TO EVERYONE: See 'Hero'.

[Klaus Weasley]

Hero hasn't opened in the U.S. yet which is a shame because I just saw it last week in my country and it was AMAZING. It's better than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The cinematography, art direction, costumes....wow! Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and even Jet Li have never been better. There are at least 5 or 6 goosebump inducing, knock-your-socks off scenes (including a fight scene on water......no, seriously literally ON TOP of water). It's highly recommended. SEE IT!!!

[Hannibal21]

I saw it in my country two months ago and I must say I was a little disappointed, the cinematography was awesome but I had some problems with the acting and the plot. The film was also just too short, my opinion. 6/10

[g05]

i've asked this question before and got no help. is zhang ziyi's character bad or good and does she die? private message me if you have to, but i gotta know. thanks!

[Klaus Weasley]

Originally posted by Hannibal21
I saw it in my country two months ago and I must say I was a little disappointed, the cinematography was awesome but I had some problems with the acting and the plot. The film was also just too short, my opinion. 6/10

It was originally 135 minutes but Miramax, geniuses that they are, hacked 40 minutes out of the film. It isn't Zhang Yimou's fault. :-P

[dh1989]

Originally posted by Klaus Weasley
It's better than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

That is an easy accomplishment. CTHD was incredibly overrated, in my humble opinion. I do want to see HERO, but I doubt I'll like it as much as you did because I am not really a fan of martial arts filmmaking.

[The 8 Ball]

Originally posted by Klaus Weasley
It was originally 135 minutes but Miramax, geniuses that they are, hacked 40 minutes out of the film. It isn't Zhang Yimou's fault. :-P

They only cut twenty minutes out.

[The 8 Ball]

Originally posted by dh1989
That is an easy accomplishment. CTHD was incredibly overrated, in my humble opinion. I do want to see HERO, but I doubt I'll like it as much as you did because I am not really a fan of martial arts filmmaking.

We're not the biggest fans of martial art films either, we enjoy them alot, but the reason I think Klaus and I am excited about this movie is Zhang Yimou directing and Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Zhang Ziyi. Great actors in this film.

[Hannibal21]

Originally posted by Klaus Weasley
It was originally 135 minutes but Miramax, geniuses that they are, hacked 40 minutes out of the film. It isn't Zhang Yimou's fault. :-P

Really? I must see it again, the 135 minute version. Zhang Yimou is an incredible actor and I will watch anything directed by him.

[Americana]

Hmm, sounds okay. Maybe I'll give it a look see one day. BTW, Welcome to the Boards of JoBlo.com Klaus Weasley. Make sure you follow thy rules and you'll be fine.... Maybe. ;)

[The 8 Ball]

It got nominated for Best Foregin Language film at the Oscers. It has a good chance of winning. Yay to that!!! :p

[JCPhoenix]

Originally posted by Hannibal21
Really? I must see it again, the 135 minute version. Zhang Yimou is an incredible actor and I will watch anything directed by him.

Actually, they cut out 20 minutes...the running time of the extended version is 118 minutes to be exact. But apparently, the extended edition dvd will be out in China on February 27th...
(if u wanna know more about it go to www.monkeypeaches.com it has a lot of news about Hero)

I haven't seen this movie yet, but seeing as my avatar is one of Jet Li with Hero written beside it...I'm sure you can figure out I want to see this badly lol....

I wish I could see the extended edition first (which btw, is reportedly more plot-oriented, to fill in the holes etc), but i'll probably end up seeing the theatrical version first when it comes out here in Canada, since I am planning on seeing it first day it comes out.

I've heard rumours it'll be out sometime in the spring...any1 know if this is true?

[rushmore beauty]

Question on the DVD being released in China - will it feature an english subtitle track? If so, here I come eBay...

[The 8 Ball]

yes, it will. There will be two versions: the feb. 20th release date for the DVD just contains the movie. The feb. 27th release date version will have a special cover and a few hours of special features.

[Jon Cocco]

.

[Jon Cocco]

Originally posted by Hannibal21
I saw it in my country two months ago and I must say I was a little disappointed, the cinematography was awesome but I had some problems with the acting and the plot. The film was also just too short, my opinion. 6/10

Is there more or less flying in HERO than Crouching Tiger? Also, does the flying look better, more fantasy-like and beautiful, or is it overdone or does it hurt the movie. Let me explain: From what Hannibal21 said. Hero seems more of what I am expecting. First off, the whole Crouching Tiger, Fighting Dragon thing I liked, but many people complained and had trouble with the FLYING. You see, I don't mind flying if it doesn't look too similar to Kung Fu theater, but the way they did the wire-flying took away from the experience from the awesome realistic hand-to-hand on the ground. Don't get me wrong, flying can be cool. And flying is what made Crouching Tiger so unique to American audiences, because most Americans had not seen other films with flying, nor had most seen Kung-Fu theater. BUT .... parts of Crouching Tiger looked like they really were on wires. I saw the preview for Hero and it looks beautiful, but a bit unrealistic (flying) of the remake version of Emperor and the Assassin, but with martial arts. Is the flying identical and as much as the flying in Crouching Tiger? Can someone explain without spoiling the actual imagination to the scenes please.

Originally posted by Klaus Weasley
It was originally 135 minutes but Miramax, geniuses that they are, hacked 40 minutes out of the film. It isn't Zhang Yimou's fault. :-P

Wait a minute. What version are you people seeing? Isn't the foreign version (I am from the USA) uncut? I thought this film was an epic? When Hero comes out in the USA in October of 2003, are we seeing the final version subtitled???, or is this a cut version that was done to attract more movie people only in the Uniter States? Basically, I heard parts of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were also cut also, and we still have not gotten the full version. I believe the full version means less dialogue and plot, because they usually don't cut the action unless it is overly violent and surpasses an R-Rating. I am getting off topic. Anyway, can someone explain if they butchered HERO for plot and story, or action ... or they just trimmed it down because there was no need for the excess footage they thought Americans would dislike?

[Hannibal21]

There is less flying in HERO. Actually, one of the best things about HERO was some of the "flying" and martial arts sequences. They are beautifully done IMO and with the beautiful cinematography, it looks great. But other than that, the story is too simple and the acting isn't great.

[JCPhoenix]

Originally posted by Jon Cocco
I saw the preview for Hero and it looks beautiful, but a bit unrealistic (flying) of the remake version of Emperor and the Assassin, but with martial arts. Is the flying identical and as much as the flying in Crouching Tiger? Can someone explain without spoiling the actual imagination to the scenes please.

Wait a minute. What version are you people seeing? Isn't the foreign version (I am from the USA) uncut? I thought this film was an epic? When Hero comes out in the USA in October of 2003, are we seeing the final version subtitled???, or is this a cut version that was done to attract more movie people only in the Uniter States? Basically, I heard parts of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were also cut also, and we still have not gotten the full version. I believe the full version means less dialogue and plot, because they usually don't cut the action unless it is overly violent and surpasses an R-Rating. I am getting off topic. Anyway, can someone explain if they butchered HERO for plot and story, or action ... or they just trimmed it down because there was no need for the excess footage they thought Americans would dislike? [/B]

There's quite a few things about this movie that are unrealistic...but it's meant to be like that. It's really a LEGEND anyway, so it makes sense. (Not to mention that most of the unrealistic scenes are during the "false" scenes, the real scenes are more realistic...anyone who's seen it knows wut i mean...)

As for the cuts...I've never heard of a longer cut of Crouching Tiger, but I do know this for sure:
The version I watched was the theatrical version in all countries. It was 98 minutes long. The original cut, the one that Zhang Yimou wanted to keep was 118 minutes - 20 minutes longer. What I can tell you is that I (like most people) felt the movie was not totally well paced in the first half, and a bit in the second. It was too rushed. (BTW, it seems more and more apparent that Miramax FORCED Zhang Yimou to cut the film down 20 minutes, and he was reluctant to do so...so I wouldn't TOTALLY make up my mind about this movie until I actually saw the extended cut)...My thoughts are that the 20 minutes add more to the plot (which is definitely a good thing), and that Miramax probably felt people would be bored (not true...people have patience).

It was basically something like this in the theatrical cut: talk for a minute, fight for five. talk for a minute, fight for 1 minute. talk for a minute, fight for 2 minutes. talk for a minute, fight for 3 minutes. talk for a minute, stare at each other for a minute, fight for 4 minutes, etc...

There could definitely have been more character development at the beginning...and since Donnie Yen is advertised as a main star, I suspect he has several more scenes than he did in this movie.

What did I think of the movie? I really, really enjoyed it, but I'm praying the extended cut is even better. I was hoping this movie would be good, but I had heard much about it being a rushed movie, and so I prepared myself for that: and yes, it was rushed. There were a couple problems with it. But hopefully these will be resolved with the extended cut. The cinematography was incredible, but I still wish (and miss) Yuen Wo Ping doing the martial arts choreography like he should've been (he was going to, be he ended up having to leave the project due to matrix 2 and 3 being on his schedule)...the fight scenes were amazing to look at, but more because of the camera and directing, than the actual martial arts.

The movie could be seen as being quite propagandist for china (actually, u could look at it another way as well, the movie could be seen as SHOWING what made the chinese soldiers so loyal to their king and how propaganda influenced them, and then the movie itself wouldn't be propagandist) it was quite well done.

Here's to an extended cut...I just KNOW the extended cut could become one of my favorite movies of all time.

Right now, this will probably be between #5-10 on my top 10 list of 2002...

8 out of 10

Tomorrow I'm watching Infernal affairs which will hopefully be awesome
(H.K. Film awards this year - Infernal Affairs - 14 noms, Hero- 12 noms)

Btw, I live in Canada, and if u wanna c these early, go to Pacific Mall if u live in Toronto and u can buy both of these for like 8 dollars on dvd...I did today (My family lives in ottawa, but was up visiting cousins)

Oh, btw, I almost forgot to say...Hero is very different from The Emperor and the Assassin so forget what you know about the style of film from The Emperor and the Assassin...

As of rite now which film is better to me?

In this order -

Crouching Tiger: 9/10
The Emperor and the Assassin: 9/10
Hero: 8/10

Hopefully the extended cut will be everything i'm hoping for

[inglourious basterd]

I personally thought that this film was a very beautiful one. Well coordinated, well acted, and well directed. A lot of the symbolism went over my head and I think that I need another viewing to let it all sink in.

Overall, I liked it. But because I need to give it another viewing, I will hold back in any further detail.

[The 8 Ball]

This is the best made film I've ever seen. Even the sound aspect is great, it roars and it's so cool. Maggie Cheung has a great character and gives an oscer worthy performance. The finale is great and breathtaking. Though it was too short and too fast paced. Highly reconmend

10/10

[The 8 Ball]

It lost it's well deserved Oscer nomination. Zhang Yimou got fucked up the ass again. Miramax did jack shit to promote it for the Best Foregin Language Film award. It's their loss.

Hero has already entered the top 50 action films of all time on imdb.com. And it is already an underground hit in North America.

And Miramax has finally put up a page for Hero on their site, but first of all. The credits are wrong, because Jet Li didn't produce it and they only credited Zhang Yimou as the writer, when there is also Li Feng and Wang Bin who also wrote it. And in the plot description, they spell loyalty as "loyaltk". There is no excuse and the worst thing about it is that the official North American release won't be until WINTER 2003.

pisses me off...... :mad: