Set deep in the heart, history and lore of China, one cannot help but notice the similarities between the new film Hero and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Director Zhang Yimou's latest work even contains the vivid echoes of the highly choreographed martial arts clashes on lake surfaces and treetops that were among Crouching Tiger's crowning moments. However, the story that Hero tells is fundamentally different.The movie opens with a nameless prefect (Jet Li, Romeo Must Die) arriving at the palace of the powerful warlord and king of Qin (Daoming Chen). Claiming to have killed three powerful assassins, the prefect brings their renowned weapons as proof of his accomplishments. He is quickly ushered in to the king's presence, which is one of the highest honors in the land. The king then asks for the nameless man to recount how he managed to kill the assassins that thousands of soldiers from the royal army could not capture. The prefect begins his story, which we dutifully watch unfold through a series of flashbacks.

The film is certainly a treat for the eyes, much like Crouching Tiger. The brunt of Hero's visual scheme is similarly created through the joint efforts of martial arts masters like Li and the production's talented special effects team. However, the narrative casts doubt on its own validity relatively early, leaving the audience to wonder if there is any narrative at all that can be trusted. The film tries to rely on this strange tension. We are watching a story unfold, but we are not sure if we should believe it. The typical suspension of reality that gradually washes over the audience as we sink in to the cheap upholstery of a multiplex is instead piercingly pushed forward early on at the plot's first twist.

In many ways, Hero is the unfortunate heir to the achievements of a long line of escapist films-not all of them necessarily martial-arts films. Crouching Tiger is the primary relative, almost an older, wiser brother. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which also has a nameless, central hero and Sergio Leone's penchant for visual opulence, is one of Hero's strongest references. However, even the drawn-out, staring-contest duels of these earlier films aren't immune to Hero's attempt to transform them into hand-to-hand equivalents.

Those older movies wove complex, visually startling, psychologically engaging worlds, and placed within them characters who were strong enough to stand up to the potentially distracting magic that surrounded them. The world of Hero, by contrast, feels almost like a painted backdrop. Vibrant colors are fused with the movements of the camera, the characters and the choreography to make the film fluid and fun to watch. Yet in the end, these effects tend to feel muted somehow-the film is playful, but not passionate. When the narrative itself loses the audience's trust, and the visual effects are not sufficient to draw the viewer back in to the movie.

The problem here comes down to issues with technology. Too often, it seems filmmakers find themselves enchanted by the possibilities of modern special effects devices. As a result, the director loses track of the story he or she once hoped to tell. Perhaps the most dramatic recent examples are the new episodes Star Wars, in which spectacle is subservient to the story. These cases are common enough, also evident in stand-alone films such as I, Robot or Troy.

Hero is entertaining, but just barely. The movie is the sort of film that thrives in the minds of the unsuspecting-those moviegoers who walk in to the theater expecting nothing at all. To them it delivers a pleasant spectacle, invites some thought and proves to be just good enough that the matinee price feels worthwhile. Unfortunately, enthusiasts who are hoping for another gem from the Far East will likely need to continue looking.