Hero

[El Duderino]

i saw the trailer at Kill Bill and it looks pretty good.

[pete]

I think I've announced this somewhere else on the board, but lemme reiterate.  Zhang Yimou is coming to Boston at the end of May to show the "festival version" (120-min cut?) of Hero, and I GOT TO BE TRANSLATING FOR HIM!

[El Duderino]

Finally online,

Trailer

[MacGuffin]

Finally online,

What are all those on page 2?

[El Duderino]

oh jesus, my bad. i seriously just read it. i'm blind.

[cine]

oh jesus, my bad. i seriously just read it. i'm blind.

[El Duderino]

oh jesus, my bad. i seriously just read it. i'm blind.

well put

[El Duderino]

i really dig that still

[pete]

just came back from its US premiere.  I was one of the volunteer translators so I got to hang out with Zhang Yimou very very briefly.  He has beautiful eyes (for cinematography) and I told him that, he was kinda cold though.  I had a funny picture (I think) with him and that was about it.
When I saw it with an Asian audience way back then, people were laughing at various parts of the film when it was trying "too hard."  Tonight the American audience laughs at the film too, at various parts (people uniformly loved it in the end) but at different parts.  Asian people laughed more at the cornball dialogues, while Americans still have hard time taking in the over-the-top action.

[pete]

here's a pic:

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UgDbAo8ap3B5kAM8BSMXk7k!!Y88VBlQ8Y76qJHRbwNjqeztvf8Z6iNva*Gk13EFRWpyxYlqXbLxegCl5TdGZ36Fnajk4ZCAYIE03PxhGbV*xHADX!C2hRFmxywxvfTY/zhang%20yimou.jpg?dc=4675474310184048334

[grand theft sparrow]

Finally watched the whole thing the other night.  There's no way it's going to do well in the US. Most of the people I know who saw Crouching Tiger, even the ones who enjoyed it, were baffled/annoyed by the flashback in the desert.  I have little to no faith that American audiences will "get" all the flashback stuff in this.  Apart from that, the motivations behind characters' actions are particularly not in line with Western thinking. A lot of people will find certain decisions made by the characters confusing or maybe even stupid.  

I'm also a little disappointed to see that the script itself isn't so great; I was hoping it was just the subtitles. But the cinematography is pants-wetting.  

Overall, I have to agree with matt35mm and pete on this one; I liked it (nothing with Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung could possibly be unwatchable) but it's nothing quite to crow about. I'll see it in a theatre when it comes out, but mainly to see how the audience reacts.

[Ghostboy]

I saw it this morning, and I guess all the negative buzz had my anticipation down to a level that allowed me to really enjoy it. It's certainly not a masterpiece like Crouching Tiger, but it's definitely worth seeing. I liked the Rashomon-style construction of the script, and Chris Doyle further proves that he is the greatest cinematographer working today. The color palletes are just breathtaking.

Also, I thought the CGI was fine. There's not even that much to begin with. A few shots were a little rough, but it never took me out of the scene. The first arrow attack was amazing, and I loved the whole calligraphy element of it.

So yeah, an imperfect script, maybe one or two too many fight scenes, an underused Donnie Yen, but otherwise this was, for me, a great time at the movies.

[MacGuffin]

Li Fights Against Formulaic Action Films

Jet Li wants to touch your soul before he kicks your butt. The Hong Kong action star says too many martial-arts movies ignore heart and emotion in favor of vengeance and gore.

He said his latest film to hit U.S. theaters, the Mandarin-language "Hero," is an antidote to other by-the-numbers action movies, an epic story about ancient China that aims to mesmerize moviegoers.

"We make the movements like a dream, more romantic, look pretty and (characters) have respect. It's not like old Hong Kong films two guys fighting, destroy the table, everything in the room broken and destroyed. Here it's more classic," Li said, clutching a string of Buddhist prayer beads while sitting on an outdoor patio of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before a recent preview screening.

In "Hero," set circa 200 B.C., Li plays a nameless ranger who receives an audience with the King of Qin, a historical figure who became China's first emperor, oversaw the building of the Great Wall and conquered the six other warring states.

A trio of assassins from those regions Sky, Broken Sword and Snow have long tried to murder the king, and Li's character is there to relate how he defeated Sky (Donnie Yen) with mystical swordsmanship and used the love between Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Snow (Maggie Cheung) to turn them against each other.

In "Hero," human beings hover over placid mountain lakes, dart toward each other faster than light, clash swords with a thousand marauding soldiers and deflect impossible attacks under a sky blackened by flying arrows.

"We talk about martial arts having three levels," Li said in broken English. "The first level we talk about the physical: Sword on your hand is part of your body. You use like it's your arm. The second part, you don't (really) have a sword but the sword in your heart. Before the physical contact, maybe you can scare them. Maybe you can use imagination, talking. Make them afraid.

"Third level, the highest level," he added. "You love your enemy."

In other words, mercy is courage.

But is that what action film fans want? Li says they do, but Hollywood is too timid to give it to them.

He points to the success of the similarly operatic fighting film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a Mandarin-language drama that debuted in the United States in 2000 and earned nearly $130 million.

What's more, Li said, is that many action fans already love the movie. The movie debuted in China in 2002, and DVDs of "Hero" have made their way from Asia and Europe to the United States, where the movie is copied and traded.

But so far, because distributor Miramax Films has long delayed the theatrical release, most U.S. fans have only seen it on their TV screens.

Li hopes they'll see it again on the big screen when it opens nationwide Friday.

The 41-year-old actor, who spent two decades as a Hong Kong star before making the transition to Hollywood in 1998's "Lethal Weapon 4," also sees this as a transition for him.

"I made more than 30 movies, most of them commercial action films: Good guy, got a problem, learning martial arts, come back, revenge, kill the bad guy. Lot of that," he said. "I want to find some movies to make that's different."

In "Hero," Li said director Zhang Yimou wanted to explore "what kind of person can become hero" within the framework of fighting, politics, romance and jealousy. Is it the conquering king? The assassins? The killer of the assassins?

After having hits with the American "Kiss of the Dragon," "Romeo Must Die" and "The One" Li was advised against forgoing his usual salary to return to China and star in a Mandarin-language movie.

But he liked the philosophical story, and said the script made him cry twice.

"They say, 'Jet, you're crazy. You're stupid,' because I don't take money. I say, `OK, fine. I just want to make it.' My experience is, if I continue to make this kind of film, another `Romeo Must Die,' another `Cradle 2 the Grave,' it's just another kick ass. What's that? After three? One, they like it, second it's OK, then three and four ... go home. Finished. Because the audience grew up, you didn't. The studio didn't. I think today they want some unique story, unique way to talk about a story. That's why we have `Crouching Tiger,' and 'Hero' and 'Unleashed.'"

"Unleashed" is his next English-language action movie, set for U.S. release in spring 2005, and Li plays a master fighter who's enslaved by an underground-fight promoter and treated like a dog throughout adulthood. When his leash is removed, he brutally attacks whoever's in sight.

Li hopes that movie and "Hero" will help him put the "artist" back into "martial artist."

[matt35mm]

It refreshing that Jet Li realizes that his English-language movies SUCK.  I hope this translates into better movies for him in the future.  "Hero" was a step in the right direction for him.

[Just Withnail]

"Hero" was a step fucking huge leap in the right direction for him.