Review of Hero (2002) by Jarvis — 29 Jan 2019
By far, this is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Firstly there's it's use of color. While the first twenty minutes of the film generally look pretty standard, the rest of the film is a complete spectacle, with almost every shot being a work of art.
Most scenes challenge the idea that a monochromatic color scheme has to be boring, with each major sequence focusing on using every available shade of the same color to compose some of the most breath taking visuals in cinematic history.
On top of it's unique use of color, most major sequences are full of interesting visual themes that never fail to satisfy. (Small ripples in water, hundreds of orange leaves flowing through the air in the same direction, etc.
) As for the plot, it takes on an original style I haven't seen many other films attempt. Rather than simply tell a single narrative with a clear direction and plot, the film instead portrays several renditions of the same events, all with wildly different accounts of what happened and why, all providing slight hints at the truth.
Where this starts to run into problems is how the film reveals the "True". To put it simply, it's complicated, and a lot of important events are explained in what feels like passing lines. On top of all that, most of the fight scenes feel gratuitous, with minimal stakes resting on most of them.
And the actual choreography can take some getting used to. Most characters have completely impossible abilities and talents which are never properly explained. The fighters will really just do whatever looks cool in this scene regardless of if the audience knew they could do it,or if they will ever try it again.
Finally, the last twenty minutes of the film are just kind of a downer, almost negating all of the positivity you experienced from the sheer eye-candy the rest of the film had. Ultimately, the plot is over complicated, and a lot of the events feel meaningless.
This movie is saved by it's unique story structure, and incredible visuals. Worth a watch if you have eyeballs.
This review of Hero (2002) was written by Jarvis on 29 Jan 2019.
Hero has generally received very positive reviews.
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