Blu-ray Review: Hero

American audiences first got a taste of Hero in 2003 after Quentin Tarantino put his name on it in an attempt to bring some extra attention to and leave untouched the artistic vision presented in Zhang Yimou’s Chinese epic. While some theaters at the time cautioned unadventurous American audiences that the film is presented in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles (so yes, reading is required), Hero was universally critically acclaimed as much more than a mindless martial arts flick, rife with drama, complex storytelling, absolutely stunning cinematography and a challenge to common notions of what makes a hero. It went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Six year’s later, the stunning epic that is Hero makes it way to hi-definition Blu-ray for the first time, and considering the reliance on beautiful cinematography, the upgrade is a worthwhile one. Hero is more vibrant than it has ever been, making the beauty of the infamous lake and leaf scenes shine even more than they did in theaters. It also has a decent sound mix, but its special features will be a let down for anyone hoping for more than those included on the original release.

Hero follows the flashback stories of a nameless protagonist (Jet Li) who finds himself before the King of Qin (Chen Dao Ming), a powerful Chinese warlord, after he claims to have killed three prominent assassins who have sought the life of the king. The flashback accounts feature intense martial arts swordplay, with a slight flair for supernatural motion of the combatants, most notably similar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But as the nameless hero moves closer to the king in celebration of his achievements, it becomes clear that there is more to the stories than it seems.

The film challenges the ideal of a hero as someone who relies totally on violent skill without ever questioning the mission at hand. The journey of Nameless proves to be wrought with emotion, and the end result also questions our perception of the “bad guy” and what victory truly means. As with the renowned conclusion of Alan Moore’s Watchman, maybe the scheming of the “evil genius” sometimes actually has merit, and more good comes of allowing it to progress than standing it down.

But the real treat of Hero lies in the visuals. Viewers are treated to an absolutely fantastic battle between Jet Li and action-star Donnie Yen (who plays Sky), which actually takes place in their minds. Then comes a dynamic battle between two women torn over the same man. The two wear bright red dresses and fight in a whirlwind of yellow leaves. The most elegant battle of the film, though, happens after the death of a key character, when Jet Li and Broken Sword (Tony Leung) dance along a perfectly still mirror of a lake in sorrowful swordplay.

The Blu-ray edition of the film is stunning, though still noticeably with some inconsistent points where grain or other technical issues reducing clarity are present. It is the best the film has been produced on home video, however, and most importantly really pops the big colors in the most beautiful scenes. While the sound mixes are formidable, it was a strange decision on the part of Miramax that the original Chinese-language version of the film, the way it was originally intended, doesn’t get the same DTS-HD quality mix as the English dub, but rather the common 5.1 Dolby Digital. While it still offers a hearty mix with clear vocals and sharp sound effects (lots of swords clanging during battle), it is a bit baffling that the original mix got the short end of the stick on this release. Still, this decision will only cause a problem for major audiophiles.

The special features include those previously found on the DVD release – “Inside the Action: A Conversation with Quentin Tarantino & Jet Li,” “Hero Defined Making-Of Featurette” and Storyboards. It also includes a 9-minute featurette called “Close Up of a Fight Scene,” which is more of a behind-the-scenes look at the battle between Nameless and Sky than a close up of the action. The features, which are rounded out by a soundtrack commercial, are all in standard definition with a very noticeable drop in quality from the feature. The conversation feature offers the most interesting content, but the features mainly play like old-style television bits to promote the film, rather than insightful pieces. It is a bummer that Miramax could seemingly scrap together no more material for the hi-def release, but fans of Hero will likely be happy with the transfer of its beautiful visuals to the Blu-ray medium.

Special Features
-The Hero Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high-definition 2.35:1 aspect ratio video; with English 5.1 DTS-HD (48 kHz/24-bit), Original Chinese, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital audio; with English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
-Special features are presented in 480i video; with English 2.0 Dolby Digital audio
-Close-up of a Fight Scene
-Inside the Action: A Conversation with Quentin Tarantino & Jet Li
-“Hero Defined” Making Of Featurette
-Storyboards
-Soundtrack Spot

About the Writer:
Bill Jones is editor-in-chief of padsandpanels.com, a site dedicated to coverage of comics and games.