Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[IronParrot]

I'm a big fan of movies of this sort, and this one in particular was excellent. No, the fights weren't miles and miles beyond anything I'd ever seen before (though I've seen a lot of other people think so). But the entire movie as a whole - the atmosphere, the mood, the sheer elegance of the story and the unforgettable characters - it was all wonderful.

Here's my review from <a href=http://pub4.ezboard.com/bnicktheshadow>my messageboard</a> from a few weeks ago (don't you miss these?):


SUMMARY

Jen (Zhang Zi-Yi), daughter of a Peking governor and a young bride-to-be, tries to escape her aristocratic life in search of freedom and adventure.


JUST TELL ME IF IT'S GOOD OR BAD

Unbelievable. Go see it, now.


PROS

Let me begin by cutting straight to what most people anticipating this movie want to know about. The fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are spectacular. Not clearly above and beyond every film in the genre every made by any long stretch, as the uninitiated who have never seen anything beyond The Matrix would claim, but certainly among the best I have seen.

However, this film is wonderful not because of the swashbuckling clangs of sword on sword alone, but because it is an involving mythology. This is, without a doubt, the martial arts fantasy movie, just as Once Upon A Time In China was the martial arts historical epic. This is the Star Wars of the martial arts film; the Wudan techniques are the Force, and Jen is the female Anakin Skywalker of ancient China. Her story of lust for adventure, and her growth and maturing weaved through surpression of women and corruption of herself, are everything that a Star Wars enthusiast hopes the rest two prequels are like.

It is in this fantasy environment in an ancient setting that the characters fly; at points they are gracefully weightless. The beautiful cinematography, the direction, the choreography - all these components establish this mythos. This is further augmented by Tan Dun's lush musical score, one of a clearly Oriental tonality, only sublime and dark. Ancient China is captured beautifully with sweeping establishing shots of Peking, the desert, and the mountains.

Zhang Zi-Yi delivers an extremely strong performance, making Jen a character that is easy to actually care about. Possibly in the running for Best Supporting Actress? Give me a break. This was no mere supporting role. The story was about Jen and how her desire to break free of the aristocracy into which she is tied down affected her life; how her desperation for excitement as a warrior makes her dangerous.

The rest of the cast is strong, and portray a very well-developed ensemble of characters: Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat), the Wudan warrior who wishes to live a more peaceful life, but seeks to avenge his master's death; Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), who tries to protect Jen and her family; Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei), a legendary outlaw who slew Li's master and stole the secrets of the Wudan arts out of her feminist fanaticism; all of them and how they affect Jen's story are memorable, identifiable characters. Their strengths as characters defines the epic scale of this film.

And of course, there is the Green Destiny sword, the Maltese Falcon of the movie; a legendary centuries-old sword central to the story that is one of the most memorable inanimate objects seen on film. Of this year's films, only Wilson the bloodstained volleyball from Cast Away comes even close to the mysticism of this sword, as far as inanimate objects go - and you can't really compare the two, now can you. In fact, it is a fallacy to call it an inanimate object. The sword comes alive on the screen as it does in the story.

Strong characters, a well-woven plot and the effectiveness of the mythological setting are all elements that make Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a guaranteed classic-to-be.


CONS

None that I'm qualified to comment on (i.e. how well the Cantonese-speaking actors, particularly Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, speak Mandarin).


OVERALL

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not the be-all and end-all of the martial arts film. However, it is a legend on the screen; an epic in ancient China doused with the fantastic, mythological representation of the martial arts as expressed in Chinese arts and literature brought to life in the most vivacious way. As a martial arts film, it is on the level of Once Upon A Time In China; as a fantasy film, it is the martial arts genre's Star Wars.

[anduin]

IP, I was hoping that you would do a review of this movie......and you did. :)

I don't go to the movies very often, but when so many people talk about a movie and tell me that I must see it, I usually oblige. I enjoyed this movie so much that I went to see it again the following night.

I just loved the "dance-fight" scene in the trees. It was so beautiful!

What did you think about Lo? You didn't mention him. He was one of my favorite characters in the movie. I loved how he danced out of the cave singing to leave Jen alone to bathe. The scenes with them together are some of my favorites. :)

[Film Hobbit]

Well Parrot I'm glad you at least were able to recognize the fight scenes in this film for what they are.

I am sick and tired of people who are deeply and madly in love with this film running around saying idiotic things like the fight scenes in this film are the greatest they have ever seen, etc.

Even the fights in the Matrix are better and while good, they are by no means the best. Thanks for joining me in reality, hehe.

[bmilder]

I haven't seen this but aren't the subtitles annoying?

[anduin]

Actually they're not. Everyone I have talked to (and I agree) have said that after awhile they didn't even notice and by the end of the movie it is almost like they could understand the language. I don't mind subtitles myself but I have a friend who abhors them....she finally was dragged off to the movie and she jokingly said after the movie...."it had subtitles??"

[IronParrot]

Subtitles = good.

Dubbing = EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!!! (Except for Godzilla movies...)

[galadriel1]

I haven't seen it yet. It just finally made it out here to 'the sticks' this weekend. I've been looking forward to seeing this movie. I've heard so many good things about it. The soundtrack is nice. Parrot, fascinating review. Haven't I seen you as a guest host on Siskel & Ebert before? :) :) :)

[Film Hobbit]

I was really looking forward to seeing it to until I saw it, lol :)

Hope you like it Galadriel.

[galadriel1]

Film: Aside from the fight / action scenes, what did you think of the rest of the movie? I`m going to try to see this over the weekend or on Monday. I have to admit that from what I`ve seen of the ads and trailer, the fight scenes look a bit 'over the top'. I was hoping for a more realistic movie in that aspect. I`ll let you know what I think after I view it.

[IronParrot]

Don't expect "realistic" at all. CTHD explores a mythical aspect of Chinese art and literature - the field of "fantasy martial arts", I suppose you could call it.

[Film Hobbit]

Well, Galadriel, honestly, CTHD in every way possible was simply an anime film translated to live action. The fight scenes were anime and so was the plot. At times the story moved along rather nicely, other times it tripped a bit over itself.

Here, let me just post my full <a href=http://www.batcave.net/cgi/movies/movies.cav?action=showreview&review=ctiger>Review</a> from my site:

Not since Sandy Duncan's version of "Peter Pan" has such a cinematic masterpiece been caught on film. Yeah that's right geekboy; I just compared "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to "Peter Pan". Pick your eyeglasses up and listen, it gets better.

One of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, thousands of happy filmboys around the U.S. are wetting their pants, selling their first-born, and dancing naked in the parking lot of your local Cinemark to get in to see the Chinese film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Critics everywhere have heralded it as everything from the greatest kung fu movie of all time to their own personal version of heaven. Critics are generally a loud mouth bunch who are only interested in inflating their ego by making it seem like they are very smart indeed... don't believe it.

Directed by Ang Lee, as a pure action flick, Tiger is a pussycat. First off, ALL of the fighting and stunts are done via wirework. Basically what this means is they stick a wire to a guys belt and pull him up in the air when he jumps to make it look like he is a LOT cooler than he really is. For the uninitiated, go rent The Matrix or some old Hong Kong Kun Fu movies to see some good example of how this can be really cool.

Crouching Tiger is a really good example of how it can be TERRIBLE. All the characters in this film can apparently levitate. There is no apparent reason for it except to say that they like doing it and someone thought it might be cool. The truth is, that this is a film based on deeply routed chinese legend in which the characters have supernatural powers, but you of course have no way to know this, and should not be expected to. This film presents itself as a period piece set in ancient China, so one can only assume that the Ancient Chinese had more powerful ginseng back then than they do now. Wirework is used to accomplish it, and through its use players are made to dance through the air, leap across roof tops, levitate their bodies, and dance on the tops of trees.

Put aside for the moment that these are supposed to be ancient warriors, NOT super-heroes and just pretend that there is some explanation for these abilities. Even assuming that this is "normal" behavior... it looks like ****. Heck, every one of these moves looks EXACTLY like what it is, it looks like the guy has a wire strapped to his belt and some idiot is off camera with a crane or something pulling him up in the air. In no way does it look real, and a large majority of the audience in the theatre where I saw CTHD spent a great deal of time laughing at it. If you've ever seen Sandy Duncan's live action version of Peter Pan, you have seen wire work every bit as good as this. The only difference is in Crouching Tiger you can't see the wire.

Fighting conducted on the ground without silly airborne maneuvers however is well choreographed and face paced. But at best all I can say is its not bad. But its not spectacular either. If you've seen Jackie Chan's The Legend of Drunken Master you have scene fights light-years beyond these. Heck, if you've seen the Matrix you've seen more interesting stuff. Even Mission Impossible 2, as much as I despise it, had better moves than this. At best its average, but its not the stuff Kung Fu dreams are made out of.


As a drama/romance film, Crouching Tiger is and well done. At first the plot is confusing and a bit muddled, with lots of unknown characters running around saying things like "Jade Fox? She killed my Master!" and "Li Mu Bai! The great master swordsman and weilder of the Jade Destiny?" and so on. And of course about half way through the movie there is the 20-minute flashback, which goes on for so long that you forget why the damn thing flashed back to begin with. But after the flashback it starts to come together and all the clichÕ "you killed my (insert friend or relation here)" starts to stick together to form a couple of distinct and interesting story lines tied together by a few common threads.

Overall, I'd say America's critics should be ashamed. I think the problem is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a Chinese fairytale that someone decided to package together as a serious action/romance flick, except they forgot to clue the audience in, and instead end up trying to convince us that its some sort of period piece. However, even that would have been forgiveable had Ang Lee even managed to provide us with some decent action for us uninitiated Americans to sink into. Instead we got Kung Fu Peter Pan.

[IronParrot]

I would have to refute a number of points in your review... I'll go through them one at a time.


CTHD in every way possible was simply an anime film translated to live action.

Stories such as CTHD predate anime by a long, long time frame. Anime wasn't even a word back when stories like these were conceived and written.

The Matrix, on the other hand, is an anime film. It's the freeze-frame "bullet-time" effects that contribute to that - just like how in anime, you see a lot of time-freezing techniques with dynamic, fluid backgrounds. CTHD had none of that. In fact, I'd like it if you could develop your claim that CTHD is like anime, because I don't see where that's founded.


"Crouching Tiger is a really good example of how it can be TERRIBLE. All the characters in this film can apparently levitate. There is no apparent reason for it except to say that they like doing it and someone thought it might be cool. The truth is, that this is a film based on deeply routed chinese legend in which the characters have supernatural powers, but you of course have no way to know this, and should not be expected to."

First of all, there is a reason behind the whole levitation thing. No, it's not a "deeply routed Chinese legend" - in fact, there is a great deal of popular Chinese art and literature that stems from these legends. There are also many, many films and miniseries produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan that follow the same idea - kung fu heroes that can jump, fly and bend their bodies in all these different ways.

However, CTHD was the first of these films that was truly groundbreaking in that it moved beyond a Hong Kong miniseries feel because of the very appropriately mellow yet beautiful musical score, the precision of the sound editing so not every single punch has the exact same amplified sound of cloth moving as is the case in many other films of the sort, and the lavish cinematography of the entire picture.

The Wudan arts in this film are no different from the Jedi arts in Star Wars. In fact, the latter has its roots in the "mythical martial arts" of Chinese legend.

Was CTHD made specifically for an American audience? Not likely. Was it marketed for an American audience? Yes, in America. So there's no reason to expect that this is an American film. Hence the flying, hence the wire work.


Put aside for the moment that these are supposed to be ancient warriors, NOT super-heroes and just pretend that there is some explanation for these abilities.

The only explanation that is needed is that the flying techniques, etc. are the secrets of the Wudan arts referred to in this film.

Never seen a fantasy film formulated around a real-world setting? I'm waiting for you to unload on the Harry Potter film when it's released.


Heck, every one of these moves looks EXACTLY like what it is, it looks like the guy has a wire strapped to his belt and some idiot is off camera with a crane or something pulling him up in the air.

Oh, if you don't like this, just wait until you see a BAD wire-fu film.

The flying only looks unrealistic because our intuition tells us flying is impossible. It's MUCH better than in many other films, trust me.

I'm not done. I'm out of time. I'll come back and finish this tomorrow.

[Film Hobbit]

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Stories such as CTHD predate anime by a long, long time frame. Anime wasn't even a word back when stories like these were conceived and written.

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I'm not sure how this dissproves my point... are you saying that the script for CTHD was written long ago before Anime was created? Because I think we can be pretty sure that is not so. Now if on the other hand you mean that the material it is based on was written long ago... I still don't see your point. Just because it was thought up long ago doesn't mean the movie couldn't have been made in an anime style does it?

Some of the many reasons it IS like anime: Characters with amazing and unrealistic abilities; quick scene changes with long flashbacks, and this is purely opinion... but the dialogue just SCREAMED anime to me.



Quote:
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First of all, there is a reason behind the whole levitation thing. No, it's not a "deeply routed Chinese legend" - in fact, there is a great deal of popular Chinese art and literature that stems from these legends. There are also many, many films and miniseries produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan that follow the same idea - kung fu heroes that can jump, fly and bend their bodies in all these different ways.
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My whole point on this was that it doesn't MATTER what the reason was, because it was in no way explained in the film. You can't simply assume that your audience knows why these people can do this stuff. Even Superman, well known though he is, has an origin story to explain why he can do what he does.

Quote:
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However, CTHD was the first of these films that was truly groundbreaking in that it moved beyond a Hong Kong miniseries feel because of the very appropriately mellow yet beautiful musical score, the precision of the sound editing so not every single punch has the exact same amplified sound of cloth moving as is the case in many other films of the sort, and the lavish cinematography of the entire picture.
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Yes, it definently was mellow.

Quote:
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The Wudan arts in this film are no different from the Jedi arts in Star Wars. In fact, the latter has its roots in the "mythical martial arts" of Chinese legend.
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Yes, but in Star Wars Lucas doesn't have the Jedi doing fantastic things and just expect you to figure out why, instead he invests in a backstory to help explain their abilities and make it more believable to his audience.


Quote:
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Was CTHD made specifically for an American audience? Not likely. Was it marketed for an American audience? Yes, in America. So there's no reason to expect that this is an American film. Hence the flying, hence the wire work.
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Again, I tried to make the point that any Asian audience probably has a totally different perspective. But I'm American, and its currently showing in America, so you can't expect American's to suddenly become Asian.

[IronParrot]

The flying is explained well enough.

The only people who fly in this film are the four leads, all of whom have knowledge of the Wudan arts. There are several references made to the Wudan manual and the secrets of their special branch of martial arts. From this it is directly suggested that the deepest secrets of the Wudan martial arts branch include a way to fly. This is the explanation.

One who says that this explanation is inadequate might as well say that explaining the powers of the X-Men in the Bryan Singer film (like CTHD, also based on existing source material which not ALL audiences were familiar with) simply by referring to them as results of "mutations" is also inadequate. That is another example where a real-world setting encompasses characters with special abilities of fantasy. Anyone with sense and practicality knows that in reality, genetic mutations don't allow you to telekinetically manipulate magnetic fields, shapeshift or shoot concentrated IR beams from your eyes. Just like anyone with sense and practicality knows that in reality, mastering a martial arts discipline doesn't lead to exemption from the laws of physics.

"But X-Men is a superhero movie!" some people might reply to my comments. So is CTHD. From all the promotional material you could see it was so. In fact, the two do have some interesting parallels...

And lastly, there is no problem with the fact that you dislike the film because it wasn't designed with American audiences in mind, specifically the masses who have no knowledge of this major staple of Chinese art and culture - the "martial arts myth". However, the fact that you dislike the film for that reason does not make it a bad movie.

[Elrond]

Ok, technically it was a well put together film. Apart from that, I didn't enjoy it at all. I didn't really notice the subtitles, so that didn't bother me, I was just totally bored. If only I'd gone to the cinema w/comfy seats, at least then I could have slept. Now all the fans of this film are gonna crucify me.

[Film Hobbit]

Quote:
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The only people who fly in this film are the four leads, all of whom have knowledge of the Wudan arts. There are several references made to the Wudan manual and the secrets of their special branch of martial arts. From this it is directly suggested that the deepest secrets of the Wudan martial arts branch include a way to fly. This is the explanation
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I disagree. This is a half-assed and vague explanation at best. Yes, half way through the film there is some mention of some sort of Wudan arts, and some sort of "manual" but there is never a direct connection made between it and the flying, audiences are left with only their own assumptions and expected to believe/assume that anyone who reads this manual can fly... (and judging from characters reactions its rather common place) which in and of itself is incredibly stupid.

Additionally, I don't dislike the film simply because it isn't geared towards American audiences... I am simply trying to point out that it can't be expected to play well to Joe Schmo American because its so deeply rooted in a different culture, and to understand the film and take it seriously you either have to be Asian or spend a lot of time around Asian culture.

The Wudan Arts is a perfect example of this. Perhaps in Asia, whenever someone hears "Wudan" they instantly think flying, but Americans... and most of the rest of the world have no idea what that is. So while Asians may require no further explanation, Americans do. So basically, CTHD is not a film that is geared to cross cultural bounds and have mass appeal. Its geared towards cliques of filmgeeks. Again, a good example of this would be if Superman's powers were explained simply by saying he was from "Krypton". Certainly for American's no further explanation would be needed, because Supes is a part of our culture, and widely known. But for the movie to have mass appeal, to a wide variety of audiences the world over, more explanation was needed, and was given. CTHD did not do this.

[Darth Tater]

I've never believed in the Oscars, and think they're a game of favorites. Anywho, Crouching Tiger was the best picture of the year. Gladiator was a good movie but (half of you are gonna hate me for this) it wasn't an excellent movie. Crouching Tiger was. Should've won best director too. Ang Lee's a genious.

[Wizard of the Secret Fire]

Yep, CTHD was the best movie.

Me and my friends here in Sweden thought that one of the better things with it was that it did not make things silly by trying to explain in more detail why they were flying. Made it more 'magical'.

[Mathron]

It was good, but in all honesty I don't think it could have qualified for Best Movie of the Year. Simply because it did have enough parts that were weak - because the wirework did look silly and detract at points from it - because of an extremely long flashback that seems to be, momentarily, a completely new movie - and the like.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, and was very caught up in the good parts, but it flawless, or even approaching it.
Gladiator had its own flaws, of course, but overall it was more consistently enjoyable. IMHO, of course.

[galadriel1]

Well I was excited to see it when it was first due out but lost interest for a while. I know the whole plot and even the ending and to be honest, some of the shots of the effects (particularly the 'fight/dance' sequence in the trees) didn`t really look all that fantastic to me! In fact, some of them looked rather silly. It`s still supposed to be a good movie, though, and I intend to see it when it comes out on DVD in June. At least, that`s the proposed date. The video stores are already taking advanced reservations for the DVD. From what I heard, it`s supposed to be out only on DVD at that time. Not sure when the VHS is due out. Hey, no waiting in long ticket or snack lines! Works for me! :)

[Darth Tater]

GET THE DVD!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing this movie again in glorious surround sound and widescreen (death to pan and scan!) has made me realize that it is even better then I first thought! Sure, the extras on the dvd suck, but it's still worth it.

[IronParrot]

Already have it.

[afro-elf]

To Filmhobbit

I think that IP might have been trying to say anime screams CTHD.

In the sense that anime has it roots in the XUXIA genre.

The Slow Mo in the Matrix was great HOWEVER, it was obvious that the stars where not martials artist. They were the stiffest movements I've ever seen in a film.

I weaned on Shaw Brothers though so I've seen quite a few fight scenes.



But I agree the avg. Joe Schmo would not understand why.

Most of my "culturally unenlightened" friends asked the questions or made the same statements that you did.