Flying Wombat, Spitting Llama, Dancing Walrus...or something like that

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2001)

This movie's gotten some pretty amazingly glowing reviews lately, some of which I suppose are earned. I'm sure there's artistic beauty in some of the scenes for those looking for it, and fight choreography (by that Matrix guy) is of course superb and amazing. It's by no means a very bad movie. I just have trouble believing that all the people praising Crouching Tiger... really understood it correctly. I'm just wondering because I consider myself a semi-literate moviegoer, and I don't think I understood it to the full extent. I'll just tell you what I came away with.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (and I have the director's quotes to back me up on this one) is basically a glorified kung-fu-theatre flick. That means you should expect some conventions, which I believe CTHD adheres to pretty soundly. One is unrealistic, cheezy fight scenes. Oh sure, people trump it up in all ways like "they're let loose of the bounds of gravity" and what not, but ask yourself, the first time you saw those people just take off and fly like it was an everyday occurrence, did you not say to yourself, "What the heck?" Kung-fu-flicks have wacky fighting, so does CTHD. Two is a meandering plot, that mostly exists only as filler in between said cheezy fight scenes. Anyone who says CT's plot is clear and fresh is lying. It's a simple idea, told in a roundabout way, with some heaping melodrama thrown in for the ladies, I suppose. Ah, that's not giving the ladies enough credit-that stuff's mostly too thick to convey much real emotion, and they'll see that. But that's not really the point either.
What makes CTHD more of a homage than a rip-off of kung-fu is the spirit of the thing, that Ang Lee gets pretty well. However, to the uninitiated, I'd think most people would have more of a "What the heck" reaction than all the unadulterated praise. I will not give unadulterated praise here. I like it okay, it's just somewhat of a disconcerting movie, so I'd urge any wonderers to be aware of this. Kung-fu fans will have an easier adjustment.
Side note: Ebert says he'd talked with Lee about the choreography and how it was done, and the only primary special effects were some computer work to remove the wires the actors used. They're all really doing those stunts, folks. Even if the story gives you pause, it's worth a gander just to gawk at the finesse and skill on display here.