To me, this movie is perfection.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I couldn't believe that this film didn't get any nominations or awards. I mean, the legendary Dustin Hoffman was in this, I don't understand. He played really well as a broken man, who had a marriage breakdown, became homeless, lost custody of his kid,and of course, he didn't want any fuss of being hailed the hero in saving people's lives after a plane crash. He's even an honest man, which is what I like about Hoffmans character!I thought Andy Garcia was excellent too. He looked so handsome then haha! No seriously, any woman in any year, would go for him. Nowadays he has changed and is married so, we won't say anything to him haha. I was surprised that his character didn't act evil. Yeah he stole Hoffman's identity but, he just wasn't really a villain after all. Why did they not give the character much personality? That's just so odd. I was even surprised at the ending, I honestly though they were gonna reveal the top secret. I really wish it did happen but, somehow it didn't so I can't complain there...It's a good movie. It was good to see Chevy Chase and Stephen Tobolowsky too, I really didn't expect them to be in this type of movie really!

The premise of Stephen Frears' "Hero" is a Capra movie written by a cynic, which is good. Yet it ends like a Capra movie, which, by the 90's standards, isn't so good.TV replaced newspapers as domineering media. Journalists are modern vultures in quest for sensational stories. Geena Davis is one of them, Gale, the wisecracking Jean Arthur-figure, fantasizing about THE scoop while crossing her legs on her boss' desk. And Andy Garcia is John Bubber, Gary Cooper's John Doe, the bum toyed by the media to become an instant hero, for a public hungry for models."Hero" asks insightful questions about our need of heroic figures as scapegoats to vent our social anger on. The most thought-provoking question it asks is to which extent we're ready to accept a phony yet pleasing reality rather than a non photogenic truth. And the cynical aspect of the film is embodied by the main character: Dustin Hoffman as Bernie LaPlante, perhaps the only person in the film who doesn't inspire a déjà-vu feeling from a Capra film, although he looks like an older version of Ratso Rizzo, the depth lacking.LaPlante is a small time crook specialized in pick-pocket and gold cards selling. To say that he's a loser is an understatement: he's divorced, her wife married with a fireman, his son loves him but hasn't got much to admire. To accentuate the pathos, LaPlante steals the purse of his lawyer during the trial that makes his jail sentence imminent and having his free days numbered doesn't make him remorseful at all. Not only he gives his son the kind of advice to show that a Father-of-the-Year, he ain't, he also keeps his stealing habits. We get it, LaPlante is unredeemable.Is he? Maybe the portrayal of LaPlante flirts with one-dimensionality to better prepare us for the film's pivotal moment when he saves, all alone, 54 passengers from a crashing plane by just opening the emergency door. A panicked boy begs him to find his father, LaPlante's son reflecting in these sad-looking eyes decides him for once, to accomplish one unselfish deed. He saves many passengers trapped in the plane, including Gale whom, conditioned by his job, he steals the purse. The trick is that he never finds the father (who safely left the plane) and out of guilt, chooses to fade in anonymity again, while, Gale, on stretchers, also conditioned by her job, is already trying to find the hero.The rest of the film is pure Capra material, the TV channel tries to find the mysterious man, and the only hint left is the shoe Bernie left before getting on the mud. The mysterious Cinderella man or 'Angel of the Flight 104' becomes the most wanted man of America. Bernie tells the story to the lucky John Bubber who drove him home on his van (which is also his house) leaves his shoe so he can give it to a crippled friend, and naturally, when one million dollars are offered, Bubber has his moment of weakness. Everyone is convinced, starting by Gale, a sweet, good-looking and sincere Vietnam vet, the perfect antithesis to men like LaPlante.Except that he's not the hero, and that's the cynical core of Stephen Frears' comedy, when truth matters less than the way media depicts it, when phony figures bring more hope and goodness than real ones, especially in the crisis-stricken America of the early 90's. Bubber is perfect beyond words, becoming a sort of modern prophet, awakening a comatose kid with the right words. At that point, the film is so full of irony that we stop waiting for LaPlante to raise his voice, we wonder if it really matters, since Bubber really helps people. Of course, the story can't do without the recognition of LaPlante's merits.And this is where the main weakness lies. No one ever listens to LaPlante, not after the disaster, no after he learned about the reward. Take the scene where he gets back home all mud-covered with one shoe left, his wife doesn't even try to know what happened, she angrily blames him for disappointing his son, who wanted to go … to the movies! I was like "oh no!", he'd just seen his son! they could've come with better than that. What if she didn't believe him, while the son does? How come LaPlante never tells anyone or tries to confront Bubber, through another channel? The same pattern works in reverse: when Bubber tries to tell the truth to Gale, she doesn't let him speak. You know something is wrong when the simplest situation in the world doesn't happen for the sake of a script. The result is that most of the film consists on LaPlante getting more and more pitiful, Bubber more and more heroic, and in-between, Gales doesn't have suspicion only until the last minute. The result is a good satire about the social role of media but an average comedy that never challenges its own potential and keeps on repeating the same situations.It's just as if Frears were so hurried to get to the scene when the name of LaPlante would be mentioned on the same breathe than Bubber and everyone reacts to it, that he took the 'easy way' to get to it. Dustin Hoffman specialized in various roles where he pointed out the role media frenzy can play on a social level, from "All the President's Men" to "Mad City", "Wag the Dog" or "Tootsie", in the best ones, things always go totally out of proportions and even media can't control them. In "Hero", everything stays in-control and kind of kills off the whole cynical aspect of the premise.It's just as Frears trusted us to believe in the characters' actions', while if there's one thing to learn from his own film, is to never take firm beliefs for granted.

This highly enjoyable movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia, and Geena Davis is a modern morality play. To paraphrase the Andy Garcia character , we all have a hero in us if you find us at our best, and we all have feet of clay if you find us at our worst. Further, the movie emphasizes that appearances are deceiving and the person we look down on may in fact have heroic qualities that we are not aware of.The movie is presented in a somewhat stylized way, hearkening back to Capra in its oddly old fashioned characters, the overlapping scenes, the symbolic lighting, the characters' constant quest for some idealized goal.I thought that the trio of Hoffman, Garcia, and Davis played off of one another very skillfully and really seemed to be enjoying themselves in this movie. Joan Cusack and Chevy Chase steal scenes with their (deliberately) over the top acting, and the movie in the end is quite satisfying in its combination of humor and moral lesson.

Stephen Frears made a fantastic film in 'Hero'.... the underrated Masterpiece of Hollywood from the year 1992. The film is engaging, interesting, gripping, enjoyable almost everything you want to see in a film, when you grow up.There is a hero in all of us, says Andy Garcia in the film, the film leaves you happy, that even in some ways everyone is a hero. A quality in all of us, that has or can make us a Hero! Laura Ziskin, Alvin Sargent & David Webb Peoples the writer's of 'Hero' deserve a pat for their hard work and brilliant writing. And the director's understanding and execution is just a cherry on the cake.Performance wise: Dustin Hoffman excels as Bernie. The legendary actor steals the show with an outstanding performance. Andy Garcia is excellent. His character might look Grey, but when he takes up the deeds, you route for the so-called hero. Geena Davis looks gorgeous and delivers a first-rate performance. Chevy Chase is wonderful. Joan Cusack is just right. Kevin J. O'Connor, Maury Chaykin & Stephen Tobolowsky are efficient.on the whole 'Hero' is heroic indeed. A must see for all cinema lovers. Two Thumbs Up!