Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2001 David N. Butterworth

***1/2 (out of ****)

So why is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" ("Wo Hu Zang Long") still playing to sold-out audiences several weeks after its release, and what gives this film, in Mandarin with English subtitles, any right to be playing at the suburban multiplexes anyway? Is it because it's a terrific action picture, featuring incredible fight sequences choreographed with an artistry heretofore unseen in this country? Is it because it's an enchanting romance--the smoldering, unspoken love of Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien (played by familiar faces Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh) and the burning desert love of Jen and Lo (the not-so-familiar Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen), given extra intensity by Tan Dun's intimate score (cello solos courtesy Yo-Yo Ma)? Is it because these central figures are some of the strongest characters we're seen in years? Or is it, when you come right down to it, an honest-to-goodness B-movie, a good old-fashioned Western with good guys and bad guys (and good girls and bad girls) duking it out amid splendid, widescreen vistas that would make John Ford proud? "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is all of these, a simple tale majestically told: a legendary warrior; a stolen jade sword; a mysterious masked assassin; a Jade Fox. It's a Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Drama/Romance (according to some online sources). It's got martial artists, sword fights, bamboo forests, deserts, flashbacks, poison, and revenge. It's got secret identities, teacher-student relationships, and unrequited love. There are tragedies, twists, flying bandits, protégés, poison darts--even "wire-fu"! And, of course, China, looking lovelier than ever. Director Ang Lee ("The Ice Storm") brings all of these disparate elements together with accomplished flair and, even more importantly, an innate sense and sensibility that, when all's well and done, causes you to exit the theater feeling mesmerized and moved, like something magical just revealed itself to you.

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David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 266590
X-RT-TitleID: 1102698
X-RT-SourceID: 878
X-RT-AuthorID: 1393
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4