Director Zhang Yimou follows up Hero with another martial arts extravaganza set in ancient China. If Hero was an exercise in opulent color, this is a celebration of sound, from the delicate rustle of falling leaves to the reverberating ping of crossed swords. The focus on sound makes sense, considering the main character (Ziyi Zhang of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is a blind assassin. You can sense the movie’s beauty just by listening to it.
