A break though for foreign language film

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2001)

Very briefly, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a break through for foreign language film in the western market. With the critical acclaim it has received and richly deserves, this Ang Lee masterpiece will blaze a path for other foreign language films to make their mark to a much larger audience and subsequently give an otherwise American dominated medium a good run for its money. Chow Yun Fat will undoubtedly become an Asian movie icon for this role, in case he wasn't already.
The film itself presents an epic tale of good verses evil, of a legendary warrior and an equally menacing villain, a tale of youthful romance, and of a romance not quite fulfilled. Trying to move away from his warrior escapades, Chow Yun Fat retires his majestic sword, which soon after goes missing, bringing our intrepid hero and his long suffering ally into a grand battle with an old adversary. Throw in a misguided young warrior who appears torn between two masters of battle, and some breath taking scenery as a backdrop, you have a movie experience quite unlike the recent offering served up by Hollywood. With fight sequences reminiscent of something from a video arcade game, the acting, the editing, the directing... everything about this film is brilliant. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is truly a movie event not to be missed. The best film I have read in a long time!