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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2000, Movie, PG-13, 119 mins

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Review

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON | WU HU ZANG LONG
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Think of this as Taiwanese director Ang Lee's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, a loving homage to the pulp movies of his youth. Lee grew up on fanciful tales of martial arts chivalry (wuxia pian), filled with balletic, gravity-defying action sequences, philosophical fighters and warrior women. But he isn't interested in wringing ironic laughs from genre conventions. His film (adapted from material by novelist Wang Du Lu) humanizes the formula by emphasizing two love stories, one filled with youthful fire and the other defined by mature melancholy. In ancient China, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) decides to abandon his fighting ways and asks fellow warrior Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) to present his cherished sword to respected elder Sir Te (Lung Sihung). Shu Lien and Mu Bai love each other deeply, but tradition prevents them from acting on their feelings. She agrees to take the sword and persuades Mu Bai to meet her at Sir Te's Peking compound after he's paid tribute at the grave of his master, murdered years earlier by mysterious bandit Jade Fox. The sword is promptly stolen from Sir Te's home. The masked thief's identity is quickly revealed: It's Jen (Zhang Ziyi), the beautiful teenage daughter of the district's new governor. Jen, who will soon make a politically advantageous marriage but secretly loves another, has been surreptitiously trained in the martial arts by her governess. And her governess is none other than the elusive Jade Fox (wuxia pian veteran Cheng Pei Pei). While scrupulously concerned with character relationships, Lee doesn't stint on the dreamlike battle scenes, choreographed by Yuen Wo-Ping and mercifully free of the exaggerated sound effects familiar from exploitation kung fu pictures. The combatants' fists and feet fly while they scuttle up walls, skim the surface of water like insects and drift into the air like dandelion fluff (most Western viewers first saw this style of martial arts action in THE MATRIX, also choreographed by Yuen). The film satisfies on both visceral and emotional levels, and showcases veterans Yeoh and Chow, as well as relative newcomers Zhang and Chang Chen (who plays her bandit lover). leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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