Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a film that combines beautiful cinematography, romance, and tons of great action sequences. I haven't watched a whole lot of martial arts, or wuxia, films, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon makes me want to watch more films in the genre. Plus, I just started taking Tae Kwon
Do classes so I guess that can be considered a requirement.
The plot follows two warriors, Master Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien, who must retrieve the legendary sword, Green Destiny, from the clutches of the notorious thief, Jade Fox. The warriors soon cross paths with Jen Yu, the teenage daughter of a nobleman with a secret. Jen soon finds the warrior in herself and teams up with the two warriors to get the Green Destiny back. There is also a subplot that explores Jen Yu's love life.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a well crafted film. It does a good job developing the characters and story and is loaded with eye candy. The stuntwork in this films is incredible and the performances in the cast are great. It's a very stylistic film that includes a lot of substance and the two work out perfectly.
When I sometimes think about martial arts movies, I get images in my head of a clichéd sensei or master giving wise zen quotes. The film avoids that and focuses more on the story than the martial arts. That's how I interpret the movie. This is a film that people interpret differently due to the ending. Trust me. Those final seconds of the movie are going to stick with you. The script is also fine. I love the dialogue during the romantic subplot. When Jen gets her freak on, they give her some pretty sassy dialogue.
The performances in this movie are excellent. There is not one bad actor in this film. I watched the original Madarin dub. I saw a bit of the English dub and wasn't totally impressed. It dumbed down the acting in my opinion. While I enjoyed Michelle Yeoh and thought Chow Yun Fat was awesome, major kudos go to Zhang Ziyi as Jen. This movie kicked off her career. The only other thing I saw her in was Rush Hour 2 but she's been in many other Asian films after this. Anyways, I just loved her as an actress and also as a crush. She starts off as a curious teen and then becomes a great warrior. I'm a sucker for cat fights and she engages in one of the best in cinematic history.
Also, the cinematography is exceptional. The landscapes are beautiful. It left me speechless and that's all I can say about it. The pacing started to bug me a little in the begining but toward the climax, it works very well. The romance suplot feels like an entirely different movie. It is also well developed throughout and makes an impact on the glouriously filmed final scene. Zhang Ziyi's chemistry with Chen Chang is perfect.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a spectacular film with breathtaking cinematography, memorable performances, a thrilling plot, a great romance, and has amazing action sequences. I need to explore more Wuxia films like Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon or Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Regarding Seven Samurai, I have an urge to see it but what seems to put me off is it's run time. I'll have to give it a try since it's a widely praised film. If you haven't seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, get to it. You will be entralled by this epic.
Thanks for reading my first review of 2012!
"Now give yourself up and find yourself again."
January 19, 2012
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