This is what Epic heroes are supposed to be like - Jet Li's "Hero"

[Welverin]

Then you had better not watch Hero.

Or play Exalted.

 

[Sorren]

To those of you who have seen Hero, can you answer a simple question for me? Why can he do the things he does? If you can answer that, the chances of me liking this movie will greatly improve. Is he "The Chosen One"? A god? Bitten by a mutant spider?

I hated CT,HD. Why? Because of the rediculousness of it. "I am a master of martial arts. Oh and I can walk on water and fly."

While there is no doubt martial arts is tied to mystical energies, CT,HD never really got into it. the lack of any explaination made it silly to me. It was like saying "I'm an awesome football player! Watch me tackle this sky-scraper to the ground!"

 

[ShadowX]

I think you have to just accept that it is a folk tale in the vein of the Greek or Hebrew mythologies or any other culture. When does this hit theatres?

 

[barsoomcore]

I can't really decide on Hero. It was very, very pretty, and watching Maggie Cheung do a spot-on impersonation of Brigitte Lin was great fun (heck, watching Maggie do ANYTHING is great fun).

But it felt kind of flat. Lacking in exuberance, I'd say. Better than CTHD, but then I hated that picture. Mainly because of Zhang Zi-yi, who I just think can't act worth a darn and is not even a little bit convincing as a fighter. And is really unattractive, to boot. Man, watching her get her little acting butt handed to her on a platter by Maggie and Tony Leung and Jet Li would be entertaining if it weren't so distracting. I hope people stop casting her in things soon. She's a problem. So Hero does better on that score, since she's in it less.

Neither picture even approaches the glory days of Hong Kong cinema, in the 80's and 90's, when action meant ACTION.

But then I watched Hero on a Chinese DVD without English subtitles so I may have missed great subtleties in the story. I'd like to see it in the theatre and give it a fighting chance. Have to convince Mrs. Barsoom, though -- she HATED it.

 

[Desdichado]

While there is no doubt martial arts is tied to mystical energies,

I'd say, actually, that there is doubt.

 

[Ferret]

Looks like a remake of kill bill (has to beat the best assassins....).... Still it has jet li in so I might see it....

 

[Benben]

To those of you who have seen Hero, can you answer a simple question for me? Why can he do the things he does? If you can answer that, the chances of me liking this movie will greatly improve. Is he "The Chosen One"? A god? Bitten by a mutant spider?

I hated CT,HD. Why? Because of the rediculousness of it. "I am a master of martial arts. Oh and I can walk on water and fly."

Jet Li can do the things he does because he studied for over 10 years with the blade. That's the reasong given in the movie, IIRC. The real reason he can do amazing stuff, and why you saw people float using Lightfoot Kung Fun is because it's part of the genre.

It's similar as having Merlin, mythical islands, women of faerie heritage, and what not in the Arthurian legends. There might be a historical basis for all of these legend, British or Chinese, but mostly I just want to see a beautiful film with a cracking yarn.

 

[capn_frank]

Another good place to get trailers is http://www.moviemaze.de/.
You can download all the trailers from there to your hard drive (which you can't from Apple).

Hero's original title was Ying xiong so the trailers are at: http://www.moviemaze.de/media/trailer/802.html.

Warning - this is a German website so some of the trailers are dubbed in German!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Neither picture even approaches the glory days of Hong Kong cinema, in the 80's and 90's, when action meant ACTION.

Well, I am not well-versed in Hong Kong cinema, though I imagine I might not be a fan as you are. For myself, the films I enjoy and admire the most are those which are more than merely a series of action sequences strung together. The Blade movies have a lot of great action, but little else. CTHD does. It has amazing martial arts action, (my favorites being the Jade Fox fight scene, and Mu Bai giving the girl a lesson with a tree branch, his sword held behind his back.) Some of the visuals are stunning (I can still envision the chase scene across the lake.) It also has a compelling romance, touches on the inequality of women in the era, and captures the melancholy of the old Chinese legends. So, as you can see, it succeeds on many levels for me.

From what I've seen of Hero, it may be CTHD's visual and action equal. What remains to be seen is whether the story is there as well.

 

[Zappo]

To those of you who have seen Hero, can you answer a simple question for me? Why can he do the things he does? If you can answer that, the chances of me liking this movie will greatly improve. Is he "The Chosen One"? A god? Bitten by a mutant spider?

I hated CT,HD. Why? Because of the rediculousness of it. "I am a master of martial arts. Oh and I can walk on water and fly."

While there is no doubt martial arts is tied to mystical energies, CT,HD never really got into it. the lack of any explaination made it silly to me. It was like saying "I'm an awesome football player! Watch me tackle this sky-scraper to the ground!"

You don't need a tie to mystical energies. "Because he's a master of martial arts" isn't any worse an explanation than "because he's a magician" or "because he was bitten by a mutant spider". In all of these cases, the real reason is "because it's a genre convention"; from a realism point of view, they are all equally ludicrous. In real life, masters of martial arts don't fly, but neither do magicians or people who get bit by whatever.