Not for martial arts fans.

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2001)

This is not a martial arts movie. Don't go to "Crouching Tiger" expecting to see one. The fight scenes are intriguing but only because they are complete fantasy. After 5 screen minutes of non-stop sword fighting the combatants hadn't even broken a sweat but I was panting from exertion watching it.
This is the story of a legend that we enter into as though it's our world. Unless you regard it as that you may be disappointed. It's really a "chick flick" in many respects: the male characters are only silhouettes while the females are three dimensional and more. Still, there are motivations here that remain a mystery and you will leave the theater discussing them. It may even cause you to dream about flying!
Note for people who HATE talkers in the audience: the subtitles kept our crowd of moviegoers just about soundless - they couldn't read and yak at the same time.