Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Chris W — 26 Apr 2013

For this film, Ang Lee decided to put his career of making Western period epics on hold and instead make a far Eastern histprically based period epic. That's totally cool by me. The story here is a action packed but also romantic epic concerning several plotlines of love and vengeance all connected in some way to a very special (downright sacred) sword known as the Green Destiny.

The film is widely known for its stunning visuals and expertly choreographed and executed fight scenes and wire work. I'm kinda on the fence about wire-fu, and like a more realistic type of fight scene, but as longs as it actually serves the story and isn't there solely for the sake of style and flashiness, then I'm totally cool with it. Thankfully, that is the case here, and the gravity bending moves don't actually feel out of place in an otherwise realistic film. This works becuase the way the characters are constructed: we believe their incredible feats to be true because of their supposed mastery of fighting, and also with how the materia lis handled.

This film isn't all just cool action and beautiful cinematography though. There's a real story here, filled with substance and deth, and great themes like gender roles and dealing with societal constraints and the effects they can have. Plus, the two main romances are both really good and nicely contrast one another, and everything going on really comes alive thanks to the terrific performances of the cast. The veteran leads are excellent, but their younger co-star Zhang Ziyi really steals the show here in a flawless performance that really got her career off the ground.

All in all, this is some really tremendous stuff. It was nominated for a ton of Oscars, and ended up (deservedly) winning 4 of them (best original score, best cinematography, best art direction, and best foreign language film). Too bad it couldn't also have walked away with the awards for picture and director as well. Regardless of all that, you should definitely give this one a watch.