South Korea Synopsis
영웅
“I am not a terrorist. I am the leader of the korean independence army.”
Ahn Jung-geun, a commander in the Korean Independence Army, leaves behind his country, his family and his mother Cho Maria. Ahn Jung-geun and his comrades cut off the last segment of their ring fingers as a symbol of their dedication to liberate their nation, and as a solemn oath to kill Ito Hirobumi, a man at the center of Japan’s occupation of Korea, within three years. To keep his oath, Ahn Jung-geun arrives in Vladivostok. Meanwhile, Seol-hee, the independence fighters’ informant, disguises herself to get close to Ito Hirobumi. She finds out that Ito Hirobumi will be heading to Harbin to meet with a Russian delegation, and urgently informs the independence fighters. The fateful day of October 26, 1909 arrives. Ahn Jung-geun, who has been yearning for this day does not hesitate to fire his gun at Ito Hirobumi at Harbin Station. Arrested on site, he is charged with murder and tried not in a court of Joseon but in that of Japan…
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Hero. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From JK Film
Drama + History in South Korea
41 South Korea titles in our catalog blend the Drama and History genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Hero itself).
The 2021–2023 South Korea Window
Hero holds position #133 of 211 South Korea films in the 2021–2023 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1TOMORROW X TOGETHER: OUR LOST SUMMER
★ 9.4 · 2023
#2Under the Queen's Umbrella
★ 9.1 · 2022
#3BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage – LA
★ 9.0 · 2022
#4BTS Permission to Dance On Stage – Seoul: Live Viewing
★ 9.0 · 2022
#5Undercover
★ 9.0 · 2021
#6The Good Bad Mother
★ 8.9 · 2023
#7The Fabulous
★ 8.8 · 2022
#8My Lovely Liar
★ 8.7 · 2023
The 2020s South Korea Landscape
2022 was the decade’s peak output year for South Korea — 97 titles released, including Hero. Bars below show how the 2020s stacked up year by year (301 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 96 other South Korea films in 2022.
The 1361st South Korea title from South Korea we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our South Korea catalog contains 1,397 titles in total (931 films).
Audience Engagement
11 audience reviews — more than 12% of South Korea films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 5th percentile among South Korea films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Hero, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- harbin · 1
- japanese occupation of korea · 25
- based on play or musical · 16
- japanese invasion of korea · 8
- 1900s · 8
- korean resistance · 7
- china · 127
- based on true story · 98
- musical · 71
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #557 of 1,397 South Korea films indexed here (60th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.3 points above the South Korea average of 6.9/10.
Among South Korea Drama productions specifically: #384 of 868 (top 44%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | South Korea |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Korean |
| Production Companies | JK Film, CJ Entertainment, acom, CJ ENM |
| Runtime | 2h 0m |
| Release Date | December 21, 2022 |
| IMDb | tt22506970 |