2000 years ago China was a country divided amongst itself. At the height of China's Warring States period, there were seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. For years, the separate kingdoms fought ruthlessly for supremacy. The Qin King was obsessed with conquering all of China and becoming her first Emperor. He had long been the target of three legendary assassins Broken Sword, Falling Snow and Sky. To anyone who defeated the assassins, the King promised great power, gold and a private audience with the King himself. For ten years no one came to claim the prize. So when the enigmatic county sheriff, Nameless, came to the palace bearing the legendary weapons of the slain assassins, the King was impatient to hear his story. Sitting in the palace, only ten paces from the King, Nameless told his extraordinary tale. But then something unexpected happened - the King had a different story to tell of how Nameless really came to sit there. For it seems that nameless might not be telling the entire truth about his legendary defeat of the kingdom’s greatest warriors. For Nameless who was orphaned as a child therefore never receiving a name has a dark secret. In the center of the intrigue sits Nameless and the ruler of the Kingdom, with only ten steps between them. Within those ten steps holds an earth-shattering tale of love, honor and duty, a story that moves beyond the reaches of history.

I can see why Quentin Tarrantino pushed to have this movie released in the US as it fits what he fashions his own movies after, and that is an artistic blending of action and fight sequences with a really good story. The movie is very stylistic to say the least as it just has a feel and climate about it that is very Chinese as the movie does not try and conform to western standards of film making. It shows a lot of the tendencies and stylistic movements most American audiences were first introduced with the release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but this movie far outstrips that movie as it more gorgeous and more action packed. The cinematography for the movie was nothing less that breath taking as some of the fight scenes were like watching water flow as they were that smooth and that well filmed and choreographed. Its hard to judge a performance like Jet Li’s as far as acting goes as it was in Chinese and without speaking the language I am sure I missed a lot of the connotations that you could only get from speaking the language. But his martial arts are probably the best that is out their in the business right now, and it will only be a matter of time before he replaces Jackie Chan as Asia’s informal ambassador of martial arts films. If you liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you will absolutely love Hero as it is a better movie while all the same time following the same artistic trends.
4 stars out of 5