Simu Liu has voted Jet Li’s 2002 film Hero as the greatest martial arts movie of the 21st century, as part of a new list compiled by over 500 of Hollywood’s leading figures. The lead actor in Marvel’s martial arts movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was one of those chosen to contribute to the poll.

A breakdown of the movies Liu voted for has been published by The New York Times, as part of its interactive feature enтιтled “100 Best Movies of the 21st Century.” The star cast as тιтular character Xu Shang-Chi in Marvel’s first wuxia martial arts movie clearly takes much inspiration from legendary big-screen martial artist Jet Li.

Aside from Li’s martial arts movie franchises, his 2002 wuxia film is one of his greatest achievements as an actor. So, it’s no surprise that his fellow cinematic martial artist believes the film to be among the best of this century so far. What’s more, Hero was the only martial arts movie Liu submitted among his votes.

Simu Liu Voted Hero As One Of The 10 Best Movies Of The 21st Century

The 2002 Jet Li Movie Was His Only Martial Arts Pick

Hero isn’t just one of Jet Li’s best movies, according to Simu Liu. It’s one of the best movies of the 21st century, period. Along with around 500 other major Hollywood names who contributed to this New York Times poll, Liu could only vote for 10 movies. Still, he made Zhang Yimou’s 2002 wuxia martial arts masterpiece one of his picks.

Jet Li plays Hero‘s central protagonist, Nameless, a master of the “Death at Ten Paces” technique with a Chinese jian sword, who conspires to ᴀssᴀssinate the first Chinese emperor, in the third century BC.

Xu Shang-Chi is also known to use a jian sword in his Marvel comic book series, and this weapon features briefly in the character’s big-screen debut. Liu trained extensively in Chinese martial arts when preparing for his Marvel Cinematic Universe role, including with the jian.

It seems that Li was a primary inspiration in this endeavor, as Liu told NBC Asian America back in 2021: “I grew up loving Jackie Chan and Jet Li and certainly Bruce Lee.”

Hero Is Easily One Of Jet Li’s Best Contributions To The Martial Arts Genre

Its Exquisite Visual & Stunning Varispeed Action Sequences Are Unmatched

In a career spanning more than four decades, Jet Li has starred in many different movies that have defined him as an actor. But Zhang Yimou’s Hero is up there with the very best of them.

The movie’s stunning visual compositions and mesmerizing close-sH๏τ action sequences are among the most beautiful martial arts set pieces ever rendered on screen. Few martial arts films in history can claim to have dazzled audiences as much as Li, Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi in Hero.

Two particular sequences involving Li stand out in the movie. There’s his chess courtyard duel with Yen, which features perhaps the most impressive swordfight of the entire wuxia film subgenre, edited to take place at lightning speed.

Then there’s the famous sequence in which Li evades thousands of arrows fired at him by Chinese imperial forces. The agility and grace on display by all four actors is spellbinding, aided by some of the most extraordinary visual effects in any Chinese movie.

There’s also the exquisite use of color by Hero’s director, as he saturates his film with bright red and orange set against soft, earthy background tones. Several scenes in the movie have more in common stylistically with classical paintings than a variation of cinema’s action genre. Thus, Simu Liu was right to give this work of art a shoutout among his votes for the century’s best movies.

Hero would have been a worthy entry into the final list of 100 films. Although it ended up missing out, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon making the top 20 is still a major achievement for martial arts cinema.

Sources: The New York Times, NBC Asian America