4. Hero
The Film: This is Jet Li’s best film and one of the most beautiful, satisfying movies about ancient China you will ever see. While watching this film you will be surprised by the use of colors, the cinematography, and the clean, precious effects. The scenery is lush and intense with vivid color changes and various terrains, pure eye candy. The lead actors are easy to watch and enthralling, especially as the plot twists develop. It is truly fun to love them one moment, hate them the next, and then find yourself identifying with them.
A supporting performance by Ziyi Zhang as Moon, servant to Broken Sword, is also well-executed as her role throughout the film changes in strength along with the main characters. The fight scenes move fluently and are thrilling to watch. Anyone who is a fan of this type of martial-arts film should enjoy it.
The Historical Events: The film is based on the story of Jing Ke (portrayed by Jet Li), a retainer of Crown Prince Dan of the Yan state, widely known for his failed assassination attempt of King Zheng of the Qin state, who later became Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang went on becoming China’s first emperor at 38 after the Qin dynasty conquered all of the other Warring States and unified all of China in 221 BC. Rather than maintain the title of “king” borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty from 220 to 210 BC.
During his reign, his army vastly expanded the size of the Chinese state, while his impressive public constructions included the unification of diverse state walls into a single Great Wall of China, an enormous new national road system, and of course the gigantic mausoleum guarded by the legendary Terracotta Army.