HERO A 2002 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this Chinese epic, finally earning a stateside release, should satisfy anyone who couldn't get enough of the visual splendors exhibited in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zhang Yimou, the world-renowned director of Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou, has assembled an all-star cast for this opulent tale centering on a warrior known as Nameless (Jet Li), who explains to a power-hungry king (Daoming Chen) how he single-handedly vanquished the legendary assassins Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Sky (Donnie Yen). But is the hero telling the truth, or are there some Rashomon dynamics at play here? With Crouching Tiger neophyte Zhang Ziyi rounding out the principal cast as Flying Snow's aide, Hero largely succeeds because its performers are able to punch across the importance of the story's themes of solidarity and self-sacrifice. The different color schemes employed throughout the picture are breathtaking -- it's unlikely that few other movies this year will match this one's ravishing visuals. 
MARIA FULL OF GRACE A different kind of drug movie -- one that dives straight into the trenches -- Maria Full of Grace isn't about the cops, the kingpins or the clients; instead, it focuses on the mules, the (usually) impoverished folks who agree to smuggle the contraband material across borders, risking arrest or even death at any given moment. In this assured first feature from writer-director Joshua Marston, newcomer Catalina Sandeno Moreno delivers a memorable performance as Maria, a 17-year-old Columbian girl contending with a nagging family, a deadbeat boyfriend, and an unenviable job in a flower factory (her main duty is to pick the thorns off the roses). Fed up with the way her life is going -- and discovering that she's pregnant, to boot -- Maria eventually agrees to work as a mule for a local crime boss. Her assignment is to swallow dozens of heroin pellets and deliver them to a pair of dealers in New York City; to do this, she has to clear US customs (no x-rays, or she's nailed) and pray that none of the capsules open up while in her stomach, since that would lead to a painful death. Produced by HBO (which should be commended for taking a chance on a Spanish-language film) and headed for cable until the network decided to test its theatrical prospects, Maria Full of Grace is an eye-opening experience that sidesteps any political or moral rhetoric in an effort to paint a grim portrait of an independent woman who's neither saint nor sinner, but merely a working stiff whose ill-advised decisions never subjugate her humanity. 1/2
ZATOICHI Debuting theatrically the same year as James Bond (1962), Japan's Zatoichi has enjoyed a healthy shelf life comparable to that of Agent 007: Played by Shintaru Katsu, the blind masseur-cum-master-swordsman has been the star of two dozen feature films and over 100 TV episodes. Writer-director-actor Takeshi Kitano elected to bring the iconic character back to the big screen, and the result is a marvelous showstopper of a samurai flick, a genuine crowd-pleaser that earned audience awards at the Toronto and Venice film festivals. Plot-heavy and bursting at the seams with what can only be described as visual non sequiturs, Zatoichi (or The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, as it's billed everywhere except on the screen) is at heart a musical disguised as an action film, with meticulous attention to choreography (in both the fight scenes and dance routines) and sound synchronization (love those field workers!). Yet Kitano's canvas is expansive enough to also incorporate slapstick sequences straight out of vintage Looney Tunes, sword skirmishes that zoom by like NASCAR drivers gunning for the finish line, and a final celebration that would make Busby Berkeley proud. The convoluted story concerns itself with a town dominated by feuding gangs (a nod to Kurosawa's Yojimbo), a pair of siblings out to avenge their parents' murders, and a proud samurai (Tadanobu Asano, often described as Japan's Johnny Depp) reduced to the role of hired killer in order to provide for his ailing wife. Naturally, Zatoichi shuffles into town just in time to set everything right. More than just a treat for the martial arts crowd, this is a boon for movie lovers of all stripes. 1/2
CURRENT RELEASES
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY Taken together, both Bourne films feel like consecutive episodes of a mildly entertaining television drama that can't touch Alias in its attempts at trickery and, more importantly, character development. Here, Matt Damon's ex-CIA assassin Jason Bourne is even more tight-lipped than before; without girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente, former co-star reduced to cameo player) to bounce off, he's a rather one-dimensional figure, going through the motions as he tries to find out who's framing him for murder. The good stuff mostly comes during the first half; as the film progresses, the mystery slackens rather than deepens, and the movie culminates with a sloppily edited car chase that goes on for so long that I had to be reminded: Was Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne or Sheriff Buford T. Justice? 1/2
COLLATERAL The notion of matinee idol Tom Cruise playing a hardened assassin may sound like a gimmick, but his performance in director Michael Mann's drama is a fine one, nicely seasoned with just the right touch of piquantness. Sporting salt-and-pepper hair that suits him well, Cruise stars as Vincent, a contract killer who forces a cab driver named Max (solid Jamie Foxx) to ferry him around nocturnal Los Angeles so he can carry out his hits. Scripter Stuart Beattie creates some interesting give-and-take dynamics between Vincent and Max, yet he and Mann (Heat) seem to be equally interested in the peripheral elements, a decision that gives the film added resonance.
GARDEN STATE With his first endeavor as writer-director-star, actor Zach Braff (TV's Scrubs) does more than knock it out of the park -- this one reaches all the way to the county line. Braff plays Andrew "Large" Largeman, a struggling LA actor who returns to his New Jersey hometown to attend his mother's funeral. While in town, Large hooks up with his old high school acquaintances, yet his most significant relationship turns out to be with someone new to his circle: Sam (Natalie Portman), a vibrant life force who's the perfect remedy for an emotionally bottled-up guy trying to make some sense out of his muddied existence. Braff drastically switches gears from providing laughs to imparting poignant life lessons; it's a gamble that pays off, resulting in a film that gives our emotions a vigorous workout. The performances are uniformly fine, with Portman nothing short of sensational. 1/2
LITTLE BLACK BOOK Brittany Murphy trots out so many adorable tics during the course of this film that she ends up making Meg Ryan in Sleepless In Seattle seem as dour as Anne Ramsey in Throw Momma From the Train. Better to focus on the excellent performances by Holly Hunter and Julianne Nicholson, the primary reasons that this mean-spirited comedy can be tolerated at all. That the film centers around one of those reprehensible trash-talk TV shows of the "My grandmother is a hooker" variety immediately signals the sort of crowd this is targeting -- it's feeble stuff, with Murphy as a TV show producer whose peek at her boyfriend's Palm leads her to suspect he might be cheating on her. Hunter is stellar as usual, while Nicholson almost humanizes this otherwise nasty tale.
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE Granted, this isn't a masterpiece like the '62 edition, which still reigns as one of the finest thrillers ever made. Yet in most other respects, this is that rare remake that paves its own way without exploiting or cheapening its predecessor. No longer a Cold War product, this finds the action updated, with Denzel Washington as an army officer who realizes that a former comrade (Liev Schreiber), now a politician running for his party's Vice Presidential slot, might be the unwitting pawn of a major corporation (Manchurian Global) that's trying to seize control of the country. The film's topicality can't hurt -- this could easily have been called The Halliburton Candidate -- yet director Jonathan Demme's principal goal is to produce a taut, efficient thriller. On that score, he succeeds.
OPEN WATER Forget all those vague, attention-grabbing warnings from the White House about Al-Qaeda operatives in our midst: For a true Terror Alert, look no further than the auditorium housing Open Water. Shot in a grainy, you-are-there style reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, this compact thriller centers on two vacationers (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) who find themselves stranded in the ocean after a scuba-diving excursion goes awry. The lack of inevitability -- will they be rescued in time, or end up as shark entrees? -- makes the picture such an uneasy watch, with writer-director-editor Chris Kentis effectively stripping away all the protections of the modern world until nothing is left except two individuals stranded in the middle of a beautiful yet deadly expanse that neither seeks nor provides favors.
THUNDERBIRDS For those not into trivial pursuit, Thunderbirds was a British TV series from the 60s in which the characters were all played by marionettes. This pointless update replaces the wooden dummies with human actors, though one would scarcely notice the difference. The show focused on billionaire astronaut Jeff Tracy and his sons, constantly saving the world with the help of their nifty spaceships and submarines. Here, Jeff (Bill Paxton) and the boys are largely tossed aside -- with the focus shifting to the younger cast members, this qualifies as nothing more than a blatant Spy Kids rip-off. It's troubling that the villains are all ethnic or ugly, but maybe I'm reading too much into a film that, by every other indication, contains the depth of a petri dish that's already filled to the rim.
THE VILLAGE There's a reason Alfred Hitchcock didn't write the vast majority of his movies: He knew his forte was directing, and he left the scribbling to others. M. Night Shyamalan would do well to learn from The Master. As a director, he has a distinct visual style, and this thriller about a town whose surrounding woods are filled with monsters includes scenes that shimmer with an eerie beauty. But as a writer, he's becoming a parody of himself: Eager to top the climactic twist of The Sixth Sense, he has masterminded three subsequent movies in which the "gotcha!" endings seem to be the only reason for their existence. This one isn't really worse than Unbreakable or the silly Signs, but Shyamalan's carny act already feels like it's decades old -- it's a shame, because some good ideas are squandered in a muddled piece that ends up duping itself.
OPENS FRIDAY:
ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID: Johnny Messner, Morris Chestnut.
HERO: Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi.
MARIA FULL OF GRACE: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez.
SUSPECT ZERO: Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart.
