Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Alvin Y — 28 Aug 2012

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Great Movies.

Ang Lee's CTHD was quite simply the best martial arts movie there is possibly, and the artistic success and popularity of the end result indicates he achieved just that. Lee convened an international cast of Asian action superstars who also possessed the requisite acting skills to deliver the story.

The movie prevents the laws of physics by hoisting the actors up on wires so that they may fight on treetops, skip across water like stones, run up walls, and often clash in midair. It perhaps unaccustomed to these aerial ballets, the sight of an opening foot chase over the rooftops of a village on a moonlit night proved immediately and irresistibly enticing.

The actors easily handle the supernatural physicality of their roles, but their acting never proves subservient to the impressive action scenes. One reason this movie became such a sensation was its attention to plot and character development, 2 rarities even in the most ambitious martial arts films, which typically stress stunts and fighting sequences over acting chops.

For all the gravity-defying stunts and fitful bursts of inventive violence, Lee keeps the focus firmly on the film's central characters, whose philosophies on the utility of fighting and bloodshed have been shaped by their radically different experiences in life.

A strong feminist undercurrent also runs the film adding another layer of intelligence to the movie. Lee plays the inevitable thrashing of these few dozen would-be assailants for laughs, like a hyperkinetic variation on the old bar fight. The movie modulates each scene of the movie with a similar nuance and sensitivity. The fight sequences play like psychological confrontations as much as sword fights, the clash of innocence and experience, or peace and anger, and leaves as much room for levity as it does for visual poetry, achieving a rare balance of thrills, beauty, humor, and smarts.