Adepts.

This is coolbert:

  Movie Review.

The movie being reviewed is “Hero”, starring Jet Li.

This movie is a martial arts movie, but is much more than a martial arts movie.

I would rate this as being in the same category as “The Alamo”, a MUST SEE!!

“Hero” is a movie that seems to have each scene directed [directed by Yimou Zhang, an unknown to me] for artistic visual effect. “Hero” is a movie of unsurpassed beauty, head and shoulders above your run-of-the-mill martial arts movie, and certainly an artistic masterpiece when compared to almost any other movie of any other genre!! Perhaps only David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago” is the equal of this movie with regard to visuals. And “Hero” in my opinion is better. The musical score is also very good, with Oriental style music that is not dissonant to the western ear.

“Hero” has an interesting and intricate plot. Again, far better than your average-run-of-the-mill martial arts “masterpieces”. [some of those Hong Kong martial arts movies in my opinion are just plain silly and at times goofy.]

The movie is described as being about:

“A nameless magistrate weaves a stunning tale of how he defeated three assassins employed to murder the ruler of Qin [Chin]”.

“Hero” does possess a surprise ending. Neither the plot nor the ending will I give away.

The martial arts sequences are filmed again, with artistic effect being a primary motivation of the director. It is important to remember that the martial artists, Jet Li and the three assassins, are not just martial artists, they are also at the same time, “adepts”. Persons who can not only fight in the conventional sword play manner of the time of Qin [Chin] and the warring states, [circa 220 B.C.] but also possess “powers” that in the west would be regarded as supernatural ability. Such skills of the adepts include the fight sequences where the combatants can fly through the air and the ability to deflect “clouds” of arrows with impunity.

[I especially like the scenes where the martial artists are able to fly through the air. If only I could master that one feat, I would be able to die a happy person].

When considering the “supernatural” and “impossible” abilities of the adepts, keep this in mind:

Some adepts have the ability to generate electricity within their own bodies! Most westerners would say this impossible. And yet, it HAS been demonstrated that this is not nonsense. Adepts CAN and DO generate internal electricity. This should not be regarded as being an impossibility. Within the animal kingdom, electric eels do the same, and this is not considered to be something that is supernatural. Eels generate electricity through some sort of chemical reaction. Humans perhaps can do the same by manipulating stomach acids and other internal fluids, and doing so at will. Stomach acids found in the human body are not dissimilar to the sulphuric acids found in car batteries. That human adepts have developed the ability to act as human dynamos is not unreasonable!!

Adepts also have the ability to run themselves through with swords and NOT do damage. [this particular ability is mentioned in “Hero”]. I have seen a film that shows an Iraqi tribe putting on a demonstration of this “supernatural” skill for one of the late sons of Saddam Hussein. Persons run themselves completely through with a sword [perhaps a meter long sword??!!], the sword entering the front of the body, exiting in the back, with seemingly no ill effect to the participant [apparently no bleeding either ]. This is totally plausible. Undoubtedly, these tribesmen, and others throughout the world, have studied the human internal anatomy well enough to know that if a sword enters the body in a particular spot, and is run through the body at a certain angle, internal organs will not be struck. Repeated punctures [entry and exiting] in the same spot make for a body piercing on a “macro” scale. The adept will be unscathed by the sword. This too is not unreasonable.

Martial arts skills aside, “Hero” IS a MUST SEE ! Very well done and entertaining.

coolbert.