suki law Takeshi is in this, need i say more? Out of all the movies I have seen, this one is the best. The plot is great; it gives you a feeling of being back in the days without actually being in that time frame. The costumes seems authentic enough. The choices for the beggars' clothes to westerner's trousers and shirts seems flawless. Some scenes has some film noir. Some shots are dark with sadness. This film also features a femme fatale. Where there is a femme fatale character, there are love triangles. Also there are classical Chinese comedic scenes. If you like action-gangsta-martial arts type movies, you'll like "Hero." It's also a movie for all age ranges. I would recommend this other movie "The Returner." Starring that movie is also Takeshi.

eskimo-14 Since this is Takeshi's first, maybe only, kung fu flick i'll say this: Watching him do martial arts was cool. Especially the part where he wields a sword....although he's no Yuen Biao. I like this movie but I can't say much for the H.K. dvd version. If you watch the Hong Kong dvd version released by Universe, know that it is CUT. About 30 seconds is cut from the final fight scene which is important to the story. If you want to see the UNCUT version you'll have to get the United Kingdom (U.K.) dvd version or the vcd. Get your hands on the UNCUT version and watch it again to see what happens.

keala There is a terrific fight between Kaneshiro and Yuen early in the picture, one of the best I've ever seen, and nothing that follows it can quite match up to it (not even that hilarious anachronistic snippet near the end); it also eventually overdoses on violence for no good reason, in my opinion, but the whole film still makes for an involving experience. The audience I saw it with just loved it.

Yongwook Yoo If anybody remembers the Shaw Bros., this revived version of early 70's classic movie, originally heroed by Kwan-Tai Chan, would suffice their expectation. Except for the absence of Chan's legendary charisma in old version (I never could have found it from Kaneshiro), this movie is full of satisfactory style and high-stunt action which are originated from Chang Cheh's works in Shaw Bros. in early 60's. Very stylish and meticuliously taken in main China, taking full consideration of old fans' taste for Biao Yuen's fantastic agility and John Woo's blood-spirting gunny action. Plot and performance are just so-so, but the music and art design are very luxurious. As an old fan, I would prefer the old one since no young-generated star like Kaneshiro could not fit for the character of Ma Wingjing,nowadays. However, as a standpoint of the renaissance of Shaw Bros.' golden age in 70's, this movie shed a confident light on their future industry, not in Hong Kong any more but in mainland China.