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| Anticipation Level: |
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| How excited (or not) I am to see this movie... |
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This film is actually quite good. Or rather the original version I saw over in Singapore about a year ago was - Miramax has been sitting on this movie for quite a long time, reputedly forcing some fairly sweeping cuts in the take before they would release it to domestic audiences.
Essentially if you liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you'll probably also like Hero. Set at a turbulent period in Chinese history, the film tells the story of the first Chinese emperor. Assassins form one of the obstacles in his path. A ruthless man, he seems to have no shortage of sworn enemies. Among those are some of the best assassins of the time.
Enter Nameless (Jet Li). The films centers on a narrative between the soon to be emperor and Nameless. With the first telling, Nameless is seated far from the emperor as protocol demands. Gradually as he proves his worth with stories of how the various assassins were overcome, he is allowed to come closer and closer to the emperor. It is these within these stories that the action happens and the stunning cinematography comes to the fore. This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen (preferably with decent sound) to be appreciated, small screen does not do it justice. If you're not interested in the story, just shut down and enjoy the visuals.
Each telling of a story before the emperor presents a version of what supposedly happened (complete with different color themes). Only towards the end of the film does it all begin to make sense.
On the downside, the dialogue isn't all that great. Jet Li doesn't come across as very excited or enjoying his role much. Then again, maybe there's some oriental dynamic at work that us Westerners wouldn't know about. Also, the end of the film ties up a few loose ends with a scrolling text. OK to get the job done I guess, but not very satisfying for a cinemagoer interested in knowing the fate of the characters you've been forming a bond with over the last 100+ minutes.
Overall review? See it. It looks a hell of a lot better than some of the other average fare out this week. |
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