Hero

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating * * * )

Earlier in this Year of the Green Monkey, I visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Apologies for the travel supplement intro to a review of this Chinese period martial arts epic, but there is a point somewhere.

One part of the place was devoted to history with a couple of ancient dynasties' worth of jade, calligraphy and other relics in cabinet after cabinet. It was so ancient, so elegant, so repetitive and boring. But, of course it had its place.

Then there was the ultra-vibrant, highly kinetic and tripped-out contemporary gallery which seemed beamed in from the future.

Which brings us to the inevitable comparison between Hero and its hit forerunner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, both high-flying epics starring Asian faces recognisable in the west and steered by Chinese directors known for their delicate dramatic sensibilities.

Many have already said Hero is a better film than its breakthrough Oscar-winning predecessor, because it's more the genuine "wushu" article and doesn't bow to Western sensibilities.

After all, Quentin Tarantino had to convince Miramax's Harvey Weinstein who bought the film - China's most expensive and biggest domestic hit in 2002 - then cut it, and effectively shelved it. Though it does have Jet Li in the lead role, showing he's a far better actor than his run of English-speaking Hollywood roles have allowed.

But Hero is more the museum piece from the bejewelled ancient display part of the exhibition and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon remains the more exciting contemporary film.

Yes it's genuine and glorious to look at with director Zhang Yimou's trademark swathes of colour, Aussie cinematographer Christopher Doyle's elegance and its balletic action.

But the plot and emotional involvement can't match its artistry. The story owes something to Kurosawa's Rashomon (and its battle scenes to Ran) with its spinning of multiple yarns about the same incidents.

In the third century BC, a warrior, Nameless (Li), visits a warlord to tell him how he has spent the past decade vanquishing potential assassins Sky (Yen), Flying Snow (Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung), and Broken Sword's sidekick, Moon (Zhang Ziyi).

Only the warlord prefers his own version of Nameless' victories, making for colour-coded flashbacks that are all raining arrows, walking-on-water swordfights and the like.

The political subtext is intriguing - its period and Nameless' missions speak about a unified China where the individual shouldn't come before the good of all, which is curious coming from Zhang, whose earlier works caused political run-ins with Beijing.

But Hero's drawbacks are its storytelling. It's thrilling to look at, but its characters and their emotions remain remote, as if best kept in a glass cabinet with a "do not touch" sign.

CAST: Jet Li DIRECTOR: Zhang Yimou, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi

RATING: PG (low level violence)

RUNNING TIME: 99 mins

SCREENING: Village Hoyts Berkeley Cinemas