HERO

Set in a pre-unified China, a nameless warrior (Jet Li) is being honored for defeating three of the king’s most dangerous enemies: Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Moon (Zhang Ziyi). But the warrior has a secret: he’s planning to assassinate the Emperor.
HERO is alive with Chinese history, electrified by the dizzying sensuality of its convoluted love triangle, and ennobled by its embrace of the highest Taoist principles. Stunningly realized by Wong Kar-wai’s go-to cinematographer Christopher Doyle, the film’s color-coded set pieces are paced like breathstopping musical numbers. And while green curtains seem to exist solely so they can fall deliriously to the ground, there’s an overwhelming sense that the power of the sword is inextricably linked to the forces of color and nature. HERO is elliptical, primal, radically disjointed, feminist and devoted to the glory of China. Everything a wuxia should be and then some.