Hero Quite simply, Astounds HERO MiRAMAX - 2004 By SEAN DOBBYN STAFF WRITER Quite simply, this is an extraor-. dinary film. The setting is ancient China; a time when the region is divided into seven kingdoms, all at war with one another. The tale and themes revolve around the kingdom of Qin and its ruler’s attempt to unify China for the sake of acquired peace and order. The opening scenes introduce the two central characters: a war- rior called Nameless (Jet Li) and The King of Qin (Chen Dao Ming). The story begins simply enough. The King of Qin is under constant threat of assassination, and in par- ticular by three warriors; Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Long Sky (Donnie Yen). The king has offered huge bounties for whomever can eliminate them. One day, Nameless arrives before the king holding evidence that he has defeated all three of the feared assassins. At first the royal figure welcomes this mysterious warrior, but after Nameless. récites the tale of Sky’s defeat, skepticism sets in. Based on Nameless’ explana- tion, the king responds with..his own imagining of the occurrence. This process of exchange follows suit for Nameless’ telling of his encounters with Broken Sword and Flying Snow. Each tale from the two parties is presented through a flashback, often featur- ing some .,incredible action sequences akin to the style made famous. by. Crouching Tiger, Hidden, Dragon. Through the exchange: ‘of renditions and re-ren- ditions, the seemingly distorted plot begins to settle onto the story’s truthful foundation. Fhe battles that so commandingly. grab the viewer’s attention are cap- tured with some incredible cine- matography. One in particular is fought amongst a leaf-littered for- est that emanates a romantic warmth, During that conflict, most every second of the scene could be stilled and displayed as a photo- graphic marvel in its own right. ~ Hero features some beautiful uses of colour that elaborate on the combatants and the environments surrounding them. Seme of those uses include the outlining of the flashbacks and various story manipulations of Nameless and the king. However, the visually fabulous action scenes were not what stuck with me days or weeks after even my second viewing of this film. The truth revealed through Nameless’ and the king’s imaginings, also reveals an inti- mate and believable love story between two of the assassins, and some incredibly deep and relevant narrative themes. The love story surrounding Broken Sword and Snow is effec- tive and unforced, giving it a per- fect balance alongside the action, characterization and narrative message. It has been a very long time since I have seen a love story Manga : PHOTO PROVIDED Every single frame of Hero is a piece of art, and a testimony of the power of really, really, really, good cinematography. so naturally intertwined with a serious action-drama. The rele- vance of the thematic material of the film in this day and age cannot be dismissed. Despite a final decision of Nameless at the film’s conclusion, I feel that above all else, Hero rais- es questions. That question is behind the rea- soning of widespread subjugation. Is it worth the countless lost lives and the lost individuality of those that remain, to create an ordered harmony? Is forcing all within that subjugation’s confines to conform to one language, idealism or rule necessary for a greater end? A greater end where bickering and independent kingdoms/ states will not fight each other for unknown ages to come. There are three char- acters in particular that wrestle with these questions before the end. It is these two aspects of Hero that give it that final thematic and emotional weight that cement it as one of the year’s best films. I sin- cerely recommend seeing this masterpiece. Hero will be released on DVD on November 30th. Loki is Sugary, Yet Totally Random Fun iersiede Reet LOKI ee SAKURA KINOSHITA ADV MANGA By DANA SCHWEHR Well, for this episode of our happy wonderful manga review, we have one of the most nonsensi- cal manga stories that has seen print in some time. Whether the non-linear story- line is due to bad translation or some sinister plot on the part of the author is, as yet, unclear, but it certainly made for an interesting read. The book tells the story of Loki, the trickster god from Norse mythology. For some undisclosed reason, Loki is living on Earth in the form of a little boy. He runs a detective agency, according to the people in the story, but he never gets a paying case in the entire course of the book. He does, however, have to deal with numerous attacks from cute girls, which are set up for the most part by. Loki’s nemesis Odin. Of course, the reason for Odin’s enmity is a complete mystery, one which Loki seems to have already solved. This book is full of elaborate pic- tures of ridiculously cute children and junior high students. It is not bad, as shiny, pretty art goes, but is a bit cluttered and difficult to fol- low at times. The storyline also has'a tenden- cy to jump around, which makes it hard to follow. This is perhaps caused by a rushed effort to make the transla- tion follow the Japanese storyline, and fit in the speech bubbles that were drawn for the original. Either way, unless you.are look- ing forward to solving the mystery of why this book even exists, I sug- gest you pick up something that bears less resemblance to a two- * year-old that managed to eat an entire box of sugar-coated cereal BELLA MorTE SONGS For THE DEAD GENRE: DEATH PUNK The Good: Bella Morte attempts to recreate the 80’s punk sound of the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, and I would have to say that they. do it justice. It is a pleasant change from the monot- onous wasteland that is present day punk! _ The Bad: For aCD titled Songs ‘For the Dead it really isn’t that gruesome. Also most of the songs are about a hatred or longing for someone or something, which is the basis of every other punk band. The Ugly: The drummer. He takes the sound of frenetic drums to the next level. It seems that all he knows is the same two beats and repeats them in every song 14 NOVEMBER 24, 2004 Music es Bella Morte - Fine Death Punk that he has a role in. The irritating repetition is something that dri- ves me away from this CD. A drummer is supposed to have a ‘subtle roll in creating a beat and not dominating the lyrics. Sounds to me like they couldn’t find a drummer so fhey had to ask little bro to help out! The Verdict: Good music, bad drums, I give Bella Morte 4 out of 5 Fudge Brownies Game Seen Star Ocean: Is it a Good Game Till the End of Time, or:just 40 hours? a STAR OCEAN: TILL THE END OF TIME SQUARE-ENIX 2004 BY IC DIACHUK Is it: good till the end of time? Probably, but it would depend on what kind of game you are look- ing for. Avid fans of the Star Ocean series are now able to play the lat- est addition, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which includes many of the previously-seen fea- tures of earlier games, including improvements of its own. STORY: Star Oceans Till the End of Time has a grandiose storyline. After an incident at an interplan- etary resort he and his parents wete staying at, Fayt, the protag- onist, eventually finds himself crash-landed on an underdevel- oped planet. While there, he must blend in with the locals while learning more about those who hunt his unique powers. Slightly contrived, but still enjoyable, since there are many interactions between the characters to add to the basic storyline. GAMEPLAY & CONTROL: Battles are real-time, allowing the player to control a character while the participants move around the battlefield. Weak attacks, while quick, are blocked if an opponent has its guard up. Strong attacks are slower, but break shields, allowing weak attacks to be used in succession. Symbology - or magic - can also be used, as well as special physi- cal attacks. There is also the Bonus Gauge, which fills during battle and allows additional rewards from the battle, such as Triple Experience, until the Bonus Gauge is broken (which is frus- trating when it happens). The game also sports a rather convo- j . PHOTO PROVIDED ‘Is this game any good? Will you have to wait forever to find out? Will you have to keep reading these silly captions? Only time will tell! Ha! Stop me! I’m tired. luted item creation and modifica- tion system, which can be used to- make powerful equipment. GRAPHICS & SOUND: While the graphics are pretty much as they: should be for such a game, one of the stronger points of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time that sets it apart from other such games is the voice acting. While most games with voice acting are “best with the sound-turned off, this game manages to use voices which are well-suited for the roles. In addition, in case the player finds the voices irritating, there is an option to turn the voice acting off, which is some- thing many other games sorely lack. OVERALL: While the story takes some time to get into, and some points can be somewhat disappointing as the plot can often get into a cliche, it is still enjoyable to play. In addition, there are more diffi- cult game modes which become available after completing certain tasks. This adds to the existing replay potential of the game. This PS2 game would likely make a good buy.