Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by James R — 08 Feb 2016

I saw this movie when it first came out at the young age of 11. I just didn't understand the artistry and how truly beautiful this film is. Director Ang Lee brings about one of the most successful martial arts films ever released.

The movie is about a young woman named Jen Yu (Ziyi Zhang) the governors daughter who is about to be married to another powerful political ally. She has a different side to her though and is really a martial artist waiting in wait to reveal herself.

She plans on stealing an Ancient Sword called the Green Destiny which has just been given to the leader of the area Jen is in by the legendary warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat). Li Mu Bai is giving up the warrior life style to become a monk after having a dream that he cannot shake away.

Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) is a fellow warrior who has feelings for Li Mu Bai, but because of their life styles they can never act upon them. When Jen Yu steals the sword its up to Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien to get the Green Destiny back and also to uncover a much bigger plot.

I know this all sounds confusing as hell, but the movie actually has a pretty good pace. It sets up the story and even has a very nice back story to Jen Yu that explains a bit more about her. The martial arts in this film are fantastic.

It has a lot of fantasy elements to it (people are damn near flying at times), but it just comes fast and quick with a lot of entertainment. I would say overall because this was shot in a specific style a lot of the meaning behind things are lost to us Western viewers.

The ending may blow a lot of people's minds because it is not what you would expect after the climax of the film. The film came out 16 years ago, so some CGI parts (which are few since the movie used CGI sparingly) look very dated.

Overall, a great film thats shot well and it's really a movie I have a better appreciation for now. If you've never seen it check it out!