By any stretch of imagination, Hero is a relentlessly gripping and outlandishly entertaining movie.
Grossing an impressive $105 million abroad, it looks even greater compared to the other releases this week: Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid, Suspect Zero and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.
And yet Hero, which was a 2002 Oscar nominee, appears in American theaters -- at least 2,000 of them -- with a jaded look.
Acquired more than two years ago by Miramax, the film has seen its release postponed several times.
Made for about $30 million, it became profitable in less than three months of its release in Asia and Europe. But someone at Miramax must have wondered if the Americans will take too kindly to a film with its story deeply rooted in ancient Chinese history.
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'Director Zhang Yimou's Hero is the most talked-about recent example of a movie to make it -- finally, and with a struggle -- out of Miramax's seemingly hoarded stockpile,' wrote USA Today, in a glowing review. But the newspaper also acknowledged the film's limitation in the American market: 'Its belated North American release is frustrating for the filmmaker's fans yet understandable once you have sampled its third-century goods about the road to China's unification by its first emperor.'
Meanwhile, many people have seen the film on video and DVD brought by their friends (or smugglers) from Hong Kong. Even then, there is nothing like seeing the awesome movie on the big screen. But because of the delay in releasing the film, some box office experts believe that Hero could have less than a rousing welcome, even though it carries Quentin Tarantino's credit.
The film unfolds the story of a ruthless emperor who rises to power with an iron fist and the help of his huge armies. He simply does not know when to stop. But a fearless warrior (Jet Li) decides his people, who were massacred and brutally treated by the emperor, ought to be avenged.
A sequel to the 1997 surprise hit Anaconda, which ate over $160 million worldwide; the new movie lacks a star that would make the film rise above the ordinary. The first film starred an alluring Jennifer Lopez in the supporting cast of Ice Cube,
Jon Voight, Owen Wilson and Eric Stoltz.
Predictably, the reviews were not flattering. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution' David Germain wrote: 'The movie's only achievement is that it's so stupidly plotted and badly acted, it becomes unintentionally funny here and there.' In the Chicago Tribune, Ellen Fox was kinder: 'Despite the fact that I checked my watch during the screening, it's not that bad.'
Despite the presence of Ben Kingsley, Suspect Zero does not rise above a routine thriller. It revolves around a FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart) who is investigating a strange murder. When the trail leads him to the suspect (Kingsley), Mackelway gets the horrible feeling that he has been drawn into a psychological labyrinth.
Trade publication Hollywood Reporter echoed the views of many reviewers who thought the film was too clichéd and long.