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HERO Discussion

post #1 of 35
8/26/04 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
According to Box Office Guru, Hero will open in 2,031 theaters this friday.
Finally, Miramax is doing a great job to promote this movie!
http://www.miramax.com/hero/index.html
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post #2 of 35
8/28/04 at 3:12am
I think Miramax is setting audiences up to be disappointed with their TV spots.
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post #3 of 35
8/28/04 at 3:34am
Miramax has been setting up this movie horribly from the get go with those trailers and tv spots.
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post #4 of 35
8/28/04 at 12:43pm
Thread Starter 
No. 1 on last Friday
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/c...4-08-27&p=.htm
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post #5 of 35
8/29/04 at 12:47am
Saw it today with family, i liked it, after the film I turned to them and said i liked it....

"Oh my god, really?"

Of course the person who said that also said he thought I had a better taste in music after I said I was listening to Queen. *sigh*

What does each color represent? I know that white represents truth.

This is certainly a film you have to NOT see in a big mega plex cause the trailers have them all thinking it's brainless action, at the end when they were showing the closing text on screen a bunch of children were walking out already.

I loved it though, amazing look to it, the fight scenes were astounding. I'm not sure about how well it translates to the U.S. though.

***Spoilers***



Sadly I have to listen to my brother go "Oh why the hell did he let them just shoot him when arrows when he could've just...."
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post #6 of 35
8/29/04 at 2:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth_Chocula
Sadly I have to listen to my brother go "Oh why the hell did he let them just shoot him when arrows when he could've just...."
Glad you enjoyed it Darth. The answer to this is Jet was the Hero for sacrificing himself for the greater good of China.. The totalitarian regime was strengthened by the assassin couples seppaku and Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi will return in the sequel with a new 50'000 man'd army of cloned supersoldiers from planet Zeist.
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post #7 of 35
8/29/04 at 3:00am
According to IMDB: Red represents imagination (or lies, because that's what that section is), blue is perception (the king's thoughts on how it went), green is enlightenment (the reasoning behind this is probably due to it being Broken Sword's side of the story; as he is the first one to have the revelation on the king's true plan), and white is anything that actually happens/truth.
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post #8 of 35
8/29/04 at 12:56pm
Thread Starter 
Weekend Estimates: $17,802,000

Good for a $21 million acquisition.


http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend...wknd=35&p=.htm
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post #9 of 35
8/29/04 at 2:43pm
Surprise surprise. I'm hearing quite a few people were disappionted because the movie wasn't what they expected it to be. A few friends of my mine swore that this was a non-stop kung fu action film before I told them otherwise.
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post #10 of 35
8/29/04 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertain...40829_991.html
"Hero," nominated for the foreign-language Academy Award for 2002, is director Zhang Yimou's saga of China some 2,000 years ago. The film stars Li, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Dao Ming, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Donnie Yen, a lineup of Asian superstars that distributor Miramax calls the "`Ocean's Eleven' of Chinese films."

"It obviously hit a nerve and certainly bodes well for Chinese films and foreign-language films," said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, which opened "Hero" in 2,031 theaters, unusually wide for a foreign-language movie. "We believed in the movie and went for it."
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post #11 of 35
8/29/04 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chans
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertain...40829_991.html
"Hero," nominated for the foreign-language Academy Award for 2002, is director Zhang Yimou's saga of China some 2,000 years ago. The film stars Li, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Dao Ming, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Donnie Yen, a lineup of Asian superstars that distributor Miramax calls the "`Ocean's Eleven' of Chinese films."

"It obviously hit a nerve and certainly bodes well for Chinese films and foreign-language films," said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, which opened "Hero" in 2,031 theaters, unusually wide for a foreign-language movie. "We believed in the movie and went for it."


They must of had a previous life of being politicians....because the BS is strong with them.
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post #12 of 35
8/29/04 at 6:30pm
Estimated #1 for the weekend. I'm happily impressed.

Maybe this will get HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS a decent push stateside now.
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post #13 of 35
8/29/04 at 6:59pm
Finally saw the bastard, and quite loved it. The only thing I could compare it to would be CROUCHING TIGER... but I didn't feel this film had nearly the same emotional resonance. It wasn't for lack of trying, though, as the actors all turned in great performances. The sequence with the hail of arrows on the calligraphy house was particularly fucking marvelous. Visually, I'd say HERO is on my short-list of the most luscious and well-photographed films I've ever seen; so many brilliant shots.
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post #14 of 35
8/29/04 at 7:34pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1445&p=.htm
"Our strategy was a grossly misunderstood by the press," Miramax head of worldwide public relations Amanda Lundberg told Box Office Mojo. "We wanted to get some distance from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We didn't want to go when Asia went."

The splitting of the martial arts-infused Kill Bill into two movies -- Vol. 1 in Oct. 2003 and Vol. 2 this past April -- presented an opportunity to build awareness for Hero but delayed it further. "You couldn't get a better marketing tool for Hero than to attach the trailer to Kill Bill," Lundberg explained.
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post #15 of 35
8/29/04 at 7:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nordling
Estimated #1 for the weekend. I'm happily impressed.

Maybe this will get HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS a decent push stateside now.
I'm sure Sony Pictures Classic was already going to do that my friend...

You got to remember, though they've had missteps, they treat Asian films right for the most part.
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post #16 of 35
8/29/04 at 9:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maus
Saw this on Friday. Took no fewer than seven of my otherwise-not-going-to-a-movie-with-subtitles-dammit friends. Afterwards, one remarked that "That poor guy was stabbed like five times in one film by same woman." After that, we referred to her as "Pagoda".

Good time. But the sound mix was a bit overbearing in my theater. Just because this is America doesn't mean that the rushing of leaves needs to sound like niagara falls via hiroshima.
I really liked the sound of the raindrops falling but I agree, the sound mix was really overbearing, the leaves were REALLY fucking loud.
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post #17 of 35
8/30/04 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by E.C.
I think Miramax is setting audiences up to be disappointed with their TV spots.
The theater I saw this in was horrible. It's a normally pretty sedate and decent place to see flicks, but the audience was largely unaware that they would be required to read, and that there wasn't going to be wall to wall action and that DMX did not co-star, apparently.

I need a private screening room or something. They need to have ignorant asshole matinee day or something where everyone who wants to go and talk through the movie that they can't bother reading is welcome to see it together.
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post #18 of 35
8/30/04 at 3:59pm
Alright, I don't get it: why does Miramax promote Quentin Tarantino so much?

He didn't direct it? that was Yimou Zhang...

I'm confused! Did he front the cash to translate it and bring it to the U.S?....cause it's an old flick international-wise...

Anybody know?
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post #19 of 35
8/30/04 at 8:18pm
SPOILERS below.


Did anyone else discern what the morale of this movie was?

I never thought anyone would actually conceive of using pacifism to justify a violent regime bent on dominating its neighbors. It seems that this was essentially the point of the movie. The Qin emporor had ambitions to conquer through force all the 6 kingdoms, and beyond. The master swordsman Broken Sword (I think that was his name) figures out through calligraphy that the greatest warrior can find peace with everyone around him and has no use for violence. In the end, the Nameless hero apparently arrives at the same conclusion and decides not to murder the Qin emperor. His explanation is that a united China ("our land") was necessary to bring lasting peace. But he himselves predicts that many will die through force because of his decision not to kill the Emperor, and yet we are supposed to just accept this as the right thing to do? This didn't make much sense to me.

The movie felt like a propaganda film for the present totalitarian Chinese government. Visually, it was stunning. The fight scenes were nice to look at (though some of them went on way too long for my tastes). But thematically, it was incoherent. Am I alone in thinking this?
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post #20 of 35
8/30/04 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by durvasa
SPOILERS below.


Did anyone else discern what the morale of this movie was?

I never thought anyone would actually conceive of using pacifism to justify a violent regime bent on dominating its neighbors. It seems that this was essentially the point of the movie. The Qin emporor had ambitions to conquer through force all the 6 kingdoms, and beyond. The master swordsman Broken Arrow figures out through calligraphy that the greatest warrior can find peace with everyone around him and has no use for violence. In the end, the Nameless hero apparently arrives at the same conclusion and decides not to murder the Qin emperor. His explanation is that a united China ("our land") was necessary to bring lasting peace. But he himselves predicts that many will die through force because of his decision not to kill the Emperor, and yet we are supposed to just accept this as the right thing to do? This didn't make much sense to me.

The movie felt like a propaganda film for the present totalitarian Chinese government. Visually, it was stunning. The fight scenes were nice to look at (though some of them went on way too long for my tastes). But thematically, it was incoherent. Am I alone in thinking this?

The movie is propaganda. "Our Land" wasn't even the actual line, instead it was "All Under Heaven" which is quite a nationalistic in connotation. Like I said in the other thread, I was with a Taiwainese gentleman when I saw this movie and he spoke of the fact that he could easily see China using this movie to speak to Taiwan to forget independence because China knows best. The propaganda doesn't mean much here and thus will have infinitely less impact here but abroad I'm sure there are some who view this officially sanctioned film of China with raised eyebrows....
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post #21 of 35
8/30/04 at 9:46pm
I don't see how it's propaganda. I mean, it's a Fifth Generation movie. It's about deconstructing the history of China, as his films in the past have been. It's just Yimou's art fitting with a particular theory, but that's what this movie is, first and foremost: art. I can't imagine Yimou having anything in mind other than telling the story he wants to tell. It may share his political views, but to treat it as this tool of the Chinese government... I don't buy that at all.
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post #22 of 35
8/30/04 at 9:49pm
South Korean friend of mine thought it was disturbing and messed up. I agree but the film is still very good.
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post #23 of 35
8/30/04 at 10:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles B
I don't see how it's propaganda. I mean, it's a Fifth Generation movie. It's about deconstructing the history of China, as his films in the past have been. It's just Yimou's art fitting with a particular theory, but that's what this movie is, first and foremost: art. I can't imagine Yimou having anything in mind other than telling the story he wants to tell. It may share his political views, but to treat it as this tool of the Chinese government... I don't buy that at all.
I don't know what the filmmaker's intentions were. In discussing the movie with my sister afterwards, I considered the possibility that the film is merely a retelling of a legend past down generation by generation, and so you can't hold the film responsible for the apparent morale of the story. Well, ok, we can appreciate the movie based on its artistic merits, but I have a difficult time ignoring the political statement it seems to be making (through the conversation between the King and the Nameless hero near the end).

At first, it seems that the film is arguing for pacifism -- as in, violence is not the solution to the conflict between the kingdoms. Upon coming to this realization, Broken Sword decides not to execute the King, and the Nameless hero eventually decides the same thing. But then, what is this predictable consequence of this decision? Well, Nameless hero spells it out. He says it will likely result in much more bloodshed. In fact, the narration in the beginning of the movie says the same -- the king is trying to unite the country for the sake of peace, but in doing so uses force against his neighbors. Ultimately, the films seems to be arguing two totally different things: (1) put down the weapons and "love" those around you, (2) its ok to brutally force others into submission and thereby bring "peace." I mean, its as absurd as Martin Luther King deciding to back some megalomaniac who'd violently overthrow the government and institute a totalitarian regime where all the ethnic groups were forced to live peacefully with eachother. How can pacifism ever be used to justify military conquest?
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post #24 of 35
8/31/04 at 3:48pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2241635&EDATE=
Hero Jets to a Record Breaking Opening Weekend


Hero grosses $18,004,319 million and becomes the second largest weekend
opening ever for a foreign language film

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Miramax Films is proud to announce that
Jet Li's action packed martial arts epic Hero grossed over $18m in North
America this weekend, the second largest weekend opening ever for a foreign
language film. Hero, which opened on 2031 screens, grossed $18,004,319, for a
per screen average of $8865. The announcement was made today by Miramax Chief
Operating Officer Rick Sands.
"We're very proud of Hero's strong opening and how it has proven to be a
successful film, not just a successful foreign language film," said Sands.
"Throughout Miramax's history, we have always been especially satisfied when
mainstream U.S. audiences respond so strongly to foreign language projects
like this."
A full four years before U.S. audiences experience the wonders of China
via the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the release of Hero offers moviegoers
nationwide the opportunity to witness China's all-time highest-grossing -- and
most stylish, spectacular and action-packed -- motion picture experience. The
film is being released in the exact same version that shattered box office
records in its native land.
In Hero, a soldier with no name (international superstar JET LI) is on a
mission of revenge against the army that massacred his people. Now he must
take on the Empire's most ruthless assassins to reach the enemy he has sworn
to defeat.
Hero spotlights one of the most awaited martial arts matchups in film
history, with superstar Li engaging in an epic cinematic showdown with martial
arts sensation DONNIE YEN ("Iron Monkey", "Shanghai Knights"). As heralded in
the Asian edition of Time magazine, "The high-flying martial artist Yen, known
from his rhythmic, graceful style, pits his gravity-defying leaps against Li
in a scene that will have audiences roaring for more!"
Hero represents an unprecedented assembly of China's most renowned acting
talent, including Hong Kong megastars TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI and MAGGIE CHEUNG
MAN-YUK, fresh from their award-wining performances in "In The Mood for Love,"
and international superstar ZHANG ZIYI in her latest action role following
such in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Rush Hour 2."
Hero also boasts an all-star lineup of Asian talent behind the camera.
Two-time Academy Award nominated director ZHANG YIMOU is joined by
award-winning producer BILL KONG ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"); director
of photography CHRISTOPHER DOYLE (winner of the Cannes Film Festival's
Technical Grand Prize); Academy Award-winning costume designer EMI WADA and
Academy Award-winning composer TAN DUN.
The film's thrilling action segments comes from one of the most renowned
action directors in the world, TONY CHIUNG SIU TUNG, straight from his roaring
success on "Shaolin Soccer."


SOURCE Miramax Films
Web Site: http://www.miramax.com
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post #25 of 35
8/31/04 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Daywalker
South Korean friend of mine thought it was disturbing and messed up. I agree but the film is still very good.

That's the interesting thing, many of my friends who are first or second generation Asian Americans have said they thought it was disturbing as well, cool and very beautiful and yet disturbing. I think there is greater signifigance there then most of us can recgonize.

*Shrugs* Knowing the Chinese government had a hand in this film (the actual ability to shoot in the Forbidden City and other things) and signed off on it shows they approved of what this film represented (because otherwise it wouldn't have seen life) and that says a lot.

The propaganda isn't in your face but it's surely there as an undercurrent throughout the film and then suddenly comes to a head at the end.
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post #26 of 35
8/31/04 at 6:48pm
saw this on friday and i thought it was very goos. extremely beautiful and engaging, the water fight could've used a little trimming but otherwise it was an almost flawless movie.i agree on the color schemes for the different telling and i like it even more that i know each color has a distict meaning. i think this may also be the first movie that i have ever seen where i loved but was also bothered by its message
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post #27 of 35
9/1/04 at 6:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by durvasa
The movie felt like a propaganda film for the present totalitarian Chinese government.
I thought this was quite obvious, the ending is very clear on this. Also the Chinese government has a hand in every legal film shot there, so of course they were going to use their biggest-ever production to support their ideology.
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post #28 of 35
9/1/04 at 2:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by E.C.
Surprise surprise. I'm hearing quite a few people were disappionted because the movie wasn't what they expected it to be. A few friends of my mine swore that this was a non-stop kung fu action film before I told them otherwise.
Yeah, I had a friend who saw this and said he didn't like the "subtext" and neither did most of the people in the theater with him. I know people went expecting a much different film. But, what told me that my friend can not appreciate films such as these is the fact that at the end of our conversation he said he COULD NOT WAIT to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse when it opens in a couple of weeks.

I am thinking about going to see it today, but haven't officially decided.
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post #29 of 35
9/1/04 at 10:00pm
I was in Circuit City yesterday and they were playing this on one of the nice flatscreens. So, I just stood ther and watched it for a while. I've never seen someone play a bootleg in a store before. I thought that was kinda funny.
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post #30 of 35
9/1/04 at 10:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by I am not Davey Havok
I was in Circuit City yesterday and they were playing this on one of the nice flatscreens. So, I just stood ther and watched it for a while. I've never seen someone play a bootleg in a store before. I thought that was kinda funny.

Possibly not a bootleg....you don't need a hack or all-region player to view the HK version of Hero...
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post #31 of 35
9/1/04 at 10:17pm
Confucius might have agreed with the moral. He thought that war was destructive, better to have harmony (in all spheres, political-social etc.) than autonomy.

But as i'm not as well versed in the subject as I would like, and as i have yet to see "Hero". I shall withdraw from the disscussion until later.
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post #32 of 35
9/1/04 at 11:37pm
shit
i thought north america was getting the extended version?

from imdb:

Runtime: China:107 min (extended version) / China:93 min / Finland:98 min / Germany:99 min / Sweden:99 min / USA:96 min
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post #33 of 35
9/3/04 at 2:08am
ok. so i watched it.. and i finally understand all this talk about propaganda and chinese nationalism.

i had seen it twice before.. the longer original version , with the original subs, and i really didnt feel that much of a nationalistic bent... sure the subtext was there.. but as a story merging history with legend and fairy tale.. it didnt feel overtly so. so, when i began reading the chud threads i was really having trouble believing this was the same movie id seen.

turns out it wasnt.

"All under heaven" was indescribably more effective for me than "our land" (which had me going "say what?" in the middle of the theatre). Our land? that spoiled the movie for me right there. and i , too, am leaning towards the notion that there is definitely an element of subterfuge at work.

The ending text about China still referring to their country as "our land" was just plain laughable.. . Also, the subtitles were subtly different throughout the movie.. and i consistently thought they didnt live up to the original subs.

not to mention the flick has been cut to shreds. The extended version really trumps this one. and im telling anyone i meet to NOT catch this in the theatre, and to somehow track the original down.. cuz it was far superior.

Our Land.. what a friggin joke.

it'll always be All Under Heaven, as far as im concerned.
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post #34 of 35
9/3/04 at 10:33pm
I've often wondered if some of you actually like going to movies. Why is there always subtext, box office numbers, and soundtrack bullshit discussed along with the plot of the movie? I know someone will say subtext is part of the plot, but why can't it be what it is? Its just a movie people, maybe the most visually stunning movie I've seen in a while. Damn, are we all in our first year of english lit. that we have to reach for theme and subtext by every degree? That's what it is, reaching. Reaching and hoping to look as if you know something.

Anyways, this movie was great. The scenes were beautiful and lavish. The action was non-stop, but not over the top. And maybe best of all, no fan boy ejactulation until after the movie made a profit.
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post #35 of 35
9/4/04 at 12:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech Noir
Confucius might have agreed with the moral. He thought that war was destructive, better to have harmony (in all spheres, political-social etc.) than autonomy.

But as i'm not as well versed in the subject as I would like, and as i have yet to see "Hero". I shall withdraw from the disscussion until later.

Did some more research (helps that I have an Eastern Civ class taking this on right now) and found out that Confucian scholars REALLY don't like this man in their writings. Seems he buried some 470 scholars alive for their teachings. Ch'in (Qin) was actually a legalist which took a decidingly different look at the world than Confucius did.

Anyways it is interesting that this film left out the "advisor" Lu Ssu. This guy was supposedly the spider in the middle of the web and was constantly at the emperor's side. In the movie, it's all Ch'in, again I found this VERY interesting...
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