| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | | Cast : | Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang | | Director : | Ang Lee | | Studio : | Columbia Tri-Star | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 22, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | May 04, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Chinese (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | A magnificent film... | Content
 | Crouching Tiger is a very good film with a lot going for it. The recreation of mid-evil China, the cinematography, the gorgeous fight choreograpy, a sweeping story and its focus on the role of women in society and the cultural expectations that are placed on them all add up to a fine film. But above all else it is the film's acting that makes it stand apart from the crowd, particularly the performances of its two leading ladies.
Michelle Yeoh is amazing in this movie. Loyal and hard edged, Yeoh's character is the ultimate example of internal conflict, torn between a friendship and the truth, and between a deep respect and an even deeper love. There are several scenes where the subleties of her facial expressions say more than most actors manage in their entire careers with actual dialogue.
As good as Yeoh is, its newcommer (at the time this film was made) Zhang Ziyi that steals the show. Never mind that a good argument could be made for her as the most beautiful actress alive today, Ziyi manages to portray Jen as a complex duality of fragility and power, of nobleman's daughter and thief. At times bratty and spoiled, at other times indigent, self-assured and cocky, and at all times someone who will, in the end, do what she pleases to do, cultural expectations, protocol, laws and even common decency be damned. Jen wants the world, but she'll only accept it on her own terms.
Even though the DVD defaults to english, I recommend watching the film first in its native Mandarin with the english subtitles turned on, as the film was presented during its theatrical release. Too much of the subleties of these great performances are lost when the english audio is dubbed in. At the same time, it is worth watching later with the english audio, as the spoken english words are more elaborate and convey more than the much briefer subtitles can.
I would also like to briefly comment on the use of wirework in the movie and the widespread criticism it has received for making the movie unrealistic.
First, please realise that the movie is meant as a fairy tale / fantasy. It was not intended to be fully realistic. If you realise this, and allow yourself to enjoy the movie, you will. Just as we allow ourselves to enjoy films like Kill Bill, Rambo, and James Bond, even though they too have fight scenes that are completely unrealistic and would in reality leave the participants chalk full of bullet holes or beaten to bloody pulps.
Second, there is something of a point as to why the characters can fly. Yeoh hits the nail on the head in the accompanying documentary on the DVD when she points out that the flying is meant to be symbolic of the character's relative freedom from social obligation. Yeoh's character, who runs a business and cannot speak her love for Li Mu Bai due to social standing, is also the least adept flyer of the major characters and often struggles to do so, weighed down by her obligations. Jen certainly has social expectations placed upon her, but has escaped most of them through her secret life. She is able to take flight far more easily than Yeoh's character. Finally, Li Mu Bai is a warrior who is at peace with who he is - he flies most effortlessly of all three of them. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 28, 2005 | | Summary | Great Movie, if you remove the desert love affair | Content
| What is up with everyone complaining about the flying? Yes it defies the laws of physics, but are you really going to see a movie on the application of physics in real life? Probably not...people, or at least all the people that I know, go to movies to be...ENTERTAINED!...what a novel concept! I don't know what kind of movies these other reviewers have been studying (and I say studying not watching because they must be too involved trying to figure out if the area under the curve of the roof on the buildings is sufficient to support the snow) but, the fight scene in the temple has got to be one of the best I have ever seen. Beautiful acrobatics, graceful strikes and fast-paced edge-of-your-seat action meld seemlessly into a true masterpiece of martial combat. The only thing that keeps this movie from earning five stars is the overly-dramatic, overly-long, and completely pointless desert love affair. I skip these scenes when I come to them. Other than this, the movie is a true masterpiece of FICTIONAL ENTERTAINMENT that was never meant to, nor ever promised to, obey the mundane and drol laws of physics. It is a movie that takes you out of your daily life into a beautiful world of adventure...if you want a movie about every day ho-hum life where people are limited by reality watch yourself! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | PETER TAI-PAN | Content
| Having seen the spoof KUNG POW only a few days before this critically acclaimed film, I found myself waiting for one of the females to let out one of Ling's "Weeeeeee"s. Obviously CROUCHING TIGER is not a spoof, but a beautifully orchestrated film, lovingly directed by Ang Lee. Winner of four Oscars, including Best Foreign Film, the movie is an epic tale, reminiscent of greek tragedies and sweeping romantic movies. The fight scenes are unlike anything I've ever witnessed, and some of the cinematography is breathtaking. Unfortunately, I found the movie rather dull and repetitious, and its poetic fantasia wasn't my cup of tea. Can't deny its cinematic brilliance; it just isn't as great to me as to others, but hey, weeeeee..... |
| Rating | | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | Please Better Equipped Yourself | Content
| I truly understand that everyone has a different taste. But some of the negative reviews given to this film are simply ridiculous.
I find it very revolting that people across the world can take their time to understand and appreciate Western culture, and subsequently enjoy our films. But, some of us, on the other hand, could be so ignorant. Making a comparison between Hidden Tiger and Indiana Jones, or Peter Pan is simply absurd. While Western culture is generally more outspoken and straightforward, old Eastern culture is generally more reserved and very subtle and delicate. That is the reason why even fighting can be so beautiful that it's a form of arts. That kind of explains the final scene too. In the old days, Chinese often oppressed their feelings and any breach of cultural norms was deemed a major problem... what more being rebellious.
Some find the flying scenes to be ridiculous. Hello~ this is not supposed to be a non-fiction film. In many Chinese martial arts novels, people can do many other extraodinary stunts.
I'm very glad that US has been such a developed country as it is right now. However, the down side is more and more people are getting lazier (due to higher standards of living) and you can always find many of us would just brainlessly point out that this is stupid, that is stupid. Please, better equip yourself with more knowledge and if you wanna give any kind of criticism, let it be a constructive and educated one. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 09, 2005 | | Summary | GREAT FLICK | Content
| this is a great movie. period. skip puting this movie in categories like martial arts or foreign, because it doesn't matter, it's just great. Ziyi Zhang is not just incredibly beautiful, but very talented. i can't wait for her to expand her horizons and be in more mainstream movies. this is a DVD to put in your collection and watch again and again!!! |
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