Hero (2002)
2002 Chinese film by Zhang Yimou
- Released
- 2002
- Country
- People's Republic of China
- Language
- Mandarin
- Genre
- Martial arts film
- Director
- Zhang Yimou
- Screenplay
- Zhang Yimou
- Producer
- Zhang Yimou
- Music
- Tan Dun
- Cinematography
- Christopher Doyle
- Starring
- Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Chen Daoming, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen
- Running time
- 99 minutes
- Production company
- Sil-Metropole Organisation
- Distributor
- InterCom, Netflix
- Box office
- $177.4 million
- Budget
- $31 million
- Set in
- Shaanxi
Hero (Chinese: 英雄; pinyin: Yīngxióng) is a 2002 epic wuxia film directed, co-written, and produced by Zhang Yimou, and starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming. The film is a Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, with cinematography by Christopher Doyle and musical score by Tan Dun. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards.
The historical background of the film refers to the Warring States Period in ancient China, when China was divided into seven states. In 227–221 BC, the Qin state was about to unify the other six states, assassins from the six states were sent to assassinate the king of Qin. One of the most famous incidents was Jing Ke's attempted assassination of the King of Qin.
More films directed by Zhang Yimou
Nominations
- Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
- International Submission to the Academy Awards
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q260379 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.