Hero Uncut: SE Review

2003/2004 was definately the year for the Kung Fu movie in the United States, we saw the release of the Quentin Tarantino Kung Fu/Spaghetti Western influenced Revenge Story Epic Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, along with some very high profile releases from China: Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Now that House of Flying Daggers has been released on DVD I thought I would go back and review both Hero and House of Flying Daggers. So Here is Zhang Yimou’s HERO

The Movie
At the height of China’s warring states period, the country was divided into seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han, Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. For years, the separate kingdoms fought ruthlessly for supremacy. As a result, the populace endured decades of death and suffering. The Kingdom of Qin was the most determined of all. The King of Qin (Chen Daoming) was obsessed with conquering all of China and becoming her first Emperor. He had long been the target of assassins throughout the other six states. Of all the would-be killers, none invoked as much fear as the three legendary assassins of Zhao – Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Sky (Donnie Yen, Who last fought Jet Li in Once Upon a Time In China 2). To anyone who defeated the three assassins, the King of Qin promised great power, mountains of gold and a private audience with the King himself. But defeating the killers is a near impossible task and for ten years, no one has even come close to claiming the prize. So when the enigmatic county sheriff of the Qin, Nameless (Jet Li), came to the palace bearing the legendary weapons of the slain assassins, the King was impatient to hear his story. Sitting in the palace, only ten paces from the King, Nameless told his extraordinary tale. The King hung on every detail of this curious story. But then something most unexpected happened - the King has a different story to tell of how Nameless really came to sit there, face to face with the King! It appears that everything was not so simple. In the centre of the intrigue sits Nameless - a solitary ranger and the King of Qin - the ruler of the Kingdom, with only ten steps between them. Within those ten steps holds an earth-shattering tale of love, honor and duty, a story that moves beyond the reaches of history. A story about what it means to be a hero.
Rating: 8 out of 10

The Transfer
Shot in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Hero is one of the most beautiful films ive ever seen. Each version of the story being told has a different color tone to it and every Color POPS off the screen. That said the transfer on the DVD I am Reviewing was pretty damn good, with a few minor film grains here and there it does a damn good job of reproducing the digital presentation I saw at my local theater, but it couldve been cleaned up better.
Rating: 8 out of 10

Audio
You Get a fee choices as far as audio selection First up is a Mandarin Chinese DTS 5.1 Mix which is superb, the only problem is listening to the DTS track activates a watermark to appear on the upper left hand corner of the screen every now and then, kinda sucks but you get used to it. There are also a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and the required 2.0 stereo track. You Also get English, Chinese Traditional, and Chinese Simplified subtitles.
Rating: 10 out of 10

Special Features
Since I am reviewing an Import Copy of Hero, unfortunately all my menus are in Chinese and havent been able to find the Special Features Menu but the website I bought the DVD from list the following supplemental material: Cast and Crew Bios, Behind the Heroes Interviews, The Journey To Hero Documentary, Making of a Hero Featurette, Theatrical Trailers, and a Photo Booklet that is attached to the nifty very large box
Rating: 7 out of 10

Overall
Hero is a very solid well acted, beautifully shot piece of cinema and deserves to be any film fans collection.
Overall Rating: 8 out of 10

Hero Uncut: SE
Director: Zhang Yimou
Format: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 Stereo Surround Sound
Genre: Action
Rated: PG-13
Become A Hero and Import it Now!

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