Hero is not a CTHD clone; its a wonderful movie in its own right, staking its own territory as a dreamlike meditation on motivation and love.
Hero(英雄)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
China, Hong Kong · 2002
Rated PG-13 · 1h 39m
Director Zhang Yimou
Starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen
Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
After surviving an assassination attempt, King of Qin summons a renowned warrior in hopes of uniting the Warring States of ancient China. The nameless warrior boasts of having killed three assassins who claimed they would take Qin's life, but it is up to the country's leader to decide if Nameless is trustworthy or not.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
If you found "Crouching Tiger" a stunning bore, you probably won't fall under Hero's spell. But the rest of us, well, we'll be more than happy to savor every moment of its strange, ravishing beauty.
A dazzlingly lensed, highly stylized meditation on heroism.
Zhang Yimou's impeccably crafted, all-star martial arts extravaganza, is the essence of shallow gravitas.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
If there's a drawback, it's that the plot is trite. Hero is an exemplary example of visual poetry. The narrative is clearly of secondary concern.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
I wish 'Hero's emotional heat rose more intensely -- more recklessly. There's something grand but distant and almost fetishistic about the operatic solemnity with which Zhang approaches the Rashomonic story of assassins attempting to kill a king.
Hero is the masterpiece. It employs unparalleled visual splendor to show why men must make war to secure the peace and how warriors may find their true destiny as lovers.
Brilliant in flashes, thinned out as a whole, the film seems ideal for the DVD revolution, where the greatest hits can be compiled at the touch of a remote.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
Its stars - especially the photogenic Leung and Cheung, fresh from Wong Kar Wai's jazzy romance In the Mood for Love - are wonderfully charismatic. And wonderfully athletic.
Users who liked this film also liked
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(卧虎藏龙)
In another time, in a distant place... an epic adventure is about to unfold.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States • 2000
- Director Ang Lee
- Cast Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-Pei, Sihung Lung
- Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Kiss of the Dragon
One of China's top government agents must go on the run when he is framed for murder.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 2001
- Director Chris Nahon
- Cast Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo, Max Ryan, Ric Young, Burt Kwouk
- Genre Action, Crime, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Fearless
(霍元甲)
Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself makes you fearless.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Hong Kong • 2006
- Director Ronny Yu
- Cast Jet Li, Sun Li, Dong Yong, Shidou Nakamura, Pau Hei-Ching, Chen Zhi-Hui
- Genre Drama, Action
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Shooting Dogs
Based on a true story, a Priest and a Teacher get stranded in a school in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Germany • 2006
- Director Michael Caton-Jones
- Cast John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz, Nicola Walker, David Gyasi, Steve Toussaint
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on No streaming locations found.
House of Flying Daggers
(十面埋伏)
A blind dancer finds herself torn between love and duty as she fights acrobatic warriors in dazzlingly choreographed treetop battles.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Hong Kong • 2004
- Director Zhang Yimou
- Cast Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi, Song Dandan, Zhao Hongfei, Guo Jun
- Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Once Upon a Time in China
(黃飛鴻)
Never was a Hero needed more...
- Hong Kong • 1991
- Director Tsui Hark
- Cast Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung, Rosamund Kwan, Kent Cheng, Kam-Fai Yuen
- Genre Action, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Ararat
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, France • 2002
- Director Atom Egoyan
- Cast Simon Abkarian, Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, Arsinée Khanjian, David Alpay, Marie-Josée Croze
- Genre Drama
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
Conservationists must relocate a crocodile for their wildlife television show, but the crocodile is also being tracked by the CIA.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United States • 2002
- Director John Stainton
- Cast Steve Irwin, Terri Irwin, Magda Szubanski, David Wenham, Lachy Hulme, Aden Young
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Family
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee
Before the Rain
(Пред дождот)
Three interconnected stories of love under the threat of civil war in Macedonia and London.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, North Macedonia • 1994
- Director Milcho Manchevski
- Cast Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Šerbedžija, Grégoire Colin, Labina Mitevska, Phyllida Law, Silvija Stojanovska
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on Criterion Channel
Irma Vep
A Hong Kong actress goes to France to star in a remake of a French silent film.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1996
- Director Olivier Assayas
- Cast Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Antoine Basler, Nathalie Boutefeu, Alex Descas
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max
Behind the Sun
(Abril Despedaçado)
They killed his brother. His father wants revenge. But if he takes it, they will come for him next.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil, France, Switzerland • 2001
- Director Walter Salles
- Cast Rodrigo Santoro, José Dumont, Rita Assemany, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Ravi Ramos Lacerda, Flavia Marco Antonio
- Genre Crime, Drama, Family, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Superfantozzi
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1986
- Director Neri Parenti
- Cast Paolo Villaggio, Liù Bosisio, Gigi Reder, Plinio Fernando, Eva-Lena Lundgren, Luc Merenda
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Hitler: A Career
(Hitler - Eine Karriere)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1977
- Director Joachim Fest, Christian Herrendoerfer
- Cast Gert Westphal
- Genre Documentary, History
- Available on Netflix, OVID, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Tokyo Fiancée
A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, France, Canada (Quebec), Japan • 2014
- Director Stefan Liberski
- Cast Pauline Étienne, Taichi Inoue, Julie Le Breton, Alice de Lencquesaing, Akimi Ota, Hiroki Kageyama
- Genre Romance
- Available on OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Kanopy
Shadow
(影)
A king attempts to lead his displaced people out of exile.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, Hong Kong • 2018
- Director Zhang Yimou
- Cast Deng Chao, Sun Li, Ryan Zheng Kai, Wang Qian-Yuan, Wang Jingchun, Hu Jun
- Genre Action, Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Freevee, Xumo Play, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel