One of the most overhyped movies ever...

Rating: 8/10 (4 February 2001)

This movie was hyped as the fantastic Chinese blockbuster that would open the world's eyes to Chinese movies (or something along those lines). It has indeed worked very well, but here's my personal opinion:
1. Far better movies than this have been made in Hong Kong before. Smaller budgets, yes, but far, far better movies.
2. The movie has been overhyped. It's good, but not as good, and not as "deep" as the advertisers would have us believe.
3. No matter how much you read about "Wuxia pian" and it's long history, all the flying, running up walls and "continuous jumping" (they don't even land between the jumps, they just get near the ground before the cable pulls them up again), is just too ridiculous! You simply have to laugh, because here people are trying to make a serious movie, and suddenly someone stretches out their hand in a very "Supermanly" fashion and fly up, up and away! And there's no explanation as to how they can do this, either! What's really sad is that it totally ruins all the swordfights. Why? For the simple reason that fights must either be very stylish, like in The Matrix, or well choreographed/"realistic" like in many Hong Kong movies. The fights in "Crouching Tiger..." are neither. They're not realistic, and totally unfair, because the main characters can use "magic" that their opponents can't, but they don't even look cool either, because of the ridiculous cable movements!
4. Acting. Even a non-Chinese can see that many of these people are not very good actors. Chow Yun-Fat is as always the greatest, but he has a very small role, so the female actors, who aren't nearly as good as Chow, "carry" the movie. Chow Yun-Fat's character is also the most interesting, and coolest character in the movie, so the focus on the female characters is, TBH, difficult to understand.
5. Story. The story lacks focus. It seems almost as if the director couldn't decide what part of the story was most important, and thus it lacks the focus that a great movie needs. Also, the characters sometimes act unrealistically (to make the movie last longer?). There's also some "deep", philosophical parts, that just don't work well. The ending is the worst example of this "deepness" simply being silly.
And finally, the Hollywood-feel of it all ruins it somewhat. IMNSHO this movie could've been made in Hollywood, and that takes away a lot of it's character. One of the greatest thing about most Hong Kong and Japanese movies is that they simply couldn't, and wouldn't have, been made in Hollywood.