Hero

A story of stories, this film "Hero", directed by Zhang Yimou is about an assassin, known as Nameless, and his mission. Thousands of years ago,before China was one country it was divided up in 6 states. In the Kingdom of Qin, the ruler had a destiny to unite them all together s one. There was a difficulty in doing so with divided opinions from the different states. Jet Li, the starring actor in this film, founds a way to plot out deaths of the rulers top three assassins, to be able to step ten paces away from the King of Qin. Before this time, no one was allowed to be within 100 paces from him because of the attempted assassinations of Sky and Broken Sword, who ended up killing thousands of King's guards alone. This movie tells the stories of Nameless's conversation with the King by using techniques such as flashbacks. Within these flashbacks were editing techniques I have never seen before. With the use of colors to coordinate scenes such as the color constantly changing on the leaves from one color to another after the duel of Moon and Snow, Zhang Yimou has defiantly brought in many unique aspects to this film. He details each specific story told with different colors such as green, red, blue, and white. With great organization within his style, his color coordination makes it easier for the viewers to follow. With detail in sound, he articulately expressed each swift of the sword and motion of the feet. This film ends with somewhat a twist in the end. Finally approached within the ten paces from the King, Nameless listens to the wise words of Broken Sword, and walks away for this chance of unity. In doing so, the King sends his guards for his death. In the end, it is notices that many lives were given up and killed more reasons of love, friendship and ideals.