The history of martial arts films often makes me chuckle. In the ‘70s, following the Cultural Revolution, both China and Hong Kong produced kung fu films by the dozens to distribute domestically as well as internationally. Many of these movies would wind up playing on triple bills in grindhouse theaters on 42nd Street. A few others would go down in history as cult classics. The rest were forgotten. But not once does my faulty memory cite there being anything as majestic as Hero produced.
Although, one must stop and wonder — if something like it had been made, audiences in the ‘70s would have probably laughed it off the screen. With its high-wire action, classical style music score, and completely implausible action sequences, Hero would have probably been considered the worst kind of exploitation film imaginable: the pretentious kind.
Now, flash forward 30 years later or so. The worldwide success of a pretentious exploitation film called The Matrix led way to a resurgence of interest in martial arts in the cinema. But audiences were no longer clamoring for the cheese-fests that the ’70s and ‘80s are so well-remembered for — they were craving the “artistic” kind of chop-socky flicks, à la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Suddenly, movies like Hero were considered “art.” Go figure.
I was always a fan of martial arts films — particularly the cheesy chop-socky kind. When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out, I too was mesmerized by the new direction that the old formula had taken. Unfortunately, the artsy effect was short-lived with me (as well as many others) — and by the time Hero hit theaters, I was completely bored with the “majestic” or “artistic” sort of martial arts films.
It didn‘t help matters that Hero (Ying Xiong) took two years to receive a debut in American theaters, thanks mostly due to the not-so-tactful efforts of Miramax Films, who constantly delayed the release for one reason or another (it’s a habit with them: they said six years ago they were releasing Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, and we‘ve still yet to see any signs of it). Hence, this was my initial viewing of the film.
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