Worthy of all the praise it has received

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2001)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a very good film that has exceeded my expectations. I was not very impressed by the trailer, feeling dubious about some of the unrealistic looking scenes but after watching the show, practically everything else made up for it.
What the critics say about it is mostly right. It is an epic tale of good versus evil and experienced versus eager. In a sense it is a good old fashioned action film not too detached from Star Wars. What makes it so good is that it is executed so well with excellent acting, brilliant photography, outstanding music, gorgeous sets and above all, the masterful directing of Ang Lee. Unlike most action films, it surpasses its own genre by being able to give an insight into humanity. Take that, Gladiator!
On the downside, I felt that the aerial scenes were just plain unrealistic. Most say that it's meant to be that way to give it a poetic or dream-like feel but I feel otherwise. It's not that I don't accept people being able to defy gravity in the movies but it's just that when watching any of those scenes, the fact that the actors were suspended on wires was so glaringly obvious.

As an example, take the much lauded fight among the trees where the characters precariously balanced themselves on the flimsy branches. There is a scene where Zhang Ziyi tries to balance herself on a branch Her legs are shown to be swaying with the branch but her entire upper body is motionless. Does that not destroy the entire illusion of sincerity? But don't get me wrong, despite the poor use of wires (In fact, I think they should have used computer generated effects for this rather than wires), it is still an outstanding film (I voted 9 out of 10) and I'd recommend it to anyone. Between this film and Gladiator, I'd have given the Best Picture Oscar to the former. Actually, I'd have given it to Almost Famous but it wasn't even nominated.