Year: 2002
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): Miramax
Release Date: September 2009

Film/Feature: A

For the first time on blu-ray comes Zhang Yimou’s first foray into the martial arts genre, having made a name for himself with beautiful and tragic dramas starring Gong Li (Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou). Hero is about a Nameless warrior (Jet Li) who plots with two other warriors, Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) to dethrone the King of Qin (Chen Daoming) who desires to be the first emperor of China. Two other characters help move the story along, Sky (Donnie Yen) an outlaw and first casualty of Namless, and Moon (Zhang Ziyi) who serves as Broken Sword’s apprentice. The story is told through flashbacks placed in the middle of a conversation between Nameless and the King. The assassins want China to remain separate entities, the King hopes to connect the divisions under one nation. The debate over whether or not the film supports the autocracy of China’s first emperor still rages on, and the film will split viewers one way or the other. I’m aware of that but to me this was a story more driven by love, hope and sacrifice through martial arts than it is to depict a documentarian look at history.

Hero is not the straight-forward chop-saki flick that many are accustomed to, and that too is why I like it. It a story of perspective and perception based on which character is telling the story. Yimou’s use of color is unparalleled and creates fantastical atmosphere never attached to the genre, and in Hero he gives some of the most memorable scenes ever to grace a martial arts film.

This is one export that I wished Quentin Tarantino and more specifically, Miramax had left alone, mostly because I think the film was good enough that it didn’t need to be brought over by the US studios. My hostility towards this film is from enjoying an imported DVD. After years of watching a more pure version of the film, the Miramax translation and poorly dubbed audio track irritate me to no end.

But back to what I love about this film. Martial arts aficionados love the re-match of Jet Li and Donnie Yen, filmed ten years after their first on-screen battle in Once Upon a Time in China 2. Romance fans love seeing Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung on screen again who have such great on-screen chemistry stemming from Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood For Love and revisited in 2046. And Zhang Ziyi fans will love to see her Moon character’s ass get schooled by Cheung, Leung, and Li’s characters.

I hate to use the word epic, but it’s a fitting description here. There’s tragedy, bravery, and selflessness that does battle with the emotional fire within us all when we believe in something strongly enough. That struggle is what interests me more than what historical reference Hero places the start of China as one nation in the minds of the current population. Yimou’s hope was that people would long remember specific scenes from Hero even after people forget the story. He accomplished all of that and more.

Video: A-
Hero has been brought over to high definition in a 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Anyone familiar with Hero knows how beautiful this film is, and how color is a big part of the storytelling, and wow does it look great. There are not enough words to describe just how the color pops on high def. It’s important that the colors are so pronounced because they convey emotions and help tell the story in an artful, majestic way that is commonplace if you have seen the work of Zhang Yimou and cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Skip to chapter five “Jealous Fools” and you’ll see what I mean. That red is lipstick red instead of the red-orange we’re used to on the DVD. The detail is greatly improved on blu-ray. Hair, pores, the fibers in the silk or linen can all be picked out. On DVD skin tones lean towards being too yellow, and slightly dull, but boy do the colors sing here. Shadows in the drapery and clothing is all clear, and blacks are deep. This isn’t the cleanest transfer because there are still bits of dirt, artifacts, and moments of unacceptable grain that can be seen by your average videophile, but is it enough to distract you from the visual experience of Hero? No. What’s distracting is what comes next…

Audio: C
Again, Miramax took the time to give us a new 5.1 DTS-HD audio track BUT ONLY FOR ENGLISH! As an audio experience you have to love what was done with the sound. In chapter Two, the fight between Sky and Nameless shows everything the HD track can do. The spacial and atmospheric effects are really amped up. The sword fights is more resounding, you can feel the difference in weight of the weapons when they move. The “tinging” of weapons making contact ricochet around. Try chapter Three “Caligraphy” were Nameless and Flying Snow ward off thousands of arrows. This is a very active track where you can hear arrows whiz by. But then in the epic match between Flying Snow and Moon in the yellow forest, well, it’s sensory overload. You don’t miss one leaf that passes by your head… AND THEN you hear the bad dubbing whenever someone talks and it’s just so deflating.

There’s also a crazy and insultingly bad “Descriptive Audio” track too which has a Cate Blanchett-like voice who describes what is going on in between the audio, including character’s movements as if you were hearing an audio book. Then there’s a male Ralph Fiennes-like voice who reads all of the dialogue, no matter who is speaking, never changing the inflection or tone of his voice to differentiate between characters. But then even more puzzling when the actors talk, it’s the Chinese audio coming out of the actors’ mouths. Eventually the female voice does come in and recites the dialogue for female characters. It’s an aggravating track. The levels of sound effects and music cut in and out. I just can’t believe that Miramax spent money on this, but they couldn’t bother with a HD Chinese track or just couldn’t give us the Chinese cut of the film. Hero is not that difficult of a film to follow, and this Descriptive Audio track was as worthless as it gets.

Has there ever been so many options to bury the original 5.1 Dolby Digital Mandarin track in a Chinese film? It’s on there, and to have a seamless movie experience, then just listen to this track, but it’s tempting to switch back and forth with the new DTS-HD track for the fight scenes and then quickly toggle back to the Mandarin track for the dialogue. Other audio selections include are 5.1 Dolby Digital French and Spanish tracks, and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French SDH, and Spanish SDH.

Extras: C
All of the extras are in standard definition and are what was on the original Miramax DVD. There’s no commentary and enough repetition in the main three supplements that they become exhaustive even though combined they’re under an hour. I wish there was an effort to produce something new, but I get the feeling that this Force of Four collection was all about getting it in HD, slapping a HD audio dub track and call it a day.

Hero Defined SD (24:00) Finally, I get to watch this and understand it (my import did not have English subtitles on the extras) and it is a good look behind-the-curtain on the challenges, the achievement and aim of Zhang Yimou and interviews the cast of their thoughts on making Hero.

Inside the Action SD (14:00) is a one-on-one conversation between Quentin Tarantino and Jet Li going over the progression of Li’s career in Hong Kong cinema. It’s actually a nice conversation, especially for newcomers to the genre, although it is disorganized. Someone must explain the final minutes to me, where they preview parts of the Hero Defined extra (above). Just more waste that could have been corrected.

Close-Up of a Fight Scene SD (9:00) Some notes and thoughts by the actors about the key fight scenes in the film.

Storyboards SD (5:00) A side-by-side comparison of storyboards and four fight scenes.

Soundtrack Spot SD (1:00) A commercial for the Tan Dun score.

Digital Copy Disc is a copy of the film for your laptop or portable media device. Why they just don’t give you a bonus DVD of the film I’ll never know. Oh and this digital download is only available up until 3/15/2011, so you have a wasted disc after then.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Well what’s most shocking to me is that in this day and age, and how cultured America wants to claim it is, when there’s an opportunity to do something right the first time, Disney/Miramax creates this blu-ray for the least cultured consumer. Who else is going to spend top dollar on a blu-ray but the films’ most diehard fans? This was a missed opportunity to do Hero right and get a proper HD transfer with HD soundtrack of the original film. They get it half-right here, and this is the best I’ve ever seen the film, but the other 50% of why I would want to upgrade to blu-ray is for the improved HD audio. Sorry, but that English track is an insult. I love Hero, and I love the way it looks, but Disney/Miramax, if you’re going to handle these foreign films, handle them like you handle your animated properties, otherwise hand them off to someone who does care.

Screen captures were taken from www.DVDBeaver.com