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Hero (2004)

tomatometer

95

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 191
Fresh: 181 | Rotten: 10

A sumptuous movie that'll excite your eyes if not your heart.

100

Average Rating: 8.3/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 0

A sumptuous movie that'll excite your eyes if not your heart.

audience

85

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 224,981

My Rating

Movie Info

In a distant war torn land, a ruthless emperor is rising to power with an iron fist and massive armies. To control everything, he will stop at nothing. A fearless warrior, Nameless, goes on a mission of revenge, against the emperor, for the massacre of his people.

Nov 30, 2004

$53.6M

Miramax Films

Cast

All Critics (194) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (191) | Rotten (10) | DVD (42)

I wouldn't have missed this spectacle for the world, and neither should you -- despite an admitted quirk in my political sensibility in these contentious times that keeps me from admiring the film wholeheartedly.

September 9, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a fantastic film.

August 30, 2004 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

So deliriously chockablock with high-flying, color-coordinated fight scenes that non-aficionados may find it all a bit bewildering -- a gorgeous abstraction. It sure is gorgeous, though, and it has a dream cast.

August 29, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's not too much to say that Hero is one of the most ravishing spectacles the movies have given us.

August 28, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If martial arts movies have always seemed like musicals with full body contact, Zhang Yimou's Hero is the closest the form has yet come to a full-blown Vincente Minnelli MGM extravaganza.

August 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bursting with luscious color and stunning visual effects.

August 27, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gorgeous martial arts movie for older kids.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Zhang weaves a complex and interesting story but the ultimate strength of Hero is its poetic beauty.

September 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Views | Comment

When we are not left agog by the pristine production design and costuming, we marvel at the various staged conflicts, each one bringing a new level of proficiency and polish to an already overripe genre.

September 17, 2009 Full Review Source: PopMatters | Comment
PopMatters

Extras include a making-of featurette and a conversation with actor Jet Li and the movie's key North American promoter Quentin Tarantino.

September 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide

... one of the best films of its kind and one of the most beautiful films ever made.

July 4, 2008 Full Review Source: ESplatter | Comment
ESplatter

In what may be the movie's most spectacular set piece ... Zhang pits the sword against the pen and fends off war with knowledge and non-violence.

June 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comment
Paste Magazine

Better experienced than discussed -- and better seen two or more times.

September 17, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

While consistently watchable, Yimou's movie is infused with a dirge-like tone...making it a somewhat wearisome and sluggish experience

August 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinema Writer | Comment
Cinema Writer

Dishes up some of the most extravagant doodling in cinema.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Each scene is a painting; within those paintings is a ballet of movement, in the guise of wire-aided martial arts.

May 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | Comment

An assured, loving cinematic tone poem to the martial arts genre.

January 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

The film's art direction, fight choreography, music, acting and especially cinematography are top notch, making this a movie I would highly recommend.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Hero is a visual, emotional, and poetic masterpiece.

June 20, 2005 Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | Comment

Strikes a mildly resonant chord.

May 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
Lessons of Darkness
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Hero

A lone warrior enters the palace of his emperor and tells the tale of how he defeated the three most feared assassins in the land. The most obviously striking element of Hero is its sheer visual beauty as it is packed to brimming with stunning costumes, colours and sets and uses the same kind of graceful wirework that

October 20, 2006
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

Inspired by the assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC, Hero is a visual, emotional, social, and political triumph that overwhelmingly marvels with rhythmic movements, metrical narrative, and picturesque cinematography amplified by a palette of contrasting colors. Overwhelming.

September 18, 2011
Jan Marc Macababayao

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Hero (Ying xiong) (DE)
  • Hero (Ying xiong) (CA)
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