This stunning film by Zhang Yimou (American audiences may be most familiar with his critically acclaimed RAISE THE RED LANTERN) will appear in U.S. cinemas in a few months – a wise decision since its epic scale and breathtaking cinematography deserve to be seen on the big screen.

HERO (which features an all-star cast) takes place at a period in China’s history where the country was divided into seven separate kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu, and Qi. Though each kingdom fought for domination, the King of Qin – viewed by many as a ruthless warmonger – had the most powerful army and the clearest vision of what he wanted to achieve. His road to domination was almost clear, the one problem being that three legendary (and unstoppable!) assassins (Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky) had devoted themselves to his death.

This movie is about the relationship between the assassins, the man that supposedly killed them (known as Nameless, played by Jet Li), and the King – a group of extraordinary people whose lives become intimately entangled.

At first we are treated to epic armies (the mind-bending use of raining arrows amazed me), fight scenes devoid of blood lust but filled with poetry, and wire-work that is more dance than anything else. The use of color is almost overwhelming – rich hues of green, red, gold, and virgin white so powerful that one can easily feel drowned in their beauty.

These things are more than enough to create a memorable picture, but soon we realize that all is not what it seems as passion, love, honor, art, and philosophy blend seamlessly together to form one of the finest motion pictures ever made.

Never dull, filled with tension and beauty and action, yet ultimately forcing the viewer to actually think (something rarely encountered in an American film), HERO is a must see and was, in my mind, the best movie of 2002.