A Magically Soaring Rhapsodic Masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2001)

There have not been many times that I have walked out of a movie theater almost speechless, in a reverie, and almost in tears at just having seen a movie of such poetic flights of fancy as to leave me in awe of the creative process that has brought this cinematic magic to the screen. This is what movies should be about, what they can be when they aspire to be the very, very best. This movie is cinematic art brought to its highest form. It is pleasure beyond description to experience a work as unusual, as different, as intelligent, as beautiful as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
"Crouching Tiger,..." goes back to a mystically distant past where warriors elevated swordsmanship and the martial arts to levels undreamt of by any in King Arthur's court. To one who has long admired the swordsmanship and the downright gutsiness, brass and sheer bravado of Errol Flynn in "The Adventures of Robin Hood", I have to admit that I have now seen a movie that puts that classic to shame. In a very real way, this movie, adapted from a pre-WWII Chinese novel, is the mirror Oriental image of our own Occidental Star Wars saga by George Lucas. This movie also has its warriors (Jedi Knights) able to master the laws of gravity and magically make their swords (re: light sabers) overcome all odds after long periods of training at the distant Wudan Mountain sanctuary, similar to, but much more beautiful, than the resident planet of Yoda where the young Luke Skywalker received his training.
Master Warrior Li Mu Bai(Chow Yun Fat) wants to retire and confess his love for his fellow warrior Yu Shu Lien(Michelle Yeoh), but he must first convey his magical 400 year-old sword, "The Green Destiny", to a governor and long time friend. Yu offers to convey the sword to this governor herself and Li gives his consent. The very night that she arrives, however, it is stolen by the young Princess Jen Yu(Zhang Ziyi), the daughter of another governor currently visiting this home at the same time. Princess Jen is a mysterious and rebellious young lady in torment over her impending marriage to another politician brokered by her father. It turns out that she had earlier been kidnapped by a gang of bandits in the desert, the leader of which, Bandit Lo, captured her heart. The scenes of the Mongolian desert, as all others in this movie, are filmed in rapturous beauty.
Warrior Yu begins to suspect that Princess Jen is not the demure young lady that she pretends to be as her reflexes betray a training in the warrior arts of the Wudan. Could there be a connection between this young lady and Jade Fox, the mysterious assassin of the Master Teacher of Wudan, whose murder his disciple, Warrior Li, is pledged to avenge? Once again there are parallels here between the Master Teacher(Yoda and/or Obi Wan Kenobi) and Jade Fox(Darth Vader), although the latter comparison is somewhat weak as the character of the Jade Fox is not nearly as well fleshed out nor is it as beautifully villainous as that of Darth Vader.
There are two love stories in this movie, one middle-aged and poignant with lost opportunity, and the other hot and passionate with all the fire of youth. Both are beautifully filmed. Director Ang Lee deserves every kudo for bringing this masterpiece to the screen. The musical scoring is lush as the passages of the Shanghai Symphony are interspersed with solos by master cellist Yo Yo Ma. The filming and editing are first rate. This is one of the best movies in years.