you ask me if 'Our land' is a good translation, I can't tell you. All translations are handicapped. Every word has different meanings in different cultures." In Cause: The Birth of Hero—a documentary on the making of Hero—Zhang mentions that he hopes the film will have some contemporary relevance, and that, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks the themes of universal brotherhood and "peace under heaven" may indeed be interpreted more globally, and taken to refer to peace in "the world." The phrase was later changed in television-release versions of the film. Reception Box office The film opened in China in October 2002. It grossed within a week, and in three months. It topped the 2002 annual Chinese box office and set the record for the domestic highest-grossing film in China, earning (). On 27 August 2004, after a long delay, Hero opened in 2,175 North American screens uncut and subtitled. It debuted at #1, grossing in its opening weekend. Hero grossed in the United States and Canada. It is the fourth highest grossing non-English film in North America, behind Life is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and The Passion of the Christ. Hero grossed in international territories outside North America, for a worldwide total of . Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 211 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With death-defying action sequences and epic historic sweep, Hero offers everything a martial arts fan could ask for." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F. Roger Ebert called it "beautiful and beguiling, a martial arts extravaganza defining the styles and lives of its fighters within Chinese tradition." He said the film "demonstrates how the martial arts genre transcends action and violence and moves into poetry, ballet and philosophy." Richard Corliss of Time described the film as being like "Rashomon with a Mandarin accent" and compared the film to House of Flying Daggers but said "Hero is the masterpiece", adding that "it employs unparalleled visual splendor to show why men must make war to secure the peace and how warriors may find their true destiny as lovers." Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune called