Review: Hero Is A Beautiful Tragedy
- May 13, 2018
- 2 min read
There are certain films that can be described with a single word. Star Wars - Fun. The Raid - Intense. Lord Of The Rings - Epic. And Hero. Hero is Beautiful.
An unnamed warrior, played by Jet Li, regales China’s soon to be leader (Daoming Chen) with the story of how he defeated three notorious assassins, Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung). But as the story unfolds, it seems that all is not as it first appears.
I cannot claim to be a fan of Wire-Fu, indeed I find it often detracts from the that contains by throwing reason to the wind, and turning men into gods. But, on occasion, and with the right amount of restraint, a film like Hero comes along. A film that has something of a dreamlike quality to it, thus rendering these wirework extravaganzas acceptable. And indeed, Hero has some good ones, expertly combining the Wire-Fu alongside the martial skills of the films characters, ensuring that it always feels somewhat grounded.
But Hero is anything but grounded. It’s an explosion of colour, with every major scene having its own unique palette to draw upon. Vibrant reds, oranges and greens, soft blues and muted greys, each sequence is its own animal, in every way. Despite the eclectic visual choices however, Hero is not a happy film, a sentiment reflected in its haunting soundtrack, one that is forever burned into my mind, and arguably one of the best ever recorded. It lilts this way and that, weaving a tale of its own, one of loss and of anger, of hope and of a brighter future.
Hero is far from a conventional story, and its execution reflects that. As the film slowly reveals its hand, carefully playing each card, it build to a bizarrely satisfying performance. Driven on by the excellent performances, most notably Daoming Chen’s ambiguously villainous king, Hero is nothing short of spectacular, a film worth watching even if it’s only for the gorgeous visuals.
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