k wrote:
] [ I think this movie is gonna totally kick ass. -k]

I've seen it via bootleg DVD. It first came out in China about 2 or 3 years ago. It is very good, in a Chinese Spaghetti Western kind of way. Great use of color.

Its also one hell of a propaganda film in disguise. You will walk out of the movie theatre repeating "One China" to yourself over and over, and not knowing why.. Hero is extremely political, pro-dictatorship, pro-unification by force, pro-imperialism, etc. I remember reading somewhere that the PRC specifically cracked down on pirated copies of (just) this movie as a reward to the director in return for making a "historical" plot so favorable to the state. Its sort of like Mel Gibson's "The Patriot", only for a one-party dictatorship. I bet that pro-democracy intellectuals in China _hate_ this movie. There is a reason this one took so long to make it to the USA. It will be interesting to see if the version we get here contains all of the same dialog with the King that drives these points home..

RE: Miramax | Hero - US Release