Hero

A closer look at the story

In the age when China was split into rival kingdoms, the King of Qin, set on uniting seven kingdoms under one rule, has survived years of attempts on his life. The assassins he fears most are three legends known as Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Sky. One day a provincial official with no name arrives at the palace and claims to have killed all three of them himself. Rewarded with the right to sit close to the king, the man begins to explain how he did it, but with each retelling the story takes on a different shape. Directed by Zhang Yimou, who also co-wrote it, the 2002 film stars Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi in a visually striking martial-arts epic told in colour.