Hero opens with a brief history saying that China was once divided into seven kingdoms that warred with each other constantly. It took one man to conquer all the kingdoms and unite the land into what is now China. The opening captions also introduce the theme of the movie: “people die for all sorts of reasons, for friendship, for love, for an ideal…and people kill for these same reasons also.”
A nameless man (Jet Li) is brought to meet the king of Qin (Daoming Chen) in his palace. Nameless is stripped naked, searched for weapons, and informed that he must remain 100 paces from the king at all times or he will be killed immediately. It is announced that Nameless is being honored for killing three assassins from the kingdom of Zhao.
These assassins are named Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), and Broken Sword (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung). Nameless says he is a minor law-enforcement officer from Qin and presents a silver spear-head, which is recognized as the weapon of Sky. Nameless claims he killed Sky in a one-on-one duel. The king is amazed because Sky was such a lethal fighter. The king sets aside the spear and orders the official reward to be granted: a lot of gold, a lot of land, and the right to approach within 20 paces of the king to have a drink with him. The king asks Nameless to explain how he defeated Sky.
We flash back to a chess hall where royal guards from Qin attempt to arrest Sky. Sky beats them all, mangling their swords and telling them to go away. As he is about to walk out, Nameless appears and announces he is there to arrest Sky. Sky does not believe him, feeling confident from his recent victory. The two have a fight (which is extremely fast and amazing to watch!) and find that they are evenly matched.
Nameless pays an blind man to play music while they fight. While the music is playing, Sky and Nameless imagine the fight in their minds. This goes on until the strings on the harp-like instrument break and the two fighters open their eyes back to reality. Nameless launches into Sky fast enough to cut through Sky’s spear and stab him. The royal guards witness all of this.
Hero is a 2002 Chinese wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. Starring Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, the film is based on the story of Jing Ke’s assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC. Hero was first released in China on 24 October 2002. At that time, it was the most expensive project and the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history. Miramax Films owned the American market distribution rights, but delayed the release of the film for nearly two years. It was finally presented by Quentin Tarantino to American theaters on 27 August 2004.
Hero (2004)
Directed by: Yimou Zhang
Starring: Jet Li, Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Daoming Chen, Tianyong Zheng, Yan Qin, Ziyi Zhang, Zhongyuan Liu, Yakun Zhang, Xu Kuang Hua
Screenplay by: Feng Li, Bin Wang
Production Design by: Tingxiao Huo, Zhenzhou Yi
Cinematography by: Christopher Doyle
Film Editing by: Angie Lam, Vincent Lee, Ru Zhai
Costume Design by: Emi Wada
Art Direction by: Qin Hong Bo, Zhong Han, Tingxiao Huo, Liu Yong Qi, Bin Zhao
Music by: Dun Tan
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: August 27, 2004
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