Hero

China as we know it does not yet exist, the land under the rulership of five warring kingdoms. The Qin Emperor decides that enough is enough and embarks upon a campaign of conquest and unification to bring order from chaos. It will not be easy, however, for against him are arrayed fearsome warriors like Sky (Donnie Yen) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Then a nameless warrior (Jet Li) appears at the Emperor's palace bearing their weapons and seeking an audience. But as he relates the stories of his victories, we come to realise that he is an assassin…

Hero tells a big story, nothing less than the founding of China itself. That, ultimately, is what matters more than the sumptous visuals and breathtaking action scenes – any previous Zhang Yimou or Chris Doyle effort features the former and many an otherwise routine or unheralded wu xia made without Miramax millions the latter. And this, for me, thus the ground on which the film's accomplishments have to be judged.

While remaining unconvinced that Hero is a true masterpiece that will stand the test of time in the manner of, say, Seven Samurai or Once Upon a Time in the West, wherein the mythic aspects manage to transcend cultural and historical specifics to become universally accessible and meaningful, that it can be discussed in the same breath as such is no mean feat. (Western viewers might also note here how the idea of a nameless protagonist ties in not only into Sergio Leone's men with no names, but also Odysseus.) Nor are the broader issues it does raise, such that one wonders if the notoriously censorious Chinese authorities – recall here that to acknowledge the existence of Taiwan is a criminal act for example – were fully cognisant of what the film-makers were doing.

Here, besides the (too?) obvious Rashomon-style construction, suggestive of a multiplicity of different, but equally true/false perspectives on events – or perhaps this is sufficiently 'Buddhist' in attitude to slip through – we can note the profound sense of regret at the passing of an era where there were a multitude of different, beautiful, ways to write the character for sword, replaced with singularity and unity through the Qin emperor's edicts, or the scene showing the destruction of the library and, hence, knowledge – a nod to the cultural revolution perhaps?

Then there is the whole ambiguity as to who the titular Hero refers to: Is it the Emperor, the man of vision and will-to-power? Is it the nameless one who would oppose him without seeking personal glory? Is it both, for what they are willing to sacrifice; a classic yin/yang figuration of interdependent opposites? (Or is that materialist dialectics I see before me…) Whatever, it shows there's so much more to the film than the standard, banal, look at the eye-candy response of non-commitment…

So, go see it, make up your own minds and decide if I'm talking out my arse as per usual…