Hero

[Fragbait]

I just saw the new martial arts saga 'HERO' in cinema yesterday. Wow.
I was overwhelmed. The film with actors Jet Lee, Zang ZiYi, Donnie Yen and Tony Leung is a masterpiece.
Based on a legend, the story is much more traceable than Tiger & Dragon's.
The fighting scenes use similar technics, and the ambiance shots of the landscapes look terrific.
Though Tiger and Dragon was the first real sumptuous martial arts saga, and therefore had a major impact on the martial arts movie culture, I think Hero is even more impressive. If you liked Tiger and Dragon, go watch it.



Greetings, Fragbait

[WarBlade]

Just checking. Is that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?


PS: OT: On the news this evening the New Zealand government is thinking of offering a tax break aimed at bringing "The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe" down here. B) Andrew Adamson (Shrek) and Richard Taylor (LoTR) are already on board and I'm beginning to think such a move could produce another fantasy masterpiece before too long! B)

[Fragbait]

Yep.
It is commonly abbreviated 'Tiger and Dragon' where I come from.


Greetings, Fragbait

[Chaerophon]

Granted, it would be a few years old now, but hasn't that already been done quite well? It's been a LONG time since I saw it, and I was quite young, but I seem to remember it being quite a successful attempt.

[WarBlade]

I assume you're referring to my Narnia comment.

Yeah, there was a version released as a TV mini series, at somewhere around four episodes per book IIRC (or maybe it was less). They pulled off The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first and some of the sequels up to The Silver Chair afterwards. Hehe Tom "Dr. Who #4" Baker got to run around as Puddleglum. :D

It was ok I suppose, in a low budget kinda way. A big budget feature film with the WETA effects studios making the fantasy come to life should top it though. B)

A pity the movie web site has been fairly dormant this year, while the film is still in preproduction: Narnia.com

[pakman]

I remember Puddleglum...I think. He was that frogzard watcha-ma-callit in the third book, The Silver Chair, I think. He led those tow guys around....man, it's been a long time since I read Narnia, with Aslan and all.

[Scrape]

I just saw this film last night on television.

Here is my review:

"There are two important factors I highly disliked about this film.

First and foremost, the fake fighting. Regardless of the idea that we may or may not live in a place where anything is possible, I still like to see fighting that is within somewhat ordinary and realistic terms.

I dislike when I see them flying through the air fighting or bouncing off water.

Second and second-most, the dubbing. I would much rather see captions, as I always state in my reviews for films with dubbing. (Or at least I tell myself I do that.)

Despite those two, I did enjoy the movie. The story was decent. The fighting, although I disliked it, did have a wondrous flow and elegance to it.

Beautiful scenery as well."

[Zippyy]

I just saw this film last night on television.

Here is my review:

"There are two important factors I highly disliked about this film.

First and foremost, the fake fighting. Regardless of the idea that we may or may not live in a place where anything is possible, I still like to see fighting that is within somewhat ordinary and realistic terms.

I dislike when I see them flying through the air fighting or bouncing off water.

Second and second-most, the dubbing. I would much rather see captions, as I always state in my reviews for films with dubbing. (Or at least I tell myself I do that.)

Despite those two, I did enjoy the movie. The story was decent. The fighting, although I disliked it, did have a wondrous flow and elegance to it.

Beautiful scenery as well."
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I must say that I semi-share your view on the extravagent fighting. The first wuxia film I saw was CTHD (like most people I suppose). The first time I saw it, I had a hard time swallowing the flying et al. However, I've always been fascinated by martial arts and the asian cultures that birthed them. I went to see it again to give it another shot, and tried harder to suspend my disblief. The ability to let the movie take over your sense of reality is important. At least, I enjoy it :)

I totally agree with you about the dubs. A friend of a friend owns an asian movie store, and had the chinese DVD of Hero directly from his supplier in HK. Don't buy the US version. They cut 11 minutes from the movie (I'm not sure where, though) and the dubs break the film.

[Guest]

Worth watching indeed, but not great in my opinion.

[Occhidiangela]

I assume you're referring to my Narnia comment.

Yeah, there was a version released as a TV mini series, at somewhere around four episodes per book IIRC (or maybe it was less). They pulled off The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first and some of the sequels up to The Silver Chair afterwards. Hehe Tom "Dr. Who #4" Baker got to run around as Puddleglum. :D

It was ok I suppose, in a low budget kinda way. A big budget feature film with the WETA effects studios making the fantasy come to life should top it though. B)

A pity the movie web site has been fairly dormant this year, while the film is still in preproduction: Narnia.com
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Our kids enjoyed those, mini series stories somewhat, but I agree on the cheese factor. Aren't they about 20 years old?

Occhi

[Doc]

Our kids enjoyed those, mini series stories somewhat, but I agree on the cheese factor.  Aren't they about 20 years old?

Occhi
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Saw the Narnia teaser trailer when I took the wife to see Star Wars III. Wife went all freaky on me and nearly pulled my darn arm off telling me she wanted to see that.

She struggled through the books and is going to read them again soon.

Doh, forgot to add, I wonder where I can find those old mini-series on tape?

[Mithrandir]

Hero is a great movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You definitely have to see it with subtitles to truly enjoy it however (just like CTHD).

I never knew that Jet-Li could act before seeing Hero. I was pleasantly surprised because I expected Hero to be nothing more than a "beat-em-up" film, but instead saw a movie that surpassed all my expectations.

[Griselda]

Saw the Narnia teaser trailer when I took the wife to see Star Wars III. Wife went all freaky on me and nearly pulled my darn arm off telling me she wanted to see that.

She struggled through the books and is going to read them again soon.

Doh, forgot to add, I wonder where I can find those old mini-series on tape?
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Well, it seems like they're out on DVD pretty much everywhere I go.

[LemmingofGlory]

I just saw the new martial arts saga 'HERO' in cinema yesterday. Wow.
I was overwhelmed. The film with actors Jet Lee, Zang ZiYi, Donnie Yen and Tony Leung is a masterpiece.

I couldn't sit through "Hero." I stopped the DVD at the end of the "rain of infinite arrows" scene and took it back to the rental place. By that point, the plot hadn't grabbed me and my suspension of disbelief was unwilling to accept the absolutely ludicrous physics.

I didn't like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" either, but for different reasons.

-Lemmy

[Occhidiangela]

I couldn't sit through "Hero." I stopped the DVD at the end of the "rain of infinite arrows" scene and took it back to the rental place. By that point, the plot hadn't grabbed me and my suspension of disbelief was unwilling to accept the absolutely ludicrous physics.

I didn't like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" either, but for different reasons.

-Lemmy
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Speaking of animal films, I watched "12 Monkeys" last night, and was pleasantly surprised.

Occhi

[Guest]

That is an under rated film.

[Yrrek]

That is an under rated film.
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Agreed.

[Zippyy]

Agreed.
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Yes. Brad Pitt is so hot. *swoon*

Plus, he was insane.

[Walkiry]

You know something that didn't quite seat right with me about Hero? It's slow.

I mean, the whole thing develops very very slowly.

As in seriosly just sitting there doing nothing.

Scenes that merely sit there and show... nothing, scenery and little else.

Nevermind the ludicrous fighting, it's the slowness what got me.

Or, to put it another way, it wasn't quite fast enough.

They spent far too much time setting a "mood" that never captured me.

What I mean is, the film could have been done in 30 minutes.

If they had had real people instead of a writer with an overinflated sense of importance, most of the scenes would have lasted half as long.

So, really, what I think they didn't do right was pacing the film in an enjoyable way.

It's all off, with all the little "plot twists" taking a redoing of whole 10-minute long scenes.

The delivery of the plot twists could have been more dinamic, because by the third one I was already groaning on my seat wondering when it'd be over.

I think the real problem was that the guy who wrote the script tried to overblow the sense of importance of the thing with poorly timed moody scenes.

Longer doesn't necessarily mean better, because there's so much you can mangle the same plot before it becomes tedious.

So I'm actually trying to say that they probably chose the wrong medium for such a slow plot development.

Maybe it works in a book, but a film this slow can become tedious.

...

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, the fact that it was basically the same little plot repeated ad nauseum with slight variations over and over is what really got to me. Then again, if you liked Hero you probably loved this post ^_^

EDIT: Jeez, I jus realized, this is a 2 year old thread! o_O

[jahcs]

Hero: Slow, artsy-fartsy fantasy martial arts film. The story was decent, seeing each event through multiple perspectives with each person's own views and with that person's motives coloring the portrayal of events was neat. Tedious, but neat.

I am not a fan of wire fighting. If used properly it is a usefull tool to show extreme ability, i.e. The Matrix and some of the bullet time stuff, where the characters were able to bend some rules and break others, and when wires are used to increase jumps or other moves without resorting to CGI or moving into the realm of total implausibility.

12 Monkeys: An intriguing scifi out-of-order film. With a bit of patience excercised while viewing this is a good film.

Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair is the 4th book ;) I believe the original t.v. series was put on by the BBC. There was use of puppets and some animation, if I recall correctly. It was a decent effort for the times and budget. The trailer in front of Star Wars Epsiode 3 had my wife tugging on my arm too. The more of the preview I saw the more I wanted to see. Hopefully Disney doesn't take too much dramatic license and depart from the original too far.

EDIT: Just adding that the artsy-fartsyness of Hero during the fight scene with all the leaves was fantastic!