# Hero



## Lacedaemonian (Sep 13, 2004)

Apparently this martial arts flick was made two years ago and is just being released in the UK this month.  Something about us not being ready for it yet...

This film looks to be better than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and stars Jet Li the greatest movie martial artist since Jean Claude Van Damme... Sorry I meant Bruce Lee.  I downloaded the trailer last night and the film looks stunning, with beautiful locations, costumes and soundtrack.  Apparently there are scenes where single characters defeat whole armies.  We need more Chinese fantasy!


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 13, 2004)

I could not wait for the cinema release, and am about to watch it with my little blonde woman.  Feedback in two hours....


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 14, 2004)

This film is visually more stunning than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and is perhaps the most visually stunning movie ever.  The Wuxia is also far more impressive than that seen in Crouching Tiger.  However, the storyline seemed to lose its way before the end, and the end itself was not achieved in a satisfactory manner.  Text at the end of the film, outlining basically what the film failed to tell us.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 15, 2004)

Is anybody interested in Wuxia movies?  Has anybody seen House of Flying Daggers?  I have the movie sans subtitles... drat!!


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Sep 15, 2004)

Is this a brand new movie? Because I have a feeling I've heard of it earlier. More details, plot, setting?


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 15, 2004)

I was begining to think that this thread was just for me.  I will get back to you on the plot etc tomorrow night after work.  I am thinking of exploring the Wuxia genre in a thread at some point as I am into the graphic novels too.  They also have great soundtracks, I love that classical Chinese vibe.


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Sep 15, 2004)

Cool. Also, what's Wuxia?


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## Blue Mythril (Sep 15, 2004)

Ahhh! I've been hanging out for this to hit the cinema for ages! They've had posters up for months now. But yes, it does look stunning, I'm very interested in it... 

 Oh, and Jet Li rocks!


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 16, 2004)

Jet Li is amazing!  He was meant to get the part of Master Li Mu Bai in Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger) but Yun-Fat Chow got it as Jet's wife was pregnant.  Wuxia -  http://www.heroic-cinema.com/eric/xia.html  - this site explains it best.  In simple terms Wuxia films are the ones where people fly about, walk on water etc etc, however, the genre is far more complex than just that.  

There are many elements of the Star Wars films that are Wuxia, especially the whole Jedi patter.


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## Maryjane (Sep 16, 2004)

_I'm lousy at remembering names of stars and movies, probably mostly because I watched to many movies and I get them all mixed up and confused in my head. But I remember the movies. Seem like the main topic here is about dragons. I seen one where the setting was back in King Arther's days this dragon that had befriended a dragon slayer and the dragon slayer used the dragon to make money from people by pretending to save them from the supposedly fierce dragon atacking their vilages. It was comical but ended on a sad note when the dragon did get slayed in the end. Another one, I think there was two diferent episiods to this one. It was about some scientific experiment cloaning of prehistoric remains of dragons i think it was. The experiment got out of hand and hords of dragons were taking over the world. Cities were distroyed and most of mankind was also desimated except for one brave last stand by a group of hardy wariors. I can't realy recall how it eneded, I think they found the dragons vulenarabilety in the end._
_I would realy like to see Brian start a post for those who are seeking names and info on books, authers and movie and stars. I have suggested it and he said he thought it was a good idea _
_I think it was in the changes and suggetions post_


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 16, 2004)

Sorry who mentioned Dragons?  This is a Kung Fu thread.


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## Foxbat (Sep 16, 2004)

This sounds like an interesting film. I enjoyed Crouching Tiger but I'm new to this Wuxia malarky so I don't know if it's a good or bad example. I'll certainly look out for this one. 

Just wondered if you'd considered writing up a review for the boards?  It might help us dunderheeds  get a better grip on the genre


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 16, 2004)

I plan to once I get a hold of a copy of House of Flying Daggers with subtitles.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 17, 2004)

Crouching Tiger is an excellent example of Wuxia.  I have just got a hold of copies of Shaolin Soccer and the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, both of which are comedies.  Shaolin Soccer looks to be very funny, and the 36th Chamber is unintentionally funny with its severely bad dubbing.


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## mzarynn (Sep 18, 2004)

It's funny...  We have one small theatre in our town that shows only one movie every couple of weeks.  The movie changed today and it was "Hero."  When I drove by I had no idea what movie it was.  I was thinking the little theatre was losing money and had to get an old flick...  I think "Hero" was the title of an old Dustin Hoffman movie... pretty good movie, but I didn't care to watch in on the big screen.

Anyway, I am glad you started this thread Lace.  I loved Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  I will surely have to see "Hero" while it is visiting our little theatre.  I was thrown off by the ending of Crouching Tiger, but I still thought it was great.  So I suppose I can handle another unsatisfying ending in return for Wuxia.  (First time I've ever used that word.  I kinda like it.)


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## Foxbat (Sep 18, 2004)

> 36th Chamber is unintentionally funny with its severely bad dubbing.



My kind of film


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## scalem X (Sep 18, 2004)

Yeah I have the trailers some time and in Belgium the film has been in the cinema about a half a year ago (I missed it , and should go and grab it at the video/Dvd store sometime) .
http://www.hero-movie.jp/phase2/trailer.html

There is a third trailer (translated in english), but I don't know what site I got it from.


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 19, 2004)

Hero has a very stylistic trailer. I'm gonig to have to keep an eye out for this.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 19, 2004)

I can not express how beautiful and stylistic this movie really is Brian.  The soundtrack, which I now possess, is haunting.  The whole Wuxia genre is one I am familiar with but do not pretend to understand fully.  I think that you really have to be able to speak/read Chinese to have a fuller understanding of all of the concepts.  I have been on the look out for some Wuxia fiction, but other than the graphic novels I own (which are also stunning) I have had no joy.  There does not appear to be a market yet for translated versions of these apparently great works.  

In my opinion Wuxia is merely Chinese fantasy, but with many differing aspects which are refreshing and novel to the Western market.  I myself have become hooked by this genre and crave more.  I even watched House of the Flying Daggers the other day and it has no subtitles!


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## angrybuddhist (Sep 19, 2004)

Hero is a definite "must see".  The cinematography is as beautiful as Crouching Tiger's, but the plot is more realistic.  The story is about the first soon-to-be emperor of China and how opponents attempt to stop him.  Watching the film really makes you question "who the hero is"  and what defines a hero.  I can't emphasize enough, how visually stunning this movie is.  I saw the dvd about a month before the movie came to a local theater but I recommend the large screen if available.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 19, 2004)

I will most certainly be watching this on the big screen, as well as purchasing it on DVD when it comes out.  I simply could wait no longer for its release.  Two years is a long time to wait, especiallly when you consider that Yimou Zhang has another film out at the cinemas now.


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## scalem X (Sep 19, 2004)

Another film!! (is it a samurai movie or some other thing like 'raise the red lantern'?)


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 19, 2004)

It is in the same vein as Hero, and is called House of the Flying Daggers.


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## fallenstar (Sep 19, 2004)

I am a Chinese, fortunately.. I watched the film but didn't quite like it. I think it doesn't have a good plot, and trust me, in China people hated it. (most critiques and random viewer's comments) It seemed very pretty but I just don't like the plot though. I am a huge Wuxia genre fan though, I read almost every single one of Louis Cha's books(he is the master of that genre, if you want to read those books you can't miss him), and four of them are twice the length of LOTR. I have to disagree though, Laceaemonian, that Wuxia is a Chinese fantasy. It is classified by itself in my opinion. This genre is very unique, because it is very unlike the Western fantasy. It has every single realistic parts in there, even the Kung Fu in them are based on real ones, at least some of them. There is a whole concept on Kung Fu in Wuxia genre, and none of the authors can make up a whole new thing that doesn't make sense. They can't use magic, that's the whole point. I personally don't like the English translated version, I actually thought that it is very much intranslatable, having myself read the original and the translated version......but that's just me, I am weird as I always say...


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 19, 2004)

Flying, walking on water etc etc constitutes magic.  You are right of course it can not be covered by another genre, Wuxia is a genre in its own right.  I just thought with so many fantastical themes, it might interest the fantasy readers who use this site.  

I would be very interested in reading some Wuxia novels but their availability is scarce and I would not know where to start.  They say that translation is an art in itself, and is best done when the translator is close to the author or the original work.  I would deeply appreciate any advise on this matter Fallenstar, as you can imagine this genre is hard to break into when you do not know the language.  

In your post, were you refering to Hero or House of Flying Daggers?  I have heard bad things about the latter but only good things about the former.  Like all foreign language films you never get a true gasp of the story, something which I always feel angry about.


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## fallenstar (Sep 22, 2004)

I was refering to Heroes...for some reason I have only heard bad things about that movie, and my own feeling was that it has a poor story..... there are one thing I might clearfy here. the flying, walking on water etc is called qing gong, it can truely exist as other kung fu did, but not as dramatically as they show on tv or films, which I think is why it is now considered magic. I think people who practice those can walk fast and jump high, as some legend says one of the masters who created Tai Chi can walk on the snow without left any prints. That is recorded in ancient books, although we can imagine the exaggeration here. But surely it's not considered magic, I would think.


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## fallenstar (Sep 22, 2004)

I was refering to Heroes...for some reason I have only heard bad things about that movie, and my own feeling was that it has a poor story..... there are one thing I might clearfy here. the flying, walking on water etc is called qing gong, it can truely exist as other kung fu did, but not as dramatically as they show on tv or films, which I think is why it is now considered magic. I think people who practice those can walk fast and jump high, as some says one of the masters who created Tai Chi can walk on the snow without left any prints. That is recorded in ancient books, although we can imagine the exaggeration here. But surely it's not considered magic, I would think.


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## Lacedaemonian (Oct 8, 2004)

Has anybody seen these movies:  _The Emperor's Shadow_, _Warriors of Heaven and Earth_, or _Shaolin Soccer_.

Just continuing the Asian vibe of this thread.


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## scalem X (Oct 8, 2004)

No sry , but I must definitely go rent shaolin soccer


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## angrybuddhist (Oct 14, 2004)

I have the Shaolin Soccer dvd and it's hilarious.  It has the typical naive storyline and dialog, but the special effects are state-of-the-art.


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## scalem X (Oct 14, 2004)

I finnally saw hero!!!!! (still on my pc at the moment) Well the story is predictable, but the fights are great!!!


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## Blue Mythril (Nov 11, 2004)

Wow, I saw this on the big screen last week (very first session of course), and I loved it.
It was just amazing, i'm thinking "breathtaking" but I don't want to say it cos it just sounds dumb... But it was a brilliantly filmed movie. Much more Chinese in essence than CTHD, I loved the colours too, and the music.
Bah, twas just fantastic...


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## Brian G Turner (Jan 12, 2005)

Sorry - thought it best to remove the last few posts as they moved from a critical evaluation of the film, and instead of posters.

 Few films appease everyone - but let's remember that this is community, and try to be respectful of others where our opinions differ.


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## Leto (Jan 12, 2005)

Thanks Brian. 
On Hero, the movie was good, yet it lacks something IMO - I don't know exactly what as it's more a sensation than a specific point - to be as great as Tiger & Dragon.


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## Sirathiel (Jan 14, 2005)

I don't think I've seen Tiger&Dragon... But I've seen Hero. To me it was a completely new and different experience compared to western movies. What most of describe as lacking, I attributed to the fact that it's from a different culture... Still, I enjoyed the film immensely, its quietness, its imagery, its flavour.


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## Leto (Jan 14, 2005)

Crouchin Tiger, Hidden Dragon (or the reverse I never remember) is also a chinese sword movie. Same culture made them.


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