Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (DVD) > Reviews

Advantages: Epic Chinese mythical tale, amazing escapeism and Unique romance element.
Disadvantages: Must be able to suspend belief, and accept the unacceptable.

This is an epic tale, which brings an amazing Chinese story into the main-stream, if you allow it. Dismiss this unique tale (atleast to Western film circles) as a meaningless 'beat em up' karate film, at your peril and personal loss. The story is an intricate and finely woven tale of love, good versus evil and trust in magic and legends, set against stunning backdrops. If you did dismiss it narrowly as I did at the cinema stage, don't miss out ... Read review

Advantages: Great fight scenes, pretty well written and directed, story rich in substance, breaking into the western market
Disadvantages: subtitled, nothing new, too dramatic and poetic if you're not into the sort of thing, the storyline can be confusing - so watch carefully!

With top names in the cast (Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Zi Li) and award-winning director Ang Lee, these Far Eastern stars bring the ancient Chinese culture clearly into the Western world. Romance, martial arts, heroism, tragedy, and poetry are the essence of period pieces that have been done before many many times in Eastern cinema. However there's something in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' that really appeals to the Western market. ... Read review

Advantages: A great way to spend a couple of hours
Disadvantages: what who where why is going on type of moments are frequent

hmmmm, maybe I missed the point. I sat down waiting to be amazed but well...the film seemed to just unfurl in front of me but I remained unmoved by it. I'm not one to prejudge a movies by its origin so I took this film at face value. The action scenes are impressive if not a bit campy and I could not make out who was supposed evil or not there were so many plot twists by the time I worked out one there was another. But this film is very well ... Read review

Advantages: Great scenery
Disadvantages: Boring

I've been watching chinese culturally based films since I was a kid, mostly Hong Kong films. CTHD has attained very good reviews from many critics and cinema goers alike. I, myself do not see what all the fuss is about. First the plot is very weak. Basically the story is about a Wudan warrior called Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) who gives up his sword, the Green Destiny, in hopes of retirement from the martial arts world. However the Green Destiny is stolen ... Read review

Advantages: The final
Disadvantages: The whole two hours

Yesterday was the day when I finally got hold on this film (Crouching Tiger hidden Dragon). Comfy sofa, dim lights and friends opinion that I am about to watch something outstanding. No, not really! Well, let me be more specific. PLOT...Fantasy? Yes. not outstanding fantasy though. A quest to retrieve a stollen sword plus a lot of fight scenes. Aren`t all those films look and sound similar? They are. By the time this film warmed up I got bored - ... Read review

Advantages: good special effects
Disadvantages: the outcome of a commericalised chinese film.

I watched this film after reading the book and found it extremely annoying as it wasn't as good as the book. The book was very good but as a film, it was the biggest disappointment since the Millenium dome! I have watched many Cantonese and other chinese films as I have watched them all at my friends house, however what I found also annoying is that they always seem to use these days only Chow Yun Fast and Michelle yeoh like they are the ... Read review

Advantages: A wonderful 2 hours of pure bliss
Disadvantages: none

I was a little apprehensive about seeing this film as I'm not into action films at all, but after 10 minutes I was hooked. The storyline is fantasic, the charcters are well rounded and the acting is amazing. I had heardof Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh, but the others were all unknown to me. The flying sequences and fights were high adrenaline and kept you on the edge of your seats, the ones between the girls seemed even more fast and dangerous. The ... Read review

Advantages: Cracking fight scenes, good acting, generous budget
Disadvantages: plot not involving enough.

I think I am about to be castigated for my opinions on this film, but I came away disappointed in what I saw on the screen. Now as a bona fide movie buff, I went to see this film with open expectations. It wasn't the fight scenes that I was seeing this film for, it was the fact that most "eastern" films have great and gripping plotlines - and that is the reason I came away feeling empty. Sure, the fight scenes were great, no problems with them, ... Read review

Advantages: Full serieses of so-called kong-fu actions
Disadvantages: Weak plotline, weak characters (don't really get too sympathetic with anyone at the end)

With all the media's enthusiasm and award-winning of this film, I finally decided that I am going to see it. It is done in Chinese (Mandarin - the Peking language) with subtitles in English, and as a Chinese I judge that the translation - no matter how much they try to keep the same meaning - makes the film somewhat lost its originality. I didn't quite understand why they did it in Mandarin - the main characters Chow Runfat and Yang Mei (I think) ... Read review

Advantages: Very Captivating
Disadvantages: Hero dies

This movie is a masterpiece. If you have fascination with the eastern arts, there is a lot of things in this movie that will be interesting to you. Its as if the director wanted you to experience the life of warriors. As opposed to kung fu movies where one guy has a quest and goes and kicks everyone's ass, this one is quite different. This movie has a very wide plot. Rivalry between two old generation warriors encompasses all the secondary ... Read review

Advantages: Great effects and fight scenes
Disadvantages: not sure.

I watched this film quite a while ago, but has only just come out in the UK. It's a pretty decent film if you love martial arts and fighting movies, especially chinese fight scenes. I can never remember the characters / actors names but the main story line is about a man who is really good a certain martial art, and has a special sword in which he is highly skilled with. This 'girl' steals it but she doesn't know the full 'powers' of it, and ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful locations, beautiful cast, stunningly shot and great fight scenes.
Disadvantages: storyline was dull, not enough UMPH!! Boring.

Right, i'm going to be honest here. I though this film was over adulated. Dont get me wrong, it was absolutely beautifully shot, the fight scenes were stunning and for those of you who have never been exposed to Hong Kong cinema before i would still urge you to see it as it is a fine example of outstanding cinematography and choreography. But for veterans of Hong Kong cinema who have been spoilt by such films as 'The young master', 'The legend of ... Read review