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Hero (2002) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2025-06-12 01:00:06
Edited:
2025-06-21 00:01:04
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Content

WOW, this was wonderful! Thank you so much to Nestor for the Reactr request. This was my first Chinese foreign film too! I was a bit nervous with how short the English subtitles were on screen at the start of this movie, but then it calmed down and then I was good. 😅

I do see there are some reactions on YouTube to this movie, so for now this will go into the Unedited Reactions Collection, but perhaps down the road it will be pulled out for the channel.

Also, please excuse the MAKEUP that is on my shirt (on the shoulder). Of course, that was something I didn't realize until after all the recording was done and I was editing this watchalong. 😂

Enjoy the reaction and I can't wait to read your comments! [Direct link here.]

Cheers,

✦ KL

Files

Hero (2002) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction

Comments

Brad Roberts

I saw this in the theaters when it first came out. I don't remember any of the details other than how the story was told.. I remember it being a great film. Looking forward to re-watching it now.

Nestor Custodio

Some have trouble looking past the seemingly pro-imperialist turn at the end, but I've only ever seen this as a reminder that heroism isn't about how strong you are or how many bodies you leave in your wake -- it's about being willing to do the right thing, even when it undermines everything you've worked for. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one" is as true in the far future of Star Trek as it is in the distant past of feudal China. Wonderful reaction. It's been a while, so getting to watch this yet again was quite the treat! 🙂

Movies with KL

Very true! Thanks again for the request and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Tyler Foster

The gliding, gravity-defying action sequences in this movie that are closer to ballet than combat are part of a famous Chinese genre called wuxia. Wuxia actually dates back to 300 BC. In film, wuxia appears as early as the 1920s, although it was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s, movies that went into the blender when the Wachowski sisters were conceiving The Matrix. Aside from Hero, the most famous international crossover example of wuxia would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). If you liked Hero, CTHD is probably a no-brainer. The director of this film, Zhang Yimou, also directed one of my favorite oddities. Long before No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, or even The Hudsucker Proxy, Joel and Ethan Coen made their debut with the incredible neo-noir Blood Simple (1984), a Texas thriller that isn't exactly a murder mystery, but contains plenty of both. In 2009, Yimou remade it as A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop, which transports mostly the same plot to ancient China.

HugoBoss435

I was a big Jet Li fan back in the mid 90’s and early 2000’s. His martial arts style and films were the closest I’d seen to the legendary Bruce Lee. With that said, I saw this movie over 20 years ago and really disliked it. I’ve never been a fan of these classic Chinese fantasy lore movies with all the wire work. All his other films are great, especially Fist of Legend. Watching it again after all these years was a nice refresher, a little better now than what I remember.

Sam

For me—and maybe only me—this is one part of a personal, though objectively disconnected, trilogy of kung fu movies that all came out around the same time: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero and, House of Flying Daggers. I had grown up watching kung fu films, but all the older ones—think, Ashes of Time, The Swordsman (especially Swordsman 2), Once Upon a Time in China, Iron Monkey, etc. I love those films, I've still got a few of the old VHSs knocking around the attic. But when Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out, it was how I imagine watching a film in technicolor for the first time would have felt. Me and my Girlfriend came out of the cinema and I talked about that movie all week, and for over a decade it was my favorite film, no question. Hero came out a couple years later, and I have to say, it's not my favorite of my own imagined trilogy, but in terms of overall kung fu movies it's up there. Then a couple years later, House of Flying Daggers came out, which is an amazing film. Almost as good as Crouching Tiger. There were a few others that came out after—trying to capitalize on the "trilogy's" popularity—but these 3 are the core of the early 2000s kung fu revival—for me, personally. I would recommend reacting to all 3, but I appreciate it's a limited audience, so. But, I definitely recommend watching them, at the very least.

Movies with KL

Thanks Sam! I am definitely interested in checking out more.

Brad Roberts

I finally re-watched it just now. It turns out my memories of enjoying it were entirely accurate. My memories of how the story unfolded, were majorly off.

Tyler Foster

Hmm. Very strange. Read your YouTube community post and saw Hero on it and had no recollection of you posting it. I came here and see I commented, and it sort of feels like I even commented before and then after I watched this, yet no Letterboxd log. Mysterious!

Movies with KL

Well, to be fair, you watch so many movies that it wouldn't surprise me if you accidentally miss a few here and there. Kinda like how I missed logging a Stepmom rewatch with PIB and only realized when I was logging my Forrest Gump rewatch with them.

Tyler Foster

True, but I also don't have to remember, technically, when it's a reaction. When I log stuff during the week in breaks at work, I check against my YouTube history. Guess I'll have to see if I can scroll back to when this was uploaded!