Surprising and better than what I expected

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2005)

If it hadn't been for the very high rating that this movie has received up till now (8.2/10 by 53,959 voters) and the fact that it is in the list of the 250 best movies ever, I would probably never have watched it. Why? Very simple, I absolutely detest all those Kung-Fu movies. You just can't please me with it, not even when it comes from the famous Bruce Lee, let alone when you get some cheap imitations. I hate it and I was convinced there was nothing that could change my mind about that. But I was told that this movie was different, that this one actually had a lot more to offer than some tedious fight scenes, that it had a more philosophical and poetical approach to the subject. That's the only reason why I gave it a try, despite all my reservations.
Even though the story in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is rather timeless, it seems to be situated a couple hundred years ago (People who know a lot more about it say the QING Dynasty, I believe them but don't know whether that is true or not). Master Li Mu Bai has decided to give his sword, that is called the 'Green Destiny', to a friend because he is tired of all the violence and killing. But then the sword is stolen from that friend and it is up to Li to bring it back to his rightful owner. At the same time, he also tries to find the evil Jade Fox, a female warrior who had killed his master many years ago. Yu Shu Lien, the love of his life with who he has never had a relationship, is also a warrior and she will help him on both his quests. The link between all these different story lines is Jiao Long Yu, she is the mysterious and beautiful daughter of a well known family who hates the idea that she will soon be forced to marry a man she doesn't love.
Quite surprisingly, I must say that overall this movie was far from bad. I would even say that I liked it, although I must admit that it was only during the last half of the movie (and in the last 30 minutes in particular), that I was really sucked into the story. Before that it all looked a lot like what I've seen before in those other movies: A lot of fight scenes, but little of an interesting story. Still, what I missed in the first half, I got in the second. Thanks to the, in my opinion, a lot more interesting love stories, these super heroes looked more human after all.
What I also liked about this movie were the well-choreographed fight scenes who seemed to offer more variation thanks to the clever use of many weapons and techniques. This was more than a lot of screaming and kicking by what seems to be a madman... However, there was one thing that I really didn't like about it and that's all that 'flying'. If they would have kept both feet on the ground like normal people, instead of making 100 feet steps while walking over water or jumping over a roof, I would have believed it a lot more. Perhaps it is a part that I didn't understand well because I'm not too familiar with the Chinese culture (I hardly know anything about it if I'm honest). Maybe it is supposed to be that way because it perfectly shows how mythological these fighters actually were. I don't know, but it didn't really help me to be completely overwhelmed by it like so many people are. Still, as I said before, the movie wasn't bad. Especially when they left the city for the countryside I was very interested. I just couldn't get enough of those wonderful landscapes.
As a conclusion I would like to add that, although I'm not a fan of Kung-Fu movies, I liked this one. It had a lot more to offer than what I expected and despite the fact that I wasn't really drawn into the story during the first 1.5 hours and that there were some things that spoiled my fun, I still give this movie a rating between 7/10 and 7.5/10. Maybe if I knew more about Chinese culture or had been more familiar with the genre, I would have given it a higher rating. Now I liked the love story a lot more than everything that proceeded it, because that was the more realistic part of the movie.