Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000
I had heard so many ordinary people (not just critics) rave about this movie that I may have had my expectations too high. This is more of a comic book movie than some kind of serious attempt at high art.
The Wundun fighting method, which allows you to run around dangling from a cord that you can’t see, seemed so unrealistic and lacking in fluidity that people in the theater just laughed when they’d see it. I don’t know that The Matrix started this, but it certainly seemed to open the floodgates on completely unrealistic fight scenes. The fights had very good intensity when they layed off of the flying stuff. The inventive use of many different types of weapons was very entertaining. But I had heard a lot about the scene where they fight in the treetops and that was just plain lame.
Hard to judge the acting since I don’t speak the language (kind of wish it had been dubbed), but it seemed a little stiff. I didn’t think that Chow Yun Fat had the grace to pull off some of his scenes, in particular the one in the courtyard when he is reunited with his sword.
One final rant is the ending (with a spoiler down below).
Still it’s a good movie and it has a lot going on to keep your interest. It was based on a book and I think it shows in that they give kind of superficial treatment to certain things in order to pack in as much of the book as possible (I didn’t read the book, but I’ve noticed this in the past). But you end up compromising the movie in order to be more faithful to a book that no one has read.
Overall it is nice to have a martial arts movie with decent romantic side stories and also one that gives women such powerful roles.
I’ll give it a B+, pretty good for a martial arts movie.
Written: 20 Jan 2001
Owned on: Digital