Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Diane W — 07 Sep 2010

Remember Amelie. The movie where it was not only successful in its home country France, but also to the Western World. It was a movie where it was critically acclaimed, the heart of it all is loved and becomes a finanicial success. It was also where it proves you don't have to make a Hollywood remake.

This is a similar story to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Li Mu Bai (Chow Yung Fat) is a famous warrior in ancient China where he came back from his journeys to mee his friend Shu Lien (Michelle Leoh). He gives his famous sword Green Destiny to her where she sells it to her friend and then to the daughter of a governor Jen (Zhang Zi Yi). But Jen is revealed to be a disciple of the mysterious Jade Fox. But it's not Jade Fox they're looking for, it's the sword.

I found out that I actually bought the movie. And this is the second time so far I've seen a foreign movie and I can describe it in one word - overrated.

I might be the only person in this entire planet not to have enjoyed this movie, but so far see it as an alright expierience. Crouching Tiger is brilliantly choreographed making this whole movie an epic. The movie's directed by Ang Lee who goes into different genres in his movies like Brokeback Mountain, Lust Caution or Hulk. He does an amazing job at the camera. It is a balance between story telling and action.

The performances are quite interesting. Chow Yung Fat and Michelle Yeoh are fantastic (possibly their best ever performances in this movie). Zhang ZiYi absolutely nails her character as Jen, who is actually the main heart of it all.

What I find interesting about Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is how much feminism is there going on. We're talking about a movie that thrives and glorify itself with characters doing roles men actually do. You see Zhang ZiYI and Michelle Yeoh having a sword fight which unforgettably manage this theme where women are being mistreated by men when they are not allowed to fight.

And it leads to the negatives. As I said, it is totally overrated. Possibly the overrated movie I've ever seen.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is completely cliche and totally predictable. The scene where (spoiler alert) Chow Yung Fat dies and confesses her love to Yeoh. We've seen this a lot of times don't we? The battle cry is also tiring (and possibly laughable). ZiYi being discovered as a warrior when we already know before given that her EYES are so big.

The main problem is that it is just an ordinary action film from China. Whether it's wuxia or not, and I may have seen a lot of wuxia films like this. most of the time we see scenes that are not that interesting to grab my mind.

I don't get how foreign movies like Crouching Tiger, Amelie or The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo is so recognisable in the Western World, but Crouching Tiger is not all it seems.

6.4/10.