It says a lot about the importance of unification, making it clear that its protagonist becomes the Hero of the title both for what he does and doesn’t do. “Hero” has managed (and will keep managing) to stand the test of time. [Full review in Spanish].

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 27, 2025

The sum of Hero’s collaborative artistry asserts itself as one of the most winsome and graceful moving pictures of the 21st century. Hero is a film worth celebrating.

| Sep 8, 2024

Through the film's striking use of color and landscape, combined with its riveting action sequences, it goes beyond the chronological constraints of a typical blockbuster film.

| Oct 8, 2021

A tremendously entertaining and visually rich spectacle.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jun 26, 2021

The drama and ideas are not sufficiently compelling to sustain the martial arts. Inevitably the fighting becomes a thing in itself, a mere tour de force and loses interest.

| Feb 15, 2021

[Zhang Yimou] has taken the wuxia style to another level in "Hero."

| Feb 12, 2021

One of the best Chinese movies of all time. And one of the best wuxia films of all time. Simply gorgeous. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 12, 2020

It is entirely possible that this is the single most beautiful film of the 2000s.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 30, 2020

An acceptable adventure that features some breathtaking action sequences and exquisite cinematography.

| Original Score: B- | Nov 16, 2019

Until the final 15 minutes of its deceptively short hour-and-a-half running time, Hero is a marvel, one of the best films to be released in the United States this year. It concludes, however, on a note both emotionally unsatisfying and morally idiotic.

| Jan 5, 2018

If it were merely lovely and silly, that would be fine, but Hero wants to be more than merely kung fu fun. It has a message.

| Aug 24, 2017

As they move through the martial-arts sequences, the performers leave the impression that the laws of gravity are subject to amendment. The rules of love and war -- all's fair -- are, Hero makes clear, immutable.

| Mar 18, 2014

The result is not so much a historical epic as a kind of highly determined ballet: dreamy with bloodless violence, relying less on shades of character than on magnificence of gesture.

| Aug 5, 2013

The austerity of Hero makes you realize how cluttered other action movies are.

| Aug 5, 2013

What makes Hero special is that it has so much more going for it than just the superb fight sequences. There are a satisfyingly complex plot, passionate romance, cool special effects and strong performances.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2013

Sumptuous and breath-catching, Hero blends the elegance of fine visual art with the more familiar cinematic jollies of attractive people engaged in crunching punch-ups.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 5, 2013

Zhang Yimou's Hero is a true martial arts epic -- a spectacle of movement, color and sound that will leave you awe-struck.

| Aug 5, 2013

The result is both thrilling and thoughtful, offering imaginative action sequences as it considers questions of loyalty and the individual's role in history.

| Aug 5, 2013

Intoxicatingly beautiful, structurally enigmatic and decidedly brief.

| Aug 5, 2013

As a technical achievement, Hero finds Zhang at the height of his powers, effortlessly expanding into complex genre filmmaking without losing his command. But in light of his earlier work, the film continues a sharp decline in urgency.

| Aug 5, 2013