Hey, hey, I'm back! Who knows for how long. Too much of me is too much of a good thing in my opinion...
Hey, hey, I'm back! Who knows for how long. Too much of me is too much of a good thing in my opinion. And that's what it's all about - opinions!
Member since:02.08.2000
Reviews:79
Members who trust:86
I’ve been wanting to see this movie ever since it first came out, several months back. The trailer looked amazing and although at that time I didn’t know much about it, I had liked the director, Ang Lee’s, previous work. As the film became better known and the hype grew and its Oscar success as Best Foreign Language Film catapulted it into the stratosphere, I began to accept the idea that this was a film I was not destined to see on the big screen. However, recently, whether it was due to some strange convergence of stars and planets, the effects of the aurora borealis, or just some global government conspiracy gone wrong, my wife and I found we had baby-sitters for the evening and were free to go out...at night...together...by ourselves.
Almost giddy with freedom, we were unsure what to do...for about five seconds, then memories of our past lives (i.e. pre-children) came flooding back. One of the things we chose to do was go to the pictures. Or movies, as they’re now called. Hey, these multiplex things are a good idea, aren’t they. And they even have colour, now...
It wasn’t tough to choose between the Seagal comeback movie, charmingly entitled "Exit Wounds" and
this Oscar-winning, Taiwanese fable, which I was surprised to see was still showing. When we purchased our tickets we were asked if we knew that the film was sub-titled. I held up a piece of paper with "yes" written on it.
This is a film that is not best described by focusing on its plot in any great detail - in fact, this is probably the main weakness of the film. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is a legendary warrior who decides to hang up his sword, or in this case, entrust it to an old friend, Sir Te, for safe-keeping. His "friend", Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) delivers it for him, but it is soon stolen. Shu Lie realises that the culprit is the young daughter of the Governor, Jen (Zhang Zi-Yi), who is about to be married to someone, more in the line of duty than romance. This is no give-away as it is obvious from the beginning that Jen has a secret to hide. Complications arise when we realise who Jade Fox (Mu Bai’s enemy, ever since she poisoned his master) now is. Then Jen’s true love shows up, she gets angry, some people die, she jumps off a cliff...and the movie ends, leaving one rather confused.
Now this may make it sound like I didn’t like the film - I did - but it has its weaknesses. The film is obviously not realistic as is seen as soon as the incredible fight scenes start. Characters leap all over the place as if they can fly! No explanation is ever offered for this, it apparently being a tradition of this genre. People seem to be able to deny nature all over the place and it is a shock when anyone actually dies. But this lack of logic does make the film somewhat confusing as you don’t know the rules of this world. I couldn’t help thinking that there was a lot of symbolism that the western audience must have been missing, and the modern sub-titling didn’t help; "warehouses" and "being set up" seemed out of time-and-place, incongruous.
The middle-section, detailing the history of the romance between the young woman and her beau, was over-long and misjudged. The motivations of the characters were never clearly explained - why was Jen so angry all the time? I got the feeling that the director (Ang Lee) had shot a lot more than this and the inevitable result of cutting it down made the story somewhat incoherent, and made the characters seem more shallow.
The strengths of the film far outweigh its flaws however. The sets are stunning, the locations beautiful, the action scenes breath-taking, the performances strong and the special-effects complemented the film rather than distracted you. I’m glad I saw it on the big screen, though, as a television will never be able to do it justice.
The main theme is one of duty and honour versus self-fulfilment. Jen feels duty-bound to marry the man her father wants her to, although she’d rather marry her true love. This is mirrored in the relationship between Shu Lien and Mu Bai; the former had once been engaged to a mutual friend who had died, the latter being unprepared to dishonour his memory by revealing his true feelings toward her. However, he makes it clear that he feels he has wasted his life by not declaring his love, and Jen, who does choose her true love, doesn’t seem any happier! I confess, I’m really not sure what the film was trying to say.
I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone, because it is intelligent and different (compared to most Hollywood fodder - there may be dozens of film like this over China way for all I know) but I don’t think it will appeal to everyone. It will definitely get you and your partner/mate(s) talking after it, though, which is always a good sign.
The unusual title apparently refers to Jen’s character. The Chinese character for dragon is embedded in her name. No, doesn’t help me much, either! My title for this review was unashamedly based on Steve Martin’s joke when he hosted the Oscars, this year. He joked that he was surprised not to see any tigers or dragons when he saw the film, until he realised they were all crouching and hidden! Steal from the best, I always say!
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Production Year: 2003 - Martial Arts - Director: Paul Hunter - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, James King, Karel Roden
Production Year: 1972 - Martial Arts - Director: Bruce Lee - Original Language: English\Cantonese\Chinese - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, Chuck Norris, Robert Wall, Jon T. Benn
Production Year: 1991 - Martial Arts - Director: Tsui Hark - Original Language: Cantonese - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Donnie Yen, Jet Lee, Rosamund Kwan, Yuen Biao, Mok Sui Chung
Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Martial Arts - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, Sho Kosugi, James Ryan, Jim Kelly, Jimmy Wang Yu, Bolo Yeung, Christopher Lee
Brilliant op. and you're right, steve martin is indeed a genius.
treelow 29.08.2003 08:19
I have brought this film - by mistake I might add, and never got round to returning it? I cannot get past the first 10 minutes of the film and i'v tried several times?
perhaps I'll have to skip a bit?
thedeadparrot 06.05.2001 13:14
A fabulous op there. I too wanted to see this, but I missed my chance on the big screen, more's the pity. And did you really hold up a piece of paper that said "yes" on it? Neil
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragonis so many things: an historical epic on a grand scale, an ... more
Asian martial-arts flick with both great effectsandfantastic fighting (choreographed byThe Matrix's guru Yuen Wo Ping), a story of magic, revenge and power played w...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragonis so many things: an historical epic on a grand scale, an ... more
Asian martial-arts flick with both great effectsandfantastic fighting (choreographed byThe Matrix's guru Yuen Wo Ping), a story of magic, revenge and power played w...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Amazing martial arts fighting sequences (choreographed by Yuen wo Ping - The Matrix) ... more
stunning special effects action adventure and romance have made Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon the most talked about movie of the year. Martial arts masters Li Mu B...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
In the most-talked about movie of the year, Director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) ... more
brings together a breathtaking combination of high-flying action (choreographed by Yeun Wo Ping - The Matrix) and stunning visual effects, woven around a story of humo...
Advantages: Spiritual and moving, stunning locations and fight sequences. Disadvantages: Subtitles - the translation into English quite probably loses certain meaning.
![Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78543493.jpg "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [DVD] [2001]")
May 3rd, 2001
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