For reasons best known to themselves (because I sure can’t think of any good ones) the Einsteins over at Miramax have been sitting on this wonderful film for almost two years. Director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, The Road Home), working on a scale he’s never even approached before, proves a master of . . . well, let’s see: color, action, and epic storytelling. Characters and intimacy we already knew he could take care of. Here, the stunning ensemble of Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi enact—multiple times and from multiple perspectives, à la Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon—the story of how a nameless assassin (Li) came to be sitting across from a near omnipotent warlord. Sitting close enough to have a lengthy conversation with him, but not close enough to try and kill him without alerting the palace guard. What we see in the ensuing episodes (each one with a different color predominating) are plots within plots, one battle topping another. Hero is one of the most beautiful and involving films of the year.
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