Review of Hero (2012) by Phil C — 08 May 2011

.Every time I see one of these Chinese martial arts dramas, they've upped the ante in terms of spectacular scenery and huge battles involving casts of thousands. All of the elements that made "Crouching Tiger" and "House of Flying Daggers" so absorbing are present - so expect balletic choreographed swordplay, gravity defying duels in forests and a bittersweet plotline from an oriental perspective.

Of course, there has to be a "unique selling point" to keep the audience's attention and to differentiate one film from another - after all, most of them seem to have Jet Li in the cast! "Hero"'s twist is in the calligraphy scene, where the teacher insists on completing the lesson with his pupils (many of whom are already dead) despite the fact that their city is under attack from a hail of thousands of arrows fired from a distance by their enemies. It's the madness/courage of this that sticks in the mind. as much as the lengths the would-be assassin goes to to gain access to the Emperor: No-one is allowed within 100 paces of him, but Nameless still manages to get within striking distance before refusing to go through with it. Bad Call! The Emperor has him killed anyway (they're big on arrows in this film!) rather than lose face and invite further attempts on his life if he lets him go.

It's hard to imagine how they could top this in terms of spectacle and complexity - this is the film to see if you want to encapsulate the whole genre's essence in one viewing. .