Brilliant

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2003)

*Minor Spolier Alert*
When I first saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I thought it was going to be in English dubbing, obviously it wasn't so was basically the first foreign film i've seen in theaters. The film was breathtaking. It showed a mystical part of ancient China that was almost long forgotten. The story of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is as follows: A magic sword called the "Green Destiny" is stolen by a impetuous nobleman's daughter who is amazingly skilled in martial arts named Jen Yu played by import hottie Zhang Ziyi. Two respected warriors Li Mu Bai played by the great Chow Yun-Fat and Yu Shu Lien played by the beautiful "queen of martial arts" Michelle Yeoh team up to retrieve the sword. Along the way they clash with a female criminal known as Jade Fox, played by Pei-Pei Cheng. C.T.H.D is a new type of Hong Kong action movie combing drama with gravity defying martial arts and romance. Director Ang Lee is not exactly known for kung-fu movies, but for drama's such as "Sense and Sensibility" and "Ride With the Devil." Him directing a kung-fu action movie and and comic-book based action movies ("The Hulk") shows that he is a very versatile director. C.T.H.D's plot is pretty simple, stolen sword, a young girl who is in a crossroads in her life, and two fighters realizing their love for one another. The cinematography and camera work is brilliant. They show the beautiful mountains and fields of feudal China. The best thing about thing about the movie is the incredible fight scences choreographed by one of the people who revolutionized Hong Kong action movies, Yuen Woo-Ping. The man behind great action movies such as "Drunken Master" with Jackie Chan, "Once Upon a Time in China", "Fist of Legend" "Black Mask" and "The Tai Chi Master" with Jet Li, and "The Matrix" trilogy. The fight scenes both had aggressiveness and softness with wire-work magic. What made the fight scenes great was the fact that the some of the main actors are not exactly martial artist. Zhang Ziyi is not trained in martial arts but is actually a dancer which made it easy for the action directors to teach her some wushu techniques. Chow Yun-Fat, who is a action movie veteran, is not a martial artist as well but was also trained and picked up the moves real quick. He should of gotten more fight scenes though. The best fights were the restaurant fight with Zhang Ziyi fighting a crew of warriors which kind of looked like the restaurant fight in "Legend of Drunken Master", the night fight with Chow Yun-Fat fighting Jade Fox, and the training hall fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi. The movie gets a little slow in the desert flashback, but overall Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a landmark film to be remembered. Score 4/5