Hero

Visually voluptuous but dramatically inert, this seems to be Zhang Yimou’s attempt to return to the good graces of the Chinese government, with its celebration of the establishment of the first “Our Land” empire of China more than two thousand years ago. Thin on story and characterization and thick with martial arts choreography, what makes this film hard to resist is the sheer scale and scope of the spectacle, from remote desert or mountain lake settings, to huge palaces and massive armies, phalanxes of archers and swordsman, mounted soldiers with banners flying. Sometimes the swordfights take place in a swirl of autumn leaves, or skimming over still waters, so the film is inventive in the same way comic book movies may be in this country, but we certainly ought to expect more from one of the world’s great filmmakers, a far cry from Ju Dou or To Live or The Road Home or others where the spectacle is balanced by an attentive realism. (2002, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-84, RT-94.)