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Reviews
Ying xiong (2002)
Zhang Yimou returns to epic filmmaking with a wonderful story, brilliant cinematography and acting.
Hero has to be a labor of love for China's preeminent filmmaker, Zhang Yimou. Based on a Chinese legend about China's first emperor Qin Shihuang and the assassins sent to assassinate him. Zhang Yimou returns to epic filmmaking last seen in To Live (1994), employing a style that that is so unique and distinctly Zhang.
Hero is definitely the most ambitious Zhang film in over 8 years, with a story of historical proportions encompassing honor, love, determination and sacrifice. Set over two thousand years ago, during the time of China's Warring States period, the King of the Qin kingdom set out to unite Qin with the other six kingdoms. It was his determination to carry out his mission that made him a target of assassins from the other kingdoms. Even though he has managed to escape previous attempts, he has become fearful of three legendary assassins - Broken Sword, Falling Snow and Sky.
Hero opened with the arrival of what seems to be China's new hero, Nameless, to King Qin's palace. Nameless has succeeded in defeating the other three assassins and was promised significant wealth as his reward.
In Hero, Zhang has succeeded in constructing an epic tale of honor, love and intrigue. The story is told as a conversation between the King and Nameless and in a Rashomon-esque style, Zhang brought to live a wonderful landscape filled with color and sound as the audience is magically transported back to ancient China. Zhang's directing and cinematography is impeccable and the acting was superb. Zhang has brought together a world renowned cast consisting of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung - the two were simply amazing as Falling Snow and Broken Sword. Zhang Ziyi has also proven herself as a force to be reckoned with her powerful performance as Moon, Broken Sword's loyal student and servant. Finally, veteran actor Chen Daoming gave a strong performance as King Qin.
Hero is an amazing movie. The directing, acting, cinematography, story, editing and music will leave you in awe and begging for more. There will many who will want to compare this to Crouching Tiger. I have been a fan of Zhang for almost ten years and I firmly believe Zhang did not intend to copy Crouching Tiger. You will be enthralled with the martial arts in Hero as you were in Crouching Tiger but the focus is not on the martial arts but the drama and the intrigue. The "fighting scenes" seem to flow like the soundtrack, complemented by the most wonderful use of color.
Hero is testimony of Zhang as one of the world's most talented director. I would not be surprised to see Hero's nomination for the Academy Awards.
The Truth About Charlie (2002)
The truth about Charlie is "IT IS BAD"!!!
A remake of a movie-classic, Oscar-winning director, acclaimed actors in Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton and Tim Robbins and one would expect at the very minimum, a decent movie. On the contrary, The Truth About Charlie not only borders on being boring, the acting was horrendous and Jonathan Demme directed like an amateur filming a vacation video.
The Truth About Charlie is about Regina Lampert (Thandie Newton), who came back from vacation to discover her Paris apartment ransacked and cleaned out and to be notified by the police that her husband, Charlie, was murdered. She was then pursued by three former Special-Ops, who believed Charlie has stolen what was rightfully theirs. Tim Robbins, acting as a government agent and Mark Wahlberg, a presumably "innocent" samaritan came to Regina's help but are these two really who they said they were?
The movie is not worth your time nor effort. Do yourself a favor and watch Charade instead. Although released back in 1963, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Walter Matthau were so much more believable in their roles as Regina Lampert, Joshua Peter and Bartholomew.
The Warrior (2001)
Wonderful cinematography and superb acting and Ifhan Khan.
The premise is simple, a story about a "Warrior" working for a feudal landlord whom decided to give up his sword for the peace and simple virtues of village life where he grew up. Unfortunately, the landlord would not allow such "disloyalty" and sent the other "warriors" after Lafcadia, brilliantly played by Ifhan Khan.
Wonderful cinematography and superb and intense acting by Ifhan Khan. Unfortunately, the Warrior failed to live up to its fullest potential due to flaws in the story and its overly simplistic script. We never fully understood the reasons for Lafcadia to give up his killing ways. What was the impetus? What about Riaz, the boy whom Lafcadia met on the way to the mountains? These are among the numerous questions lingering on as the movie slowly unfolds as Lafcadia found his way eventually to the mountains.
On the whole, I will be looking forward to seeing more works from director Asif Kapadia who has shown promise and potential with The Warrior.
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Don't waste your time. The girls look cute but the story borders on stupidity and the script is ridiculous.
The comics and short-lived cartoon series were cute and the characters, well, Josie and the Pussycats are cute also. But really, what else is there? Unfortunately, Josie and the Pussycats - the movie suffers from the lack of an important element in a movie - a decent story.
Writers/directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan had hoped to make a satire poking fun at the pop music industry, trend-conscious teens and commercialization of America but the result was a movie that seemed pieced together by paper cut-outs of advertisements and Starbucks coffee cup holders. The problem with Josie and the Pussycats is that the premise of the movie is too simplistic and basic with major work required before it can be turned into a movie script. The government is involved with a major record label to brainwash American youth with subliminal messages to encourage consumption and create trends. That's your entire story, stretched paper-thin into a feature-length movie.