Every review I've read in every publication for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has given it 4 stars. An "A+", a movie that's sure to change cinema forever. And it is a well made movie. Very high production values, an engaging plot, and good acting. I don't like to give away too much of the plot in my reviews, so you can still see the movie and be surprised by twists and turns.

Here's what I enjoyed about the movie:

Cinematography--the director and cinematographer have captured some beautiful images that bring us into the film and are very engaging. The scenery of China is full of settings we haven't seen before, and although much of it looks just like parts of Utah that I can drive to within 4 hours, it's breathtaking. And there are settings that we've NEVER seen before that are so incredibly lush that I'd give my right arm to go see them in person. Great stuff, and beautifully filmed.

The acting of the three leads: Michelle Yeoh, Chow-Yun Fat, and Zhang Ziyi are all very capable actors, and bring depth to what could have been lesser characters. I was especially impressed with Yeoh and Ziyi; There's some amazing talent in these two, and it made for an intriguing relationship we see develop between them.

Storyline/Plot: It's a pretty basic plot, which we've seen echoes of in everything from Star Wars to Blade Runner and MATRIX, but it's more complicated than anything those have served up. I enjoyed the story itself, and it left me wanting to know more about the characters histories.

Language: This may be strange, but I'm very glad it wasn't dubbed. Hearing the original language while I'm reading English subtitles added subtleties to the dialogue that would otherwise have been lost. I'm glad the producers decided to release it in it's original language (Cantonese?).

Now for the things I didn't like about it....some of them are subtle things, and it's all a matter of taste. I still enjoyed the movie very very very much, but these were things that bothered me about it.

The fight scenes: most of them are very realistic, very fast, furious, and passionate; I loved these. What I was unprepared for (and this could be considered a spoiler, but you see it in the very first fight) was that the major characters can FLY. They can jump from the ground to a roof three stories up, and then jump very lightly and soar from rooftop to rooftop, or into the trees, mountains, etc. The film partially explains that this is a part of a martial arts discipline, and it's a skill that needs to be taught at a sacred mountain; even then, the *unreality* of it took me out of the movie. I started looking for wires, for ways that they did it. Now, I'm a fan of Superman, and The MATRIX, and other movies where people could fly, but they never posed themselves as a historical epic. Perhaps "Crouching Tiger" didn't either, but that's what I came expecting to see. Maybe my own expectations undermined what I ended up seeing. Anyway, it's just something that I eventually got used to, but it pulled me out of the movie. Way out.

The idea of a woman (Michelle Yeoh) running her own security agency seemed ridiculous to me in an age and society where female babies were still being left to die on hillsides because they're so inferior to males. Medieval China wouldn't have allowed that any more than medieval Europe, no matter what her fighting skills were.

I guess that's it for now. It was a very entertaining movie, but there are brief moments that pulled me away from the film and into my realm of "yeah, RIGHT", which is the reason I never liked Kung Fu movies to begin with. If you enjoy this movie, though (and I'm sure you will) and are interested in other movies about China, made by Chinese filmmakers, I highly recommend "The Emperor and the Assassin" and "Raise the Red Lantern". Both are incredible movies, using history, legend, and tradition to tell beautiful stories. Rent them from your local video store, or buy them. They're that good.



Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older