'Hero' retells unification of China as martial-arts epic

Zhang Yimou's sweeping take on the "wuxia pian" ("martial chivalry" genre), his own "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" if you will, tells of the birth of China 2,000 years ago as a magnificent, melodramatic martial-arts epic.

MOVIE REVIEW

HERO

DIRECTOR: Zhang Yimou

CAST: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Daoming Chen

RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes

LANGUAGE: Mandarin with English subtitles

RATING: PG-13 for stylized martial-arts violence and a scene of sensuality

WHERE: Alderwood 7, Cinema 17, Crossroads 8, East Valley 13, Everett 9, Galleria 11, Issaquah 9, Kirkland Parkplace 6, Longston Place 14, Marysville Cinema 14, Mountlake 9, Neptune, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Parkway Plaza 12, Redmond Town Center, Woodinville 12

GRADE: A-

See photos from the movie.

Action movie dynamo Jet Li is Nameless, the serene master swordsman and orphan without a country who brings a gift to his conqueror: the defeat of the three assassins pledged to kill the King of Qin (Daoming Chen). Qin has made enemies on his march to unite seven warring states, and he's turned battlefields into graveyards of vanquished foes.

Nameless tells his romantically shaded tales of his mythic duels in a private audience with the king. Then they are retold, and retold again, in a volley between king and hero. Each telling redefines the warrior's true purpose and transforms heroic triumph into tragic sacrifices.

The delirious flashbacks follow suit, changing not merely tone but entire color schemes with each interpretation. It's as if the magnificent martial-arts duels of impossible skill and reality-defying technique were the Chinese equivalent of MGM musical fantasies, and Hong Kong screen legends Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung and Donnie Yen are Jet Li's partners.

In the tradition of "wuxia pian" spectacles, Yimou buries his usual social politics in a personal melodrama set against the sweep of history. Perhaps it's the compromise he made to create what was, at the time, the most expensive Chinese film production ever. The cost of building the great Chinese empire is told in personal sacrifice and loss, but the debate is drowned out by the spectacle.

The enthralling hues and magnificent canvas captured by cinematographer Christopher Doyle recalls the majesty of Akira Kurosawa and the lushness of Bernardo Bertolucci, while the magical martial arts and romantic codes of honor pay homage to Hong Kong cinema godfather King Hu.

The sweeping imagery moves between magnificent vistas of landscapes teeming with soldiers and screen-filling close-ups of faces that speak through glances and hard expressions, the style between the stillness of a painting and the whiplash movement and whispering grace of a warrior dance. Yimou plays his images like a visual symphony, and turns a potential costume pageant into an exhilarating national myth.

Sean Axmaker is a movie reviewer and free-lance film writer based in Seattle. He can be reached via e-mail at seanax@hotmail.com.