It's all about interactions

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2008)

According to the hype around Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, its creators have produced a miracle: a martial arts crossover hit, simultaneously a substantial foreign language drama for discerning art house audiences and the greatest martial arts movie of all time. Although Crouching Tiger falls short of such (probably unattainable) perfection, it is enormously fun, and manages to be one of the more interesting films of recent years. Though nominally set in the Qing dynasty, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is loosely based in a Chinese martial arts movie tradition that pits outlaws against heroes in a timeless "long ago" analogous to the American cinematic Old West. As the film opens, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat), the greatest swordsman in China and famed disciple of the Wudan martial arts system, has realized that the years spent fighting outlaws and striving for enlightenment have left him lonely and unhappy. He is on the verge of renouncing his life as a warrior to try to find happiness with his beloved friend and former comrade-in-arms Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). As the film opens, he commits to the custody of longtime friend Sir Te his legendary sword, the beautiful, invincible Green Destiny, and is on the point of proposing to Shu Lien, who clearly shares his feelings, that they make a life together. His plans are interrupted by the reappearance of old foe Jade Fox (Cheng Pei Pei), who betrayed and murdered Mu Bai's master and stole the secret manual of Wudan's techniques. Resurfacing in Beijing, Jade Fox has become the governess of Yu Jen (Zhang Zi Yi), the daughter of a prominent government official. Slated for a loveless political marriage, Jen longs for any escape-into the remote deserts of her former home province; into an imagined world based on adventure tales, drawn from the real lives of warriors like Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien; into the arms of her secret love, a dashing barbarian bandit named Lo (Chang Chen). Her secret restlessness makes her vulnerable to manipulation by Jade Fox, but what makes her dangerous is her other secret: she is a martial arts prodigy of enormous potential. Half-trained by Jade Fox using the stolen Wudan manual, Jen has much of the technique but none of the Taoist philosophy; but even in this state she is a match for our heroes. Fascinated by the Giang Hu world (and her taste of it in her interlude with Lo), inspired by meeting Shu Lien, tempted by the now-idle Green Destiny, and poisoned by the influence of Jade Fox, Jen is a loose cannon, a menace to all those around her. Li Mu Bai, the embodiment of the Wuxia ideal, naturally wants revenge upon Jade Fox for her crimes against his master and his school; more than this, though, he wishes to take Jen as disciple to be Wudan's first female student - largely because without Wudan discipline she will surely become a villain far worse than her mistress. Shu Lien also comes to feel a sisterly affection for the young prodigy. Setting aside their personal needs, Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien take on Jade Fox in a struggle over the girl's fate, as the chaos swirling around her threatens to ensnare them all. True to its title, which names the animal pair most commonly representative of the contradictory and complementary principles of yin and yang in Taoist and Buddhist symbolism, the movie concentrates on the interaction of opposing forces. The consequences of impetuously pursuing one's desires contrast with the loss and regret that are the reverse of restraint and duty. The naive certainty of youth is weighed against the ambiguities of maturity. Jen's coming of age is juxtaposed against the mid-life conflict within Li Mu Bai. All of the main characters much decide when to fight to control their lives and when to acquiesce before forces that cannot be altered. Speaking of performances, I bow down to Michelle Yeoh. She simply shines as Shu Lien -- a humble warrior with strength, compassion, intuition and hundreds of other notable attributes. I cried for her during the end of this film. Not because she has the most beautiful finishing move or roundhouse kick, but because she is a damn fine actress and she made my heart ache for her. As she did in to James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies and even Jackie Chan in Supercop, she almost steals the show again here. As Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien, Chow and Yeoh smolder with their characters' repressed passions. The actors incorporate the spirit of swordplay in their performances and alternate between slow, taut exchanges and lightning flashes of intense emotion. They likewise maintain character through their fighting sequences, in which Yeoh's Shu Lien moves with confident virtuosity, and Chow's Li Mu Bai, the accomplished master, needs to use only the sparest, most efficient techniques. These mega star veterans of Hong Kong and Hollywood fearlessly play up their maturity, imbuing their performances with an exquisite sense of loss; the curious result is that they have never seemed sexier. Zhang Zi Yi is ravishingly pretty as the confused and tormented Jen, and her background in dance helps her execute dazzling fight scenes and wire work. Comparisons to established Chinese actress Gong Li may well be justified, however; Zhang's performance, failing at times to arouse sympathy, makes her seem more cold and spoiled than anything else. Martial arts fans will be thrilled to see women's action pioneer Cheng Pei Pei's return to the screen as Jade Fox in her first role as a villain. Chang Chen, whom American audiences may remember from Wong Kar-Wai's wistful Happy Together, makes a dashing and likable barbarian Lo. Fans of Ang Lee's Taiwanese family-focused dramas will appreciate Lung Sihung's short but memorable appearance as Sir Te, patron and friend to Shu Lien and Mu Bai.