Hero vs Run Lola Run

I made a little rule for myself: Every time I see a movie with subtitles, I get to remove one classic from my “to read” list. For example, I've seen The Vanishing, so I don't have to read David Copperfield. I recently saw Hero, so the pressure I was getting from Moby Dick has been relieved. Thanks, Hero.

Hero is the latest movie existing almost completely to make you cooler. You'll see it and love it, or not, but if not, you'll still tell everyone you saw it. Alien Versus Predator? I saw that over a month ago and it hardly ever comes up. Hero? I bring it up all the time. I want you to know I saw Hero. What have I been up to? Oh, not much. I saw Hero. Did I mention that? Like I suddenly know martial arts or something. Like I can fly or deflect arrows with my sleeve. Like I'm special because I used to have eight dollars.

Yeah, I saw it. You know, it's recommended by Quentin Tarantino. Yeah, and it's told from several points of view, like Rashomon. It's very stylish. It reminds me somewhat of the great literature I'm always reading.

I saw Hero. I thought it was pretty good.

Hero tells the story of a great warrior who claims to have vanquished all of his emperor's enemies. It seems threats have been placed on the emperor's life with such frequency that no one is allowed closer than one hundred steps. One step closer, and you die. So our unnamed Hero (let's not call him Hero. Let's call him…Larry) is allowed to speak with the emperor and tell of how he came to defeat the would-be assassins. As he tells of each battle, he's permitted to step a little closer, and to enjoy refreshments and rewards. The emperor has information of his own, though, and questions, requiring Larry to backtrack some, and elaborate, and make corrections, so that each story of each villain defeated is told from a different perspective with different emotions and relationships and settings for the battles with each retelling. The telling isn't that interesting, honestly, but the flashbacks to the battles are what you might call awesome. That Larry kicks ass.

As Larry tells his stories, we see them played out in a visual style that is simply amazing. Larry has to fight the three assassins: Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Long Sky. Each scene has its own color scheme, and in each the relationships are different than before. In some, there are romantic entanglements, in others grudges to settle.

It doesn't really matter which order they play in, or if they're true or not. What matters is do they kick ass? Will you feel kick-ass for watching them? Absolutely. At one point, Larry and Flying Snow climb to the roof of a calligraphy school, to protect it from a rain of arrows (we're talking thousands of arrows; black storm clouds of arrows). Larry uses swords, but Flying Snow windmills her arms around, deflecting arrows with her sleeves, like Michelle Yeoh singing for Fleetwood Mac.

Another scene finds warriors skimming across the surface of a lake, with the camera at water level, and below, and in the sky. Beautiful, graceful, funny and exciting. When was the last time you saw that combination? There is also an elaborate use of color, with the most memorable being Flying Snow and her rival, Moon, battling, wearing red and orange, among a shower of red and orange leaves. It's funny, you often hear that American action movies are too simple, but I think the real problem might actually be that they aren't simple enough. We don't need Hugh Jackman sitting at ten computer monitors, with nu-metal blasting on the soundtrack and a time bomb ticking, and a hostage crisis and a gun to his head. If falling leaves can kick ass, then all we need are some of those kick-ass falling leaves.

Did I mention Zhang Ziyi is in this? Well she is, and she's as charismatic and cute and deadly as you remember. The acting in Hero is all good. Jet Li plays Nameless (or Larry, take your pick), and he seems more at ease than in his previous roles. I'm not sure if he feels more in his element, or if he just knows he's in a better movie. It's hard to say. Would Arnold Schwarzenegger have been cooler or more respected as an actor if he would have gone back to Austria and made a film there once in a while? Because Jet Li doesn't do much for me in English, but he rocks in Hero.

You probably noticed I'm not focusing much on the plot or writing in Hero. Yeah, they're kind of beside the point. Hero is a movie of style and visual brilliance, but there's not a whole lot going on upstairs. Honestly, about an hour in, I pretty much stopped reading the subtitles. Hero is smart and fun enough without them. With them, I felt too much like that emperor, letting the warrior distract me with his story, when I really should be watching that big-ass sword he carries.

When Run Lola Run came out, it was the darling of the Cool Circuit. You didn't just see Run Lola Run, you saw Run Lola Run, and then you found someone ASAP who hadn't seen it, to tell them you had. It's incredibly stylish, and has multiple versions of the same story. At the time, lots of critics talked up its MTV-style editing and effects. I guess that's true, if your reference point for MTV consists completely of Take on Me. The visuals in Run Lola Run are always changing, but you've seen it before.

I saw Run Lola Run. I thought it was all right. 

Run Lola Run, like Hero, tells one story in many ways. Each one starts the same: Lola's boyfriend is in huge trouble with the mob, and she has to get him a bunch of cash RIGHT NOW. Actually, she has twenty minutes. Actually, she has twenty minutes three times, so it's not that big a rush. Anyway, she slams down the phone, and sprints a winding staircase and out onto the street. Each time Lola runs, the same mystery is at hand: Will she find the money in time and save her boyfriend's life? But each time, the results are drastically different, with lives and relationships being saved or lost. Whether or not Lola succeeds, I'll leave for you to find out (but come on, she's bound to, right? I mean they give her all those extra tries.)

Run Lola Run was directed by Tom Tykwer with absolutely no resting when it comes to visuals and film styles. Lola's run is sometimes captured with a hand-held camera, or filmed in wide screen action movie style. Other times, it's animated, or black and white, or sped up, or slowed down. You get the idea. It's pretty fun to watch, although if you go in expecting something like Go, rather than something like Pulp Fiction, your expectations and your reaction will be much more in sync.

Run Lola Run distinguishes itself, I think, in the performance of Franka Potente. First of all, Franka can run. You never get the idea that she's stopping every few yards to get her make-up retouched, or to wait for someone to adjust lighting, or to film a blurb for Access Hollywood (watch Catwoman and see how many times it seems like Halle Berry is about to give Nancy and Pat a tour of the costume department.). Lola has bright red hair and tattoos, making her a part of the visual scheme of the movie, but it's Franka Potente who makes her a desperate, nervous, loving, living character. She doesn't just run, she rocks.

Oh, and Run Lola Run is subtitled, so now I don't have to read The Brothers Karamazov. Score.

Hero: B
Run Lola Run: B+