Has anyone here seen "Hero" with Jet Li?

[Flaxbee]

I just watched it, it is a gorgeous movie, truly a feast for the eyes. Beautiful imagery, colors, everything.

But I have a question. I've also seen "Crouching Tiger...". I really don't know hardly anything about martial arts, their history, etc. So why are the characters in these movies shown as levitating, flying, leaping great distances when they're fighting? What's it all about, the mysticism or the mental agility or what? Can anyone explain?

[Lone Pawn]

1. It's a bombastic overdramatisation of the art of fighting.

That's about all, I think. I mean, there's bits of daoist freeing of the self from the rules of the self in there--flight's an obvious symbol of freedom--and of the mystic transcendentalism inherant in gongfu, but those are both aspects of the artistic side of violence. In Hollywood, fighting is aggressive. In Chinese gongfu, it's more passive, more performed for the sake of the art than for the sake of harm.

[sir_captain]

3. It's not kung fu

And what you say is only partially true anyway.

Bruce Lee's style, and so on, like Wing Chun, were designed specifially to do harm.

[Lone Pawn]

4. Technically speaking, gongfu applies to any rigorous practice,

martial or not. The art of wuxia is a type of gongfu, but I admit a Wuxia movie is not a kung fu movie.

And Bruce Lee is a whole different genre than CTHD and Hero. No comparison.

[sir_captain]

5. Fair enough...

[sir_captain]

2. It's an extremely traditional form of Chinese martial arts story

called Wu Xia (as opposed to the more realistic looking kung fu.) There have been novels, and tv shows, and films about this forever. Other than the martial arts philosophies, I don't think the look is that important--it's like our sci-fi movies.

[lenidog]

6. An excellent movie

You are right it is a feast for the eyes. Its basically overdramatization on the part of the film makers. Its their signature in that genre of movies. One that has made it over to the US. Why do you think they had the characters in the "Matrix" doing some of the same moves? Another device in Chinese films seems to be a depressing ending. I have yet to see one that at the least didn't have a bittersweet ending.