-Story-
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is by all accounts an epic story. The story revolves around the lives of a handful of warriors in Ancient China. These characters may be new, but they’re endued with mythic qualities. Li Mu Bai, is a lonely Wudan warrior, after long meditation he has decided to give up this adventurous life, sub textually for the love of a valiant warrior woman, Yu Shu Lien. The only thing left to do is give his mystic and powerful sword the Green Destiny to an old friend in Beijing. But in the night someone steals the sword, and Li must complete one final mission before retiring in peace, he must once and for all avenge the death of his former master, Lui Pan, at the hands of the nefarious Jade Fox. These fierce warriors fight and fly with a skill and dexterity rarely, if ever, seen in cinema. But although the themes of the tale revolve around, trust, friendship, and honour, the heart lies in the tragic tale of love that plays out onscreen. This film resonates with an emotional impact that is both heartbreaking and beautiful. The imagery, compliments the tale precisely, and grounds this fantastic story in the very tangible, lush world of Ancient China. Now try to tell me that’s not epic!
5/5The look of this film says volumes. It is beautiful, no, achingly beautiful; and as I said above gives us a link from the fantasy to the real. I must admit I am completely enamoured with the way this film works on so many levels. The cinematography by Peter Pau, is simply breathtaking. We are treated to incredible vistas, lush verdant forests, a bleak desert sandscapes. The look is ubiquitously grand. If everything is proportionate then so, logically, must be the images. Pau has succeeded rousingly in making me believe wholly that the world of Crouching Tiger is hard, and dangerous on the outside, but it is in the character’s warmth and love that we see the world has a magical and wondrous inside. I don’t want to seem pandering, but, so I’ll stop here, suffice it to say, the cinematography was excellent.
Of course can’t ignore the other aspects of the look. Firstly, the art direction; magnificent. The little touches were wonderful. Jen Yu’s ivory comb, the countless weapons in Yu Shu Lien’s dojo (which all get used very effectively) , and of course the Green Destiny itself. Simply excellent. Next, the music. It was very effective and beautiful. The theme in particular, by Jorge Calandrelli, and Tan Dun, was exquisite. This is truly a score reminiscent of the classic epic films of yesteryear. And, finally I cannot forget the fantastic stunt work and fight choreography. I’m not sure really how much martial arts experience Chow Yun-Fat has, considering I’ve never seen him do any in his other films, but I was thoroughly impressed with the incredibly high quality here. This film is the film that all other Hong Kong action films wished they were for years. It’s like the ultimate martial arts spectacle, with some pretty groundbreaking wirework to boot. All brought to life by the incredible choreography of Woo-ping Yuen. Great work all around. It’s no wonder this film won like 50 awards, including the Acadamy award for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Music.
5/5One might think that because this film relies so heavily on fighting, and scope that the cast could end up overshadowed, but here this is not the case. This film has some very heavy hitters involved. Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and the fresh face of Ziyi Zhang, make up the core of this fantastic cast. Yun-Fat has of course, been working for years, and has been sorely underrated and often misused by American film and media. He stars as Li Mu Bai, and although I wouldn’t have thought it possible myself before this film, brings his usual high standard of emotional charge, but couples it with some unheard of action scenes. Chow Yun-Fat is notably the one guy HK action films that is never seen performing martial arts. But here he appears flawless. Incredible, I’m not sure how much he had to learn, but it really did blow me away. Michelle Yeoh on the other hand has been involved in action for years and had the dubious distinction of being labeled the female Jackie Chan. Well, I’d have to say I think this film has safely propelled Yeoh past that particular association. She is stunning to watch, her fighting is at it’s best, and her acting is very strong. I suppose the actor that most impressed and surprised me though was the beautiful Ziyi Zhang. This girl had I’m sure a lot of pressure riding on her; to hold her own in a big budget, period piece like this, being helmed by a legend. But she came through in excellent form. This was only her second film, and Ziyi just shines, her fighting style is excellent, well, at least she can hold her own onscreen with Yun-Fat and Yeoh, because it’s her tragic love story that gives the film so much heart.
I know I’m going on and on, and on, but there’s one more person who definitely deserves some of the credit for this stellar piece of work, Ang Lee. He has surpassed all of his other films with this one (well at least all the ones I’ve seen). He has managed flawlessly to create a totally believable world in which the fate of men and women are tied intricately to the values they hold dearest. I watch this film and I really believe in the code these warriors live by. It is simply marvelous the way Lee managed to pull this off. I am really thankful that a talent like his is working on films as great as this.
5/5What can I say. I really really love this film. It’s great. Watch it in Chinese with the subtitles though, it’s completely worth it.
