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Kaiser "The Devil" Soze

Hero is a movie that paid close attention to every detail that will make a movie memorable, from the essential aspect of having an important message to deliver to the subtle eye candy on screen, Hero is a masterpiece.


It tells a tale during 230 to 221 BC in ancient China, the kingdom of Qin, waged war and conquered six kingdoms, unifying the people into what would become the first dynasty of China - or as the film called it, unifying 'all under heaven'. Although, the spoils were Qin’s for the taking, Emperor Qin (Cheng Daoming) remains on guard, as the best assassins known to the defeated nations are still out to assail him. Due to numerous close calls, no one is allowed within a hundred feet of the king under the penalty of death and thus time progressed having our Emperor ruling with an iron fist but not sleeping well at night fearing his demise, which is where our story begins.


A nameless warrior (Jet Li) presents himself to the Qin army displaying the weapons of Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung), and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) claiming to have bested them in battle. He is handsomely rewarded with gold and wine as he recounts his victories each time coming closer and closer to his majesty, until only 10 feet away from the Emperor. But there’s a twist, when Nameless has told of how he came to defeat the three by his skill and wit the king realizes that the stories he has heard are lies. The Assassins he feared in the past were nothing in comparison to the great threat that is now 10 feet away from him, the problems he ran away from all his life is now looking at him in the face. However Qin did not conquer 6 opposing kingdoms because he was a fool, he realizes his only course of action was to confront nameless –holding a fearless poker-face expression Qin re-tells the story as to what he believed were the version of events. What the king doesn’t know however, is that he has still not come to the real truth of whom Nameless is and why he has come to kill him, and it is in this last story that the truth will finally be revealed as well as the king’s fate.


Nameless told Emperor Qin that before he came to assassinate him, he had asked all three assassins for their trust in him -that he can succeed where the others had failed because he is “unknown” to the world. Broken Sword was the only reluctant one as he had an epiphany during an assassination attempt, he told Nameless the Emperor of Qin must not be killed and left him with three words (Under All Heaven). Nameless is confused and when asked for further meaning Broken Sword yields his sword and tells him to seek the palace and he shall understand the meaning.


This movie has taught me a lot, to Nameless his biggest duty in life was avenging his fallen kingdom … those that have lost their lives in the war deserves to know that men of their nation will continue fighting was Nameless reasoning. Yet Emperor Qin’s duty in life was ruling a nation while another six ruling nations were out to gut him. He literally had to “kill or be killed”, he was fortunate enough however, to be the 1 out of the 7 but now he has a responsibility to “the people”. Nameless understood this, he had the epiphany at the end -realizing with Qin’s death at such an early period in unification of the land, there will surely be unrest, more power mongers and many more innocent will surely die … therefore he had to weight his personal satisfaction towards the greater good. His Satisfaction against the lives of those "under all heaven"
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And like that .... he's gone



Awesome kaisersoze!

I’ve heard this film mentioned a couple of times in the past, but I failed to remember it. If memory serves, everybody I know who has seen this has loved it. Thanks for the review, I’ve added it to my list.

One question though. Does Hero follow the similar vein that most movies since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has? In other words, is it a lot of wires and CGI enhanced fight sequences, or do we get to watch a pure Jet Li do what he does best? I’m not a big fan of enhanced fighting. It’s ruined Jackie Chan and Jet Li in other films.

Do tell.
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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."



Cyberdine Systems Model 101
Like I've said before, I'll see this film when it premieres in North America. Many people have seen the film because of piracy over the Internet. But I'll be patient and see the film when it hits the big screen.

I'm glad to see a Li fan around here. The Hero review is excellent! Sure hope you post more Li film reviews. I'd like to see what you think of, Once Upon A Time In China, Legend of the Red Dragon, Kids from Shaolin, or any other Li film. You deserve some rep. points

One question though. Does Hero follow the similar vein that most movies since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has? In other words, is it a lot of wires and CGI enhanced fight sequences, or do we get to watch a pure Jet Li do what he does best? I’m not a big fan of enhanced fighting. It’s ruined Jackie Chan and Jet Li in other films.
Tell me about it. The One is one of the films that showed too much sci-fi fighting.
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Last 5 films I’ve seen

An American In Paris ****/*****
Once Upon A Time In China *****/*****
Father of the Bride ****/*****
Spartacus *****/*****
The Hidden Fortress ****/*****

You can view my review for each of those films at T-850's Reviews



Kaiser "The Devil" Soze
Originally Posted by LordSlaytan
Awesome kaisersoze!

I’ve heard this film mentioned a couple of times in the past, but I failed to remember it. If memory serves, everybody I know who has seen this has loved it. Thanks for the review, I’ve added it to my list.

One question though. Does Hero follow the similar vein that most movies since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has? In other words, is it a lot of wires and CGI enhanced fight sequences, or do we get to watch a pure Jet Li do what he does best? I’m not a big fan of enhanced fighting. It’s ruined Jackie Chan and Jet Li in other films.

Do tell.

I'd say its a mixture, in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ( I didn't think too highly of this film) Chow Yun Fat did not know Kung Fu so they had to CGI, in this movie Donnie and Jet can really fight so they threw in both, real Kung Fu for people like us that wants to see skill performance and some CGI to those memebers of the population who liked what C.T.H.D had to offer.



A system of cells interlinked
Excellent review! I missed this thread somehow. I really want to see this, as I loved Crouching Tiger (I know I am in minority here). I like the color pallete in the shots you posted from Hero, and will check it out asap.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



You ready? You look ready.
I've never seen Hero but, it's up there on my top ten to be seen list. Thanks for the review
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



Great review, when can we expect more?
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Let us go, Through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells


From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S.Eliot



Cyberdine Systems Model 101
Originally Posted by bluebottle
Great review, when can we expect more?
I second that.



Great review…. And welcome to the sticky club… you are now officially obligated to write more…
__________________
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough.
~William Blake ~

AiSv Nv wa do hi ya do...
(Walk in Peace)




Nice one, kaiser. This is at the top of my "to see" list



Registered User
kaiser... im tempted to buy the dvd of Hero. do you own the movie. If you do is it really worth it.
I live in nyc and they have a chinatown here so im thinking of buying it. But im not sure.
another question is there a GReat fight in then end with jet li, and zhang ziyi or w/e is his name?



You ready? You look ready.
Originally Posted by Caitlyn
Great review…. And welcome to the sticky club… you are now officially obligated to write more…
Yes, welcome to the club and you must write more. Nice review.



Kaiser "The Devil" Soze
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, Benicio Del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis, Dan Hedaya
Director: Bryan Singer
Producers: Michael McDonnell and Bryan Singer
Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie
Cinematography: Newton Thomas Sigel
Music: John Ottman
U.S. Distributor: Gramercy Pictures

“To a cop the explanation's always simple. There's no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all.” If he found a body and thought it was the brother that did it, he was ‘bout to find out he’s right.” – but what if he’s wrong? What if an arch criminal walks amongst us?

A Cop and a Criminal are in a police office, the cerebral palsy plagued con man Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) tells bits and pieces of a story leading up to a recent harbor explosion to Special Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) who cross examines. However Agent Kujan is more interested in what happened to Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), someone who as far as Kujan was concerned, was the mastermind of the whole ordeal, an ex-cop who seemingly to the world has gone straight; But he isn’t buying … he presses on his interrogation routine as Verbal tells his story:

It all began about 6 weeks ago when a truck with stripped gun parts was hi-jacked, embarrassed and without much of a lead it was time for the police to do something desperate, it was time to call in the usual suspects. The usual suspects were five men: Dean Keaton, Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Todd Hockney (Kevin Pollak), Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro) and Verbal Kint, five men who were capable of pulling off such a job. However, nobody breaks and while they await their lawyer to post bail – they plot revenge.


Then a twist, what if the beginning of their beautiful criminalship was no accident? What if there was another reason? There is! And they all find out at some point in their lives they have offended the devil himself, a criminal mastermind, THEE arch criminal behind all, Kaiser Soze – and he has come to collect. The good news is Kaiser doesn’t want them dead, instead he has charged them with one job - to stop a drug deal worth $91 million in coke and they’re even. The bad news: the deal is so big and so difficult it would be heavily guarded and thus it would practically be asking them to go to their deaths.

Determined they arrive at the San Pedro’s harbor to shoot up the “bad guys” as McManus puts it -hours later the ship ferrying the drugs has exploded, 27 men are dead, Keaton among them. In fact, the only other survivor was burned so bad he’s grasping for his last breath down at the hospital, so how is it so miraculously that Verbal, a cripple, escaped unharmed? Kujan theorizes that Keaton is in fact not dead and it was his will to keep him alive and more importantly faked his own death leaving a witness. He Grills Verbal about inconsistencies until he cracks and breaks down. Can Verbal’s one friend who he trusted over the last 6 weeks be Kaiser Soze? They say last time he was dead just long enough for a murder rap to blow over. And then he had lunch. This time Verbal thinks “If he comes up for anything again it'll be to get rid of me. After that... my guess is you'll never hear from him again”

And Like That He’s Gone!

I guess its no surprise that this is my favorite film simply because of its re-watchability. They say each time you see this film you spot a clue you missed on the first viewing or your 2nd and 3rd… this statement can not be more true. The film shows you its important to keep an open mind and appeals to the kid in all of us.



Kaiser "The Devil" Soze
Originally Posted by nebbit
Thanks for the review.......what took you so long.
Exams, then writer's block



Kaiser "The Devil" Soze


I have took some time away to try to write the perfect review for this movie and found myself continually revising and editing, even rewriting but it never worked; Whatever I wrote never really sounded right, never really quite expressed the way I felt about this film. Then I realized that it was quite ironic for it to be this way because in the film a seemingly slam shut case was presented the jury by lawyers who probably drafted up their method of prosecution and defence. However in the casual conversation of a jury deliberation more themes come out which may have gone unnoticed or edited by the lawyers. "Perhaps", I thought to myself - to write the review most satisfactory for me had to also come about this way. For me to write straight from my mind and not edit but rather have it all pour out onto paper, how this film had made me feel.

Not many films can present a fixed setting (a jury deliberation room) and have it hang onto your attention quite like the way this film does. With explosive dialogue, this film takes us on a roller coaster ride that is ready to bring us up another slope before we can recover from the rush right before. Adding the plot development and punch lines on so many levels it had me wondering where exactly has this kind quality of writing gone nowadays? Taking on only a simple plot, we see how brilliantly the dialogue makes this film evolve... no multimillion dollar budget, no eye candy change of settings, just simple, yet elegant.

On another note, I was also wowed by the timelessness of it, how when I close my eyes I can almost attach faces of those I know with each juror's voices (which presents a tangent of society's thinking). People from all walks of life, of various ages and social backgrounds make up the jury but you never learn their names - this is symbolic of how prejudice can fall upon anyone today as it did then, how behaviour is the same today as it was then. I loved the scene where upon taking the first open vote other members of the jury looked around the table to vote the way others did (guilty), it may be a short and brief clip but this is the bit before we see Henry Fonda's character take his strong stance on a not guilty verdict. The film challanges us to think more deeply into the results of our actions, if one person does truly take a side on an issue to get the ball in motion will those of us who are impartial to the matter really think for ourselves? As demonstrated in the film, many intelligent members of the jury does not bother to go beyond what experienced laywers tell them up until a lone member disagrees.

There may be no action-packed fanfare in this film, no color, not even much change of scenery. But if you can look beyond all that and are out there looking for something really memorable, this film won't dissapoint. It truly deserves to be labeled "all-time".



i saw this movie, its really good, it shows that one man can make a difference. Great Review!