Sword-fighting between wuxia masters (and interlopers) fills a substantial amount of time in this fairly long movie. Similarly, mostly senseless violence filled a substantial amount of time in Ang Lee's preceding film, the edge of the American Civil War epic(?) “Ride with the Devil.” I think that both films focus on quasi-family relationships — the bushwhackers in “Ride with the Devil” and the overlapping networks of Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in “Crouching Tiger.” Those two international stars play a male sword-master who wants to retire and a female head of another martial arts academy for women (or that includes women, but I think for).

They have been in love with each other for many years, kept apart by some complicated code of honor that is tied up with his master having been killed (poisoned) by Jade Fox. She reappears and he fights her twice, fighting in part over who is going to shape Jen (Zhang Ziyi), the daughter of a high-level Manchu (Qing-dynasty) official, recently returned from the desert of what is now Sinxiang. princess who mimicks the demure elite daughter by day, but has learned a great deal of the mysteries of wuxia from Jade Fox, who has been hidden in China's “wild west” as her nanny.

Mostly, I found the plot far too complicated. As a restive feminist hero/rebel, Jen is more interesting than are her very repressed elders. She is more than a little out of control, which is appalling to even more people in Qing-dynasty China than would be the case in contemporary North America. Whether she needs to submit to Chow Yun Fat, who very much wants her as a disciple, or will be guided more subtly my Michelle Yeoh, or will become an outlaw like Jade Fox is the main suspense through much of the movie. (I think that Jen is the hidden dragon and is certainly the center of gravity.) Quite a while (an hour?) into the film, the brigand Lo (Chen Chang, who was the Taiwanese boyfriend of one of the leads in “Happy Together” and is at least as dashing as the young Errol Flyn ever was), with whom she had a passionate affair in Sinxiang after he led a raid on the came caravan that was carrying her, turns up to reclaim her. An exceedingly romantic flashback follows and the audience comes to see that these two passionate rebels against convention belong together. Yen has decided to go through with her arranged marriage (the old filial piety) and sends him away. Lo interrupts her bridal procession. The (good) elders spirit him away and, after she flees her obligations, they send Yen to reunite with him where they both can be initiated into the higher mysteries of martial arts. Masquerading — not very convincingly to me — as a boy, Yen has three major fights, including one with each of the movie's top-billed stars. The one with Chow Yun-Fat across the top of a bamboo forest is a jaw-dropper. That they can fly seems less remarkable than that they can stay on the bending bamboo stalks. There is some great travelogue footage as backdrop in the movie, including the bamboo forest and the Sinxiang badlands and the site of the finale. The young leads, Zhang Ziyi and Chen Chang, are much more interesting — not only because they are young and very attractive, but because they pursue their dreams and challenge convention. Raised on romantic Western movies, it is very, very difficult to identify with the oldsters (not that they are very old, but they are SO subservient to conventions). As in “Sense and Sensibility” and “Ride with the Devil” the “right” coupling eventually occurs.

Although, certainly, the derring-do of wuxia fighting is important, ultimately, romance is more important, and this is an Ang Lee film about families being constructed and maintained more than it is a martial arts film. Overall, the film is gorgeous to look at, especially Zhang Ziyi and Chen Chang. I think that the opening dialogue goes on too long, and that some of the fights do, too, but no one has invited me to edit the movie. . . and if it had been edited as I would have edited it, the film might not have the large audience it has attracted.

DVD Extras

Aside from widescreen presentation filmographies, a photo montage,some production notes, and subtitling in English and French (why not Spanish?), the DVD includes an interview with Michelle Yeoh (the former Miss Malaysia for whom English is her first language -- and whose dialogue in Mandarin she learned phonetically, and probably atonally, since native speakers of Mandarin seem to find it incomprehensible), an interesting BRAVO special on the making of the movie that shows some of how the fights were done, and commentary between director And Lee and screenwriter James Schamus. The two have worked together on three films and have a relaxed somewhat jousting manner with each other.

Of course, the DVD permits (encourages?) skipping the talky parts and watching the fights--or the romantic parts, as one prefers.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4