Hero [Blu-ray]

Great film.

Nearly perfect artistic depiction of traditional Chinese combat arts.

Beautifully and thoughtfully shot. Interesting twists. Not as ‘flashy’ as the ‘Crouching Tiger…’ films. The ending was a touch trite; somewhat constrained perhaps by the political ideals the filmmaker felt he should support.

Certainly one of the best films I have ever seen and in terms of choreography, set design and colour - 'the' best.The fight sequences are visually stunning and are deliberately exagerated and made to look surreal which emphasises the fact that the contests are basically metaphysical and the defeated combatants are defeated at their own choice, not by superior fighting technique. The english dubbing is good to have but suggest you watch in Chinese with sub-titles which gives more oriental flavour to the proceedings.The story is based on a dramatised true tale of the attempted assasination of the King at the time of the uniting of the chinese dynasties around two thousand years ago. I was not familiar with the story and although the plot is well explained by the conversations between the King and his would be assasin there are still several twists and turns I havn't yet worked out. - What better reason to sit down and enjoy it again.!

This film is in my top ten films that anyone should watch. This is the first time I've seen hero on bluray and I was in awe at how beautiful it looked. Hero is all about the colour and themes in each scene and the high resolution makes all those little details stand out all the more adding to the immersion experience.Add to that the sound which is crisp and clear without being brash. The surround sound is perfect and has a real cinema feel to it. This bluray has clearly had a lot of work gone into it.The film it's self is not your average sword play movie, it has a deep and twisting plot with characters that you can really relate to. Each scene has been directed with such care and thought that it truly shows on screen. A must watch whether it's your first sword play film or your hundredth this will not disappoint.

I'd read about this movie and the praise it received. Yes it is a masterpiece of Chinese film-making, thanks to Zhang Yimou and his colourful vision of how a powerful tale should look on-screen. Blood is replaced by golden leaves and green silk hangings. The scenes of thousands of Chinese warriors are spectacular, and you can believe they are on-set, not just a CGI painted backcloth. After all it was Zhang Yimou who choreographed 2008 drummers in the unforgettable 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening ceremony. I love the hails of arrows and how two master fighters could fend them off without armour. I found the relationship between Broken Sword and Flying Snow rather confusing - do they love each other or want to kill each other? And why do these dramatic events happen over and over? Well it's about flashbacks and reprises. Stories just aren't always chronological any more. Alltold, this a true masterpiece of cinematography and a feast for the senses. See also the movies Crouching Tiger and Flying Daggers.

Quentin Tarantino presents Chinese director Zhang Yimou production of Hero, a story of how three different assassins sent by the Emperor are beaten by a mysterious swordsman who is played by Jet Li, the stories of how he defeats the three assassins is told in a series of flashbacks, the director Yimou embraces the vibrancy and pageantry of the Chinese court of the third century B.C. to tell this eye-popping martial arts epic.This movie is so beautiful it makes your jaw drop and the action sequences are genuine pieces of invention and are absolutely dazzling this DVD is presented in the original Mandarin with 5.1 surround sound with subtitles and is also in Dolby surround dubbed into English and the aspect is 2.35:1 wide-screen.This DVD is a favourite of mine to test both sound and picture of hardware such as DVD players and TV sets another one for the collection to keep.

My wife and I sat down to watch this film together. For the first 45 minutes we were sat leaning forwards, mouths agape and frequently gasping at the sheer beauty of this film. By the end I was convinced it was the most beautiful film I had ever seen and one of the finest, even better than House of the Flying Daggers. My wife, whilst agreeing it was stunning, felt Flying Daggers was a better overall film.Whatever your preferences, if you liked either Flying Dagger or Crouching Tiger, then you will love this. The cinematography and choreography are simply out of this world and the use of different colour washes to separate the distinct stories within the film will stay with me for a very long time, particularly a spectacular wash from autumnal browns and oranges into a fiery red in one pivotal scene.Get it!