Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

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.