Movies regularly require us to suspend belief, all too often in the service of something trivial. Here, the idea that people fly is an emotionally intrinsic device, an extension of who they are and what they believe, in service of something flawlessly executed.
The Taiwanese-born director moved to the United States in 1987, and his ability to see the world from each perspective, gives dimension and detail to both his Asian- and Western-themed material.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a feeling person's martial arts - or kung fu, if you wish - film. Lee is clearly as intrigued by the conventions of the genre, the most popular in the world, as he is in turning them on their head. Here, as with his portrait of modern suburban alienation in "The Ice Storm," sisters in 19th-century Britain in "Sense and Sensibility," and Asian family relationships in "Eat Drink Man Woman," his actual interests are the rigid class, gender and social codes that bind and divide people in each.
Although "Crouching Tiger" takes place in ancient China, it is comparable to "Sense and Sensibility" as a female portrait of the struggle between duty and self-interest. The environment, from desert arid to verdant green, plays as crucial a role as precipitation does in "The Ice Storm." And the kung fu fighting offers the chance for as many clever variations on the physical as the Kama Sutra.
Lee, with co-writer and longtime producer James Schamus, weaves these elements into an Arthurian-flavored fable by way of Scheherazade, without compromising the genre's distinguishing visceral characteristics.
After an exposition-heavy introduction to establish motive, character and relationships, the film back flips into action with a series of acrobatic conflicts. Co-star Michelle Yeoh is sent loping across a terra-cotta rooftop like a cat caught in an updraft. Co-star Chow Yun Fat has the most breathtaking single scene, flitting birdlike, from bamboo branch to branch, in a pas de deux with newcomer Zhang Ziyi. And Zhang is a one-woman wrecking crew in a comic tavern fight scene common to the genre.
The story is about a stolen sword, but is really about passion denied. Chow is the master warrior about to retire and perhaps finally tell his true love, a warrior herself played by Yeoh, about his feelings. But when his sword is stolen, the two must battle his lifelong nemesis and a teenage girl, played by Zhang, who may be as powerful as Chow.
The teenager wants to escape the arranged marriage her parents are promoting. And in a sequence that is almost like a movie within the movie, we learn of the true love she has left behind, a desert bandit (played by Chang Chen) who abducted her, but whom she wrestles to a draw in the sand during a funny and flirtatious battle of equals.
With Yuen Wo-Ping, who was fight choreographer on "The Matrix," Lee offers a balletic, poetry-in-motion style of fighting that would be familiar to Gene Kelly, Martha Graham or Kerri Strug. It is staged as a flowing series of strategic moves - thrust, parry, retreat, rebound and repeat - that are delicate as calligraphy but as dangerous as a scorpion. And, accompanied by the driving pulse of the Kodo drums or the hush of the wind in bamboo, the fight scenes are as enchantingly imagined as they are astonishingly executed.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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
a really first class opinion. I have bought the film on DVD already without having watched it but after reading your review, I can't wait to see it. Cheers!
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...
![Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78543493.jpg "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [DVD] [2001]")
Jun 18th, 2001
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