There are some films that make you think, ’’What is all the fuss about’’ I’ve read so many reviews of the Hero, brimming with superlatives. Here at MS it is the same. I have not read a single bad review of this movie, and I was surprised. So please forgive me for differing so extremely; I am not being controversial for the sake of being controversial. I just want to articulate a different perspective on this film - my perspective.
In all the reviews I have read of the Hero, there is more approbation for it’s visuals, than the substance of the story. Now, that does not surprise me, because there is barely any substance in my estimation, which is why I found this to be a poor film. Pretty visuals can only hold your attention for so long, after which the plot takes over.
To be perfectly frank there is virtually no plot. What could be loosely called plot is nothing more than a running commentary to lead up to each action/sfx sequence, told through the protagonist’s voice-over, the weakest form of narrative storytelling, who tells various versions of the same stories. Each rendition of the story is based on a different set, with different costumes and leads up to a martial arts scene. This is essentially the whole plot - a sequence of fight scenes.
Unfortunately it gets even worse, the fight scenes are overly operatic, overly artificial, overly edited and drowned out with special effects that they seem almost completely digitized and it diminishes their impact. What is even worse is they are incredibly stupid, the kind you would find in 80’s B-grade Kung-fu movies e.g. A gazillion arrows are raining down on the writers building and flying helter-skelter in slow motion through the interior, killing the people inside it, but the others seem to be unperturbed. Then, an elegantly dressed Chinese woman steps out, with nothing more than her silky dress draped over her arm in adversity of hundreds of thousands of archers who have taken aim on her and let loose upon her a fury of deadly arrows, and with just her dress draped over her arm, she deflects every arrow with such poetic beauty it belies belief. It quickly turns into a comedy of sorts when the hundreds of thousands of archers admit defeat and retreat, defeated by a little Chinese woman and her dress!
This seems sophisticated in comparison to a later fight scene where a feisty Chinese couple, armed with nothing more than swords, make their way swiftly through hundreds of thousands of mercenaries, armed to the teeth with spears, bows, swords and they all fall like bowling pins in line. It wasn’t a Chinese couple - it was a Tsunami! Sheesh, if a movie having scenes like can garner such wide international acclaim, then the Indian Film Federation have got it all wrong, they should be sending Sunny Deol movies to the Oscars!
Admittedly this movie is suppose to be mythology and the Chinese enjoy their unrealistic operatic folktales, so perhaps this can be appreciated by the Chinese. However, how can it be appreciated as an international film, which has a completely different grammar of filmmaking and storytelling. Bollywood films are constantly being slated by the international press for their song and dance sequences as being unrealistic and the stories as melodrama. Yet, the same press praise operas like Hero and House Of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger and any other martial arts big-budget Chinese operas adapted for screen. That is double standards.
At least song and dance, does not go against the grammar of filmmaking and can be used to convey meaning, emotions or mood or tell stories. However, a little Chinese woman fending of a gazillion arrows with her dress, or a Chinese couple walking through an entire army, is plain ludicrous, and unless the desired effect is slapstick comedy of the David Dhawan camp, it isn’t good cinema. I am frankly getting tired of these shallow Chinese big-budget epics and the western hype machine that facilitate them.
If you want to see a great Martial arts film watch Tarantino’s Kill Bill series.