning also, particularly the fight between Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung in the golden forest. I know it's seen as a poor relation to CTHD (despite being the most expensive Chinese film ever when it was made in 2002), but personally on the whole I found it more entertaining, and still as emotionally "punchy" as it's more story driven rival. Go see.
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