Dustin Hoffman plays a down-on-his-luck anti-hero who reluctantly saves 54 people from a plane crash, including a news reporter (Geena Davis) whose purse he steals in the process of saving her, before disappearing into the night.
John Bubber (Andy Garcia) is the homeless guy who gives Bernie LaPlant (Hoffman) a ride back into the city and becomes the only person to learn the true story of the crash and Bernie’s role. When a million dollars is offered for an interview with the mysterious “Angel of Flight 104″, Bubber steps forward and takes Bernie’s place in the spotlight (and the money). The media turns him into a national celebrity and heroic inspiration to all, while Bernie is forced, through various circumstances, to watch the growth of the pretender’s legacy.
Hero is one of the best movies that no-one seems to have heard of. It’s a well mixed dramatic comedy, with superb acting and a great script. It’s a simple story, really, about flawed humans: characters who can be heroic in one instance and deceptive the next. Plus it’s simply entertaining.
If it didn’t have such a prevalence of unsavory language from the main character, I’d recommend it unreservedly as an uplifting tale about the heroes in all of us.
I also love the poster – it does such a great job of conveying the media view displayed in the movie, and introducing the triumvirate of main characters. And the tag line sums up the movie perfectly:
We’re all heroes if you catch us at the right moment.
To those who can deal with the language, I highly recommend it.
Four and a half stars.
[tags]Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, Chevy Chase, Heroism, anti-hero, movie, review, plane crash[/tags]
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