History YMMV / Hero

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Rebecca St. James (Poster girl for Christian Abstinence!) as Maggie the prostitute, full stop.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency- Rebecca St. James (Poster girl for Christian Abstinence!) as Maggie the prostitute, full stop.
* RootingForTheEmpire- When you have the most prominent antagonist played by the lead singer of Music/{{Skillet}}, and turn his VillainSong at the end into an epic metal number, this is bound to happen for some Christian metal fans.

[[AC: The film ''Film/{{Hero}}'']]
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Fading Moon's relationship to Broken Sword. In Nameless's version of events, Broken Sword sleeps with her in an attempt to get back at Flying Snow for her affair with Long Sky. The king cannot imagine such valiant swordsmen could be that petty, and in his version of events her relationship with Broken Sword is platonic. The third, ostensibly true version, does have her devote herself to Broken Sword (noting she looked up to him since she was eight); but there is no overtly romantic overtone to their relationship, and there is no enmity between her and Flying Snow. Ultimately their relationship is portrayed as one of a dedicated master and student, though a romantic angle could be found if one really looked for it.
* {{Anvilicious}}: Broken Sword spells out {{Aesop}} in a speech to Nameless, who then tells it to the Emperor once he believes it.
* HarsherInHindsight: The Emperor calls Nameless' first story out as a fake because Snow and Broken Sword would never behave the way he claimed they did. Their arc ends with a scene that bears more than a passing resemblance to Nameless' story (although the nature of the conflict is political rather than romantic).
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: The entire [[TearJerker Blue]] flashback. It's interesting that the ''King'' is the one telling this flashback, describing his two mortal enemies as tender, selfless lovers.
* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/JetLi tried to assassinate the First Emperor, [[Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor then he became the First Emperor]].
* JustHereForGodzilla: It's not as prominent to Western viewers, but the promise of a Creator/JetLi / Creator/DonnieYen rematch was a ''huge'' deal to {{wuxia}} aficionados.
* MagnificentBastard: "Nameless" is a Zhao loyalist seeking to kill the [[UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi King of Qin]] posing as a Qin prefect. Concocting a story of defeating the King's deadliest enemies, Nameless stages duels to Qin soldiers to make his tale perfect, all to get himself within ten paces of the King to kill him. Even when the King sees through the stories, Nameless is still able to take the lead and provide him with the philosophies of true martial arts, ensuring the King will seek to conquer and unify the nation into one state, even letting himself be killed so the King may continue to become TheEmperor of "All Under Heaven."
* OneSceneWonder: The unflappable calligraphy master, knowing too well that this might be the last day of his nation, continues practicing his art while arrows pierce everything and everyone around him.
* SpecialEffectFailure: Being the Wuxia genre, WireFu is to be expected, and most of the movie is absolutely stunning. However two examples stand out, and both involve the separate instances when Nameless proves himself to Broken Sword and Flying Sword. In the first instance he throws a cup into the air before catching it on the flat of his sword. The effect looks almost 2D as Jet Li stands there, completely motionless, while an equally motionless cup descends onto his sword. The second instance involves Nameless flinging a hundred black brushes into the air, and piercing the single white brush among them. The effect is well done, until the camera pulls out. Instead of seeing a fairly uniform cloud of black brushes falling, someone has obviously just taken two buckets of brushes and dumped them in front of Jet Li.
* TearJerker: Each of the three tales explaining how Nameless got to the throne room is a tear-jerker, and the film ends on a fourth.
-->[[spoiler:"He was executed as a traitor. And buried as a hero."]]
* UnfortunateImplications: Many [[ValuesDissonance Western critics]] saw the fundamental message of the movie as, "[[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37325-2004Aug26.html Despotism and brutal military conquest of your neighbors is acceptable if it's done in the name of unity and peace.]]"
* ValuesDissonance: Many Western viewers see the film as an open endorsement of despotic rule, while Eastern viewers are more likely to see it as a question of whether the end justifies the means, or whether your goals or their potential aftereffects are more important. Also, "The country must be united by a strong leader because division only leads to chaos," is an aesop common in China that goes back centuries, due to its history of civil wars.

* ValuesDissonance: Many Western viewers see the film as an open endorsement of despotic rule, while Eastern viewers are more likely to see it as a question of whether the end justifies the means, or whether your goals or their potential aftereffects are more important. Also, "The country must be united by a strong leader because division leads only to chaos," is an aesop common in China that goes back centuries, due to its history of civil wars.

* ValuesDissonance: Many Western viewers see the film as an open endorsement of despotic rule, while Eastern viewers are more likely to see it as a question of whether the end justifies the means, or whether your goals or their potential aftereffects are more important.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Emperor calls Nameless' first story out as a fake because Snow and Broken Sword would never behave the way he claimed they did. Their arc ends with a scene that bears more than a passing resemblance to Nameless' story.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Every. Single. Fight scene.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Fading Moon's relationship to Broken Sword. In Nameless's version of events, he explicitly describes them as lovers and how she and Flying Snow hated each other. The king cannot imagine such a relationship and in his version her relationship with Broken Sword is platonic. The third, ostensibly true scenario, does have her devote herself to Broken Sword (noting she looked up to him since she was eight); but there is no overtly romantic overtone to their relationship. Similarly there is no enmity between her and Snow over Broken Sword's affections. Moon's devotion can be seen as she being in love with Broken Sword or it could be that she looks up to him like a parent or teacher.

* ValuesDissonance: Many Western viewers see the film as an open endorsement of despotic rule, while Eastern viewers are more likely to see it as a question of whether the end justifies the means, or whether your goals and their potential aftereffects are more important.

* ValuesDissonance: Many Western viewers see the film as an open endorsement of despotic rule, while Eastern viewers are more likely to see it as a question of whether the end justifies the means, or whether your goals and/or their potential aftereffects are more important.

* SpecialEffectFailure: Being the Wuxia genre, WireFu is to be expected, and most of the movie is absolutely stunning. However two examples stand out, and both involve the separate instances when Nameless proves himself to Broken Sword and Flying Sword. In the first instance he throws a cup into the air before catching it on the flat of his sword. The effect looks almost 2D as Jet Li stands there, completely motionless, while an equally motionless cup doesn't so much "land" as descends onto his sword. The second instance involves Nameless flinging a hundred black brushes into the air, and piercing the single white brush among them. The effect is well done, until the camera pulls out. Instead of seeing a fairly uniform cloud of black brushes falling, someone has obviously just taken two buckets of brushes and dumped them in front of Jet Li.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Many [[ValuesDissonance Western critics]] saw the fundamental message of the movie as, "[[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37325-2004Aug26.html Despotism and brutal military conquest of your neighbors is acceptable if it's done in the name of unity and peace.]]" However, in China this message isn't particularly unusual: China's long history of civil wars is partly responsible.

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[[AC: The Visual Novel ''Hero'' from Choices: Stories You Play]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Kenji Katsaros/Talos is viewed as a charming dream of a guy or an overrated narcissist who seems to care more about smiling for the cameras than saving lives. Although he later becomes more humble and saved a little girl, it doesn't change the fact that he has a decent amount of detractors.
** Caleb/The Man on Fire. Either someone with HiddenDepths, or a sociopathic Supervillain who needs to be locked up.
* BrokenBase:
** People are split on whether the story is good or bad. Detractors dislike it because of the ClicheStorm or because they dislike Superheroes in general. Supporters love the story and state that because of the genre, it can go in a variety of unknown directions.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Despite being a Supervillain whose crimes include theft, terrorism, arson, and attempted murder, Caleb has a surprisingly strong fanbase.
* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: When Shrapnel was first introduced, there were a few people who found his character design attractive. This changed when he touched the Prism Crystal and gained the ability to turn his flesh into stone.

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* [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Crowning Moments of Heartwarming]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Every. Single. Fight scene.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The entire [[TearJerker Blue]] flashback. It's interesting that the ''King'' is the one telling this flashback, describing his two mortal enemies as tender, selfless lovers.