Maggie Cheung as the swords woman Flying Snow
Hero (202) Chinese Movie Information
Title in Chinese – 英雄
Title in Pinyin – Ying Xiong
Genre – History and martial arts
Subject/theme –A group of skilled fighters from the Zhao kingdom try to kill the King of the Qin Kingdom
Language – Mandarin
Region – China
Release date
24th October 2002 – China
21st December 2002 – Hong Kong
Movie runtime – 99 minutes
Cast & Role Played
Jet Li – Nameless, an orphan from Zhou and a master of the “Death at 10 paces” sword style
Donnie Yen – Long Sky, a master spearman from Zhou
Maggie Cheung – Flying Snow, A master swords woman form Zhou
Tony Leung – Broken Sword, a master swordsman from Zhou and lover of Flying Snow
Zhang Ziyi – Moon, Broken Sword’s student
Chen Daoming, King of Qin
Story
During China’s warring period, various kingdoms battle for supremacy and there can only be one winner. The Kingdom of Qin is gaining the upper hand and destroying all rival kingdoms. The rival kingdom of Zhao is on the verge of defeat so four patriots and martial arts masters develop a plan to assassinate the king of Qin and save Zhao.
Long Sky, Flying Snow and Broken Sword are known enemies of Qin and the King of Qin fears for his life while they live. Their plan is for Nameless to gain the king’s confidence and get close enough to the king to kill him. To gain the king’s trust, Nameless must pretend to have defeated Long Sky, Flying Snow and Broken Sword and present their weapons to the King.
The story focuses on Nameless explaining to the king how he defeated the three feared enemies of Qin and the King’s apparent disbelief.
Editor’s Review of Hero – Score 7/8
Much of “Hero” is set outside and the scenery in the movie is spectacular and the vivid colours of the scenery and the characters clothing making the movie pure eye candy and very visually appealing. Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Zhang Zhiyi put on good performances but Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung are a little too wooden and mechanical in their roles. The story behind “Hero” is well thought of, historically appropriate and suitable for a martial arts spectacular.
“Hero” does deliver and is an enjoyable movie to watch. The only major fault with “Hero” is some scenes have a very operatic feel which detracts from the story and reduces the credibility of the characters. An example of this problem is the final scene where the King’s advisors urge him to take action.