Hero review

 Number 367 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2002 wuxia film 'Hero.'

Jet Li stars as the Nameless warrior who is summoned before the king of Qin - one of the seven kingdoms of Ancient China. Nameless foiled three assassination attempts on the king. And the king wants to hear how he did it.

Stylistically, there is no faulting Hero. It was visually gorgeous; a real treat for the eyes. Different sections of the film are broken into different colour schemes - white, blue and the gorgeous red that is considered so lucky in China. The martial art sequences while far from being the most realistic were still spectacularly choregraphed. The use of slow-motion and occasional monochrome added to the striking visuals.

However beautiful Hero looked it wasn't very interesting to watch. I found it very boring. Part of that was down to how it was structured. Much of the film is told in flashback and we're led to believe these flashbacks are not to be trusted. The prime timeline sees Nameless and the king simply talking to each other. There is no forward momentum and very little else going on. And I did struggle in paying attention.

Perhaps I don't have a very long attention span or I'm impatient, as I'm sure there were plenty of deep-rooted metaphors and symbolism which I missed out on.

Although I didn't find Hero particularly interesting, there ids no denying that it is a visually stunning film.