very good, but still chop socky

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2000)

I suppose I am suffering from over-inflated expectations--I am disappointed because I consider Crouching Tiger (or is it Crouching Dragon?) only the second best film I've seen this year (let's here it for Wonder Boys!). With all the hype I expected something better than a real good chop socky film.
As a huge fan of Jackie Chan, I have long been frustrated with the conventions of the Hong Kong cinema, namely that the script need not make sense, the direction can plod except for action scenes, and the main character must have the same first name as the actor playing him. Finally here is a script for a Hong Kong film that features interesting characters behaving rationally. Michelle Yeoh is marvelous, and Chow Yun fat seems much more at ease here than in his English language pictures.
But--I've seen cheaply make chop socky films where characters seemingly flew, and it looked silly. Here, they use state of the art effects and . .. it still looks silly. It's better, but it's still just a wee but over the top. The cinematography is luscious, and the score is a masterpiece, and this is a really good movie--just not the best film of the year. Sorry.