Jesus isn't the only guy who can walk on water

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2003)

No real spoilers, but warning anyway
I'm a novice when it comes to this stuff. I know nothing about Asian lifestyle or Asian cinema and for anyone like me, this is a perfect movie to get started with. It's a blockbuster Chinese movie clearly made for mass consumption. Don't worry that it's foreign either, dear neophyte, nothing esoteric here.
Master Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) comes down from a mountain where he has been meditating and wants to give up his sword Green Destiny, so he goes with Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), a fellow martial arts master, to deliver it personally to Sir Te (Sihung Lung) in Peking. Also at Sir Te's compound are Governor Yu (Fa Zeng Li) and his daughter Jen Yu (Ziyi Zhang).
We learn that years ago Jade Fox (Pei-pei Cheng) killed Li Mu Bai's master and that he longs to avenge his death before he leaves the warrior lifestyle. Jade Fox must die by Green Destiny's blade. In the night, what looks to be a ninja steals Green Destiny from the compound. This is where the first scuffle comes into play, between Shu Lien and the thief. It gives nothing away to say who the thief is. We, as well as Shu Lien, suspect Jen and in one of the few missteps in the film, Shu Lien none-too-slyly insinuates Jen may be the thief. While watching her do calligraphy, she practically says to Jen, "Say, your writing is a lot like FENCING. You write like a warrior fights...SWORD."
Early on we learn that Jen is working with Jade, that foe of all that screams like a banshee. We discover that Jen has been hiding things from her master Jade, and that since the time she was ten she's been developing past her in terms of technique. In fact, she's so skillful people mistake her for a disciple of Li Mu Bai's. (This Jade Fox gets around. There's another family that she's robbed a mother and a wife of, who get in the second battle of the film with her.)
In one fight, Jen tells Li Mu Bai to stop talking like a monk, but I wished he would get more philosophical. It's what, I think, could push this over into the level of greatness. But instead we've got semi-profound lines like "Only by letting go can we truly possess what is real" or "To repress one's feelings only makes them stronger." Some of this may be the fault of poor translation. (Is "fliers" the most appropriate word?) If Lee had been more willing to really delve into the nature of the Giang Hu lifestyle, this could have been one of the most spectacular films ever. It seems like a warrior movie done for the masses; indeed I never realized the difference between them all. It's still a very good film but notable mainly for those astonishing action scenes.
The warrior characters glide through the air, weightless. It's all very impressive (there's even an underwater scene). The martial arts masters can virtually fly (in that first fight, Shu Lien keeps having to pin down the thief so she doesn't fly away). When Jen tests out her skills in a restaurant, the wood crumbles like rotten planks. Little Jen, with a face like a porcelain doll, is the one match for the two members of the old guard, Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai.
Intertwined with the fight scenes are the love stories. It's not a romance by any means. It's just seasoning. It's the final seal around the movie. We are told that Shu Lien was engaged to Li Mu Bai's oath brother, who was killed by Bai's enemy (we assume that's Jade Fox). There's a longish flashback that, at first, I thought served no point, but it gives us background on Jen's character and her drive to be a warrior. It also shows her hypocrisy: she chases after a bandit, Lo (Chen Chang) who's stolen her comb, yet freely steals Li Mu Bai's sword. Also, through the flashback -- after they fall for each other -- it's rammed home that Jen and Lo are the young version of Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien who, we hear a few times, have repressed feelings for each other. Lo has come back for Jen, in the hopes of getting her back before she is to be married. There are some clichés here (how many movies must feature a fight between two people rolling around on the floor, only to end up -- ho-hum -- with them having sex?). But, when the girl's as immaculately gorgeous as Jen's actor Ziyi Zhang, I can't complain.
Even though the film features the obligatory speech-deaths, it's not an epic. It's done on a very intimate scale and it works best that way, I think. It matches the fluid, nimble delicacy of the warrior's moves during the action sequences. I really don't want to call them action sequences because everything is so graceful. The actors move as elegantly as Jen's calligraphy brush. Also, there's very little blood or gore. A scene or two and it's hardly noticeable. Peter Pau won an Oscar for his camerawork, which I didn't think was that great. If the movie looks fantastic, credit the men and women who made the characters' flying seem realistic. The soundtrack music, principally Yo-Yo Ma's cello work, is very beautifully noble.
***1/2