Candy and a Movie: Movie #38 Hero

Hero (2002)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/

Maybe you know this movie better as Ying Xiong? I know what you're thinking, back to back Asian movies? You bet! Every once in a while I get the chance to watch a movies on a baller TV. One has to take advantage of these opportunities. I bought Hero just for moments like this. Visually, it's probably my second favorite movie made in the last ten years. Story isn't super amazing but it's good enough. Better than a guy trying to get his elephants back. It's the fight scenes that are amazing again. This time I won't be posting videos of them in here because you need to watch them in their full glory on a big TV. The fighting style is very Crouching Tiger style but I didn't totally care for that flick. Hero however, rules.

Basically a long time ago in China there was this one king who wanted to unite the six provinces of China. He did so with war and blood. Jet Li is this guy named Nameless and he shows up at the royal palace to meet with the king. There have been three different assassins trying to kill the king for 10 years now and Nameless has just shown up with all of their defeated swords. He took them all down. Naturally the king wants to talk to him and find out how he did it. No stranger is allowed near the king. If someone killed the assassin named Long Sky then they would be allowed within 100 paces of the king. If they got the other two, Broken Sword and Flying Snow(super Asian names) then they could get to 10 paces of his throne. Nameless gets to that 10 pace distance and starts telling his tale.

Snow and Sword are lovers. The chick Snow decided one night to get it on with Sky causing a rift in their relationship. They haven't spoken for years because of it. Way to go woman. Nameless' plan is to get them all emotional about themselves. Because Snow and Sword still live together, he goes after Sky first. One at a time. The fight takes place in the rain, Crouching Tiger style like I said before, and they are pretty evenly matched. They stop the fight and close their eyes, envisioning the fight still taking place in their minds. Writing that makes it sound lame but it really is awesome. They are still fighting just like before, it's just in their minds. The fight ends with Sky getting stabbed. One down.

The king is pretty impressed and wants to hear about the other two. Snow and Sword have been living at a calligraphy school. One day Nameless shows up there totally undercover as a student. Sword looks like he is the teacher and Snow looks like she is an opiate mess. Sword has an assistant, Moon, who happens to be the same actress who played the young chick in Crouching Tiger. Right after Nameless arrives, the kings army shows up at the school. There are so many extras and their armor all looked awesome. They just start raining arrows down on the school. Students are dropping off all over the place until Snow and Nameless get on the roof and start fending off the arrows. I have no idea how they are doing it, but I like it.

Nameless has earned her trust by showing off his skills but her relationship with Sword is still stressed. I think he reveals who he is to the two of them and says that he just killed Sky. Snow is bummed because she still liked Sky which in turn makes Sword jealous. So jealous that he decides to get it on with Moon (who is definitely into him) as some payback. Right after doing the nasty he kicks her out of bed and sends her off crying. Snow isn't happy with him and stabs him in the back in one of the hallways. He dies and both women are now crying. Moon liked Sword still and in a rage fights Snow. Snow says something like “Since you want to die, I will assist you”. How hard is that? Not only is this fight itself pretty awesome, it might be the prettiest that I've ever seen. Perfect colors. Check it out in the pictures at the end. She kills Moon because she is a super swords woman but loses to Nameless the next day because she is still all emotional about Sword.

That ends Nameless' story. The king says that is a pretty good story but it's BS. I bet you somehow got the three assassins to give you their sword just so you could get close enough to kill me. Pretty good king, he got it. I kind of just typed all of that for nothing because it didn't happen. Nameless made it all up. The king does want to hear what really happens.

There was no affair. Nameless still showed up and challenged Sword and Snow. Snow stabs Sword a little to injure him enough so she can be the one who fights Nameless. She dies in the fight and is taken to a tomb in the middle of a lake. Sword is there with her and Nameless shows up to fight him. They hop around on water, do a little mind fighting again and it just all looks so nice. The fight ends in a draw but Sword kills himself to be with Snow forever. Again the king says good story but I ain't buying it (that's not exactly how the king words it).

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Ok, I swear this is the real story. Nameless tells the king about himself. His family was killed by the imperial army and for 10 years straight he has trained everyday for revenge. He mastered a move that is 100% lethal from within 10 paces. He also is so precise with his sword that he can stab someone and completely miss all of their vital organ, merely wounding them but it looks like a kill. That's what he does to Sky. King says that makes sense. Then the king tells Nameless about how Sword and Snow attacked him three years ago in another sick looking fight (in a huge palace hall with green drapes hanging everywhere). Sword could have killed him but didn't. He still says that as long as he is alive he will try to stop anyone from assassinating the king. The kings army killed Snow's dad so that creates a mini rift between them but they are still together. Basically Nameless does the stab them so deep that it looks like a death in front of the army but they are both okay thing and gets their swords as proof that they are dead.

Right before Nameless left to kill the king he says Sword told him two words. They were “our land”. Sword wants the king to unify the country and put an end to the fighting. He will have to do that by fighting but what can you do. The king is super touched and said that's what he has been trying to do all along. Everyone thinks he is a tyrant but the only person who really knew what was in his heart was an assassin who tried to kill him. Nameless goes in to strike down the king but makes no killer blow. Instead he says don't forget about this and be a better king. He then walks out like such a baller. The kings court begs for him to be executed because he was there to murder him and the king regretfully has to comply. Nameless gets shot with like 1,000,000 arrows.

Snow figures out that Nameless stopped with the assassination preventing her from getting her revenge too and it is all because of what Sword said. She gets pissed at him and wants to sword fight out of rage. Sword drops his sword (confusing to read) and Snow stabs him. She instantly regrets it, never wanting to kill him because she loves him. She just keeps muttering “Why didn't you block my sword”? She then kills herself with the sword that she stabbed him with as it's still in him. Super drama but it doesn't take away from the movie. The three of them are now dead with Nameless' body being carried in the city. He is the Hero. Text at the end tells how the land was united and Chinese people still call their country “our land” to this day. Can't confirm if that is true, sorry.

PRETTY BIG SPOILER SECTION THAT TIME

Favorite Scene : Oh so many. Every fight is good and I think the chick fight between Snow and Moon was the best looking

Favorite Lines : “Your majesty, my task is completed now. My decision will cause the deaths of many and your majesty will live on. A dead man begs you to remember; a warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword”

“In any war, there are heroes on both sides”

Rating : 8.1 Hershey bars. Have you ever had that feeling after watching a movie that you really liked where you are almost sad because you know that this is the only time that you can watch whatever it was for the first time and you'll never go through that experience with it again? Maybe it happened with a book or something else? Maybe I'm the only one who can't just completely enjoy things? Anyway I got that a little with Hero, it's just too good in a genre that I really like. Also if you have to study or work on something, the score from the movie is pretty decent background music. Like being in a Chinese restaurant.

Alternate Ending : SPOILED Maybe Snow doesn't get all crazy and refrains from sticking her sword in the dude she has a thing for. Nameless kills the king and becomes ruler. Instead of building the Great Wall of China he builds the Great Mall of China? Great Squall of China? Great Montreal of China? Can't think of anything else that rhymes.

What I would do if I was the main character : For being the worlds best assassin, I'm not sure how many guys that Nameless killed. If I was him and dressed in all black like that, I would be shanking dudes left and right. Oh it's cool, you don't have to use your turn signal BANG BOOM STAB. Oh I look like Tom girl, a boy that looks like a girl? That's funny because you look like a SLASH. That massage was 400 dollars? I said I'm not a tom girl alright. SLICE.

What Happens in the sequel : Uh pretty hard to have a sequel for this. A prequel wouldn't be hard at all and should be made. Follows all of Nameless' training and how he got to where he is and go into greater detail on Snow and Swords attack on the king as well as Sky who really only had one scene.