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Review: 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'
You probably won't ever see a better kung-fu movie than Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or a more original, mournful or beautiful cinematic vision in this movie-crowded season.
Perhaps it's more accurate to call it an artful collaboration -- part martial-arts spirituality, Western epic and Broadway musical -- between Lee, actors Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh, the musician Yo-Yo Ma and mythical combat choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping, who designed the dance-like scenes in The Matrix and sparked a revival of martial arts as spiritual and cinematic ballet.
The story unfolds in China in the time of Confucius, centering on the loss and search for a magical 400-year-old sword called Green Destiny. Its theft sets off a complex interaction between a sword-wielding warrior, his ally and a bandit (who falls in love with a desert thief, another beautifully shot sequence); the latter two happen to be women. So does their common nemesis, a creepy and lethal outcast right out of the witches gathering in "Hamlet" named Jade Fox.
Brilliantly bizarre and sometimes astonishingly beautiful, the movie takes martial arts far beyond the eerily-choreographed levels of The Matrix. From Walker, Texas Ranger to Jackie Chan to Charlie's Angels, martial arts is replacing the fist, .9mm and taser as popular culture's favorite form of combat. In fact, kung fu offers creative moviemakers a lot of possibilities: it has a richer history, and comes from deeper traditions than any of those other weapons.
But no one has yet portrayed it in this way. "Crouching Tiger" is gravity-defying: the fighters soar over rooftops, somersault around rooms, sail through trees and walls, in and out of rivers and lakes.
It's closer to the more spiritual sagas of earlier Hong Kong movies than to the popular and very funny Chan series. It feels very modern, though. It's unusual to see a movie like this featuring women in such strong and distinctly different roles -- but it also honors traditions of loyalty, learning and responsibility. In an era when the cultural gap between teachers and students has probably never been wider, this movie reflects a time and a culture when their bonds were unshakeable. Making money or being popular is the last thing on these warrior's minds, good or evil. They are obsessed with honor, growth and vengeance. In "Crouching Tiger," students love, even venerate their teachers and will sacrifice their own lives for their teachers' approval and honor.
Cellis Yo-Yo Ma's haunting score gives "Crouching Tiger" an even more brooding and enchanting quality. Yet for all its gravity and style, "Crouching Tiger" also has a sense of humor. It takes a skilled and supremely confident filmaker to pull off a quite literally dazzling movie like this.
Okay, the only bad part of the movie (aside from some fuzzy filming in the very beginning), was the wirework. Yes, it's cool to see people flying in the air, especially when they're doing great martial arts. Unfortunately, it's not so cool when they're flying at speeds and in ways contrary to the laws of gravity. If they had done it 'correctly', though, it probably would've been too fast to do it safely for the actors. They just go way too slowly when coming down.
What I was _really_ impressed with was the following (which I knew going into the movie):
1) Chow Yun Fat is not a sword-guy - he had to learn all that for the movie
2) None of the principle actors had done wire-work before. This looked as good as anything I've seen (except for Matrix), yet all the actors were new to it. THAT'S impressive.
3) The Director was new to both martial arts films AND wirework. Not too bad - no experience, and he creates this film?
4) The film was made in Mandarin. Guess what language the principle actors DIDN'T speak? You guessed it - Mandarin. They were all speaking in a foreign (to them) language! Wow. And I couldn't detect any accents at all (grin).
That said, if I'm going to go see a movie again, it'd be 'Billy Elliot', not this one, though I did like it quite a lot. Especially Zhang Ziyi - she totally stole the movie from Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh (an amazing feat).
"Shanghai Noon" (which was only stupid
deliberately and as a form of send-up).
Shanghai Noon is one of the weaker Jackie Chan movies I've seen lately - check out (for example) the original Police Story, or Armor Of God for vintage Chan - he kicks ass in every sense.
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
This movie has some exquisite locale shots and a tavern fight right out of "Legend of Drunken Master."
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Capsule: Great movie, except the plot was a little weak.
Am I the only one amused that critics are suddenly noticing this movie as if it's something brand new, and completely neglecting the fact that it's just one example of a genre they've been content to sneer at up 'til now?
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Ummm...I saw it in the AMC 20 in Leawood, Kansas, just yesterday.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
It's not slander, since I didn't say that I had knowledge that he was a pedophile. I made a speculative comment based on information available to everyone here, namely Katz's own comment, and qualified it with the phrase "sounds like he might be". I'd love to hear someone explain Katz's comment in anything other than a sexist, paternalistic light at the very least.
Sorry, but if you read Katz, you deserve to have comments like mine inflicted on you.
The radio stations around here have been saying that CTHD is subtitled. Is this true?
Yeah, a sop to those who don't speak Mandarin.
This is a sort of sad situation- it used to be that there were a few small theaters around that showed great foriegn or independant films. Three years ago, I could have seen CTHD without trekking all the way into NY. No more. They've all died. One gorgeous old filmhouse even got flooded, and didn't have the insurance to recover. All I have in New Jersey now is an endless stretch of Clearview Cinemas, all of which tend to play the exact same movies, even if they're within ten miles of each other. It's a seriously screwed up world when I have FIVE theaters playing the supremely awful bomb D&D within 15 minutes of my house, but not ONE theater playing this incredible movie (which would certainly rake in big bucks from all the people in my area desperate for good films) within even a 45minute drive or train ride.
Jet Li has done a lot of wire work in his films.
Wire work doesn't make a film better or worse, it's just a different kind of film.
round up all the women and teenaged girls you know
/., news for nerds who don't know any women :-)
Hey Katz, this is
It really is difficult to round up women when you tell them its a fantasy martial arts film. But slowly the women I know are seeing this film, they just aren't letting men take them. The film is still playing here in Europe after several months, and I'm amazed how many women have seen it, but none of them would dare go see it when it first opened.
And if you read Aint It Cool News you'd know that Ang Lee has already started casting for one of the prequels, and money is being thrown at him to make all four stories into movies.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
Which is why, upon seeing people jumping and flying in CTHD, I thought the portrayal of the real-life physics was simply too slow.
i'm sorry, but the stunts in superman and spiderman are just outrageous!!! flying? shooting spider webs out of his palm? Now the cool thing about films from Stallone & Schwarzennegger is that the shooting was _REAL_. Not this comic book rubbish.
umm... this is a typical pre-jackie chan martial arts movie. the "wu-xia" genre is much much older than jackie chan. in fact, all martial arts movies used to be in this sort of ancient setting. what was different about the bruce lee and later jackie chan movies was they brought martial arts into the modern world, esp. jackie chan. he showed that even in a world with guns and other technology, he could still beat the opponent using skill and ingenuity and kung fu was no longer limited to people wearing traditional kung fu outfits.
But no one has yet portrayed it in this way. "Crouching Tiger" is gravity-defying: the fighters soar over rooftops, somersault around rooms, sail through trees and walls, in and out of rivers and lakes.
this "wire-fu" is the exact way that many martial arts movies from as far back as the 60s have portrayed the characters. in fact, the genre of "wuxia" novels from which CTHD comes is very old. again, it would be new to people who've only seen "Walker Texas Ranger" but it's certainly not the first movie in this style. however, yuen wo-ping is a certifiable genius. this guy has a unique style and takes the genre and the fights to a whole new level. you'd think the fight scenes would get boring but he keeps on improving and creating jaw dropping sequences.
It's unusual to see a movie like this featuring women in such strong and distinctly different roles
see michelle yeoh in some of her previous costume drama kung fu movies
Cellis (sic) Yo-Yo Ma's haunting score gives "Crouching Tiger" an even more brooding and enchanting quality.
the score is indeed excellent. one of the best i've heard in a while and yo yo ma is on it but it was composed by tan dun. i think the score won an LA film critics award (one of those award giving groups anyway).
you probably already have but if not, check out any of bruce lee's movies. you can see the evolution and development of his own personal philosophy and style through his movies. he has an intensity and passion and fury in his fighting that i haven't seen in anything since. it'll also help you to understand jackie chan's style more too which is in part a reaction to do the opposite of what lee did, which is why there is always a strong comedic element in chan's movies.
efnet #reconnect r0x0rs =]
Fight Spammers!
What about the people who jump out of planes because they don't like TJ Hooker?
Fight Spammers!
I had the chance to see this movie at the Pentagon City Loews Theater in the DC area yesterday....it blew my fscking mind. All I can say is that Yeoh deserves an Oscar, the guy who shot the film should be canonized, and Ang Lee is the world's most underrated genius. There are few movies that I, or my roommate for that matter, will go back to *The Very Next Day*, which is exactly what we did. The sword play is unbelievably choreographed...it makes the Matrix looks like something I might work up in my spare time....and Trinity is a pansy compared to Michelle Yeoh. Unreal movie, go see it if it's around you.
So there I was. Naked. In a refrigerator. With a potroast on my knees. Smokin a cigar. That's when it got REALLY weird.
I would note that the philosophical aspect of the film was what struck me the most when I saw it 4 months ago, and "Promise me one thing...whatever path you take in this life, be true to yourself." is my favourite quote from the film. The film is subtitled but if that is a turnoff for you then you wouldn't gain much from the film apart from enjoying the fight scenes (the dialogue is extremely important to the film). And it does make the fight scenes in the Matrix, Charlie's Angels, Romeo Must Die and even Enter the Dragon look lame. The scenes are fast but so well choreographed that you see every move (as compared to say RMD). A beautiful film that works on every level, a medieval chinese Star Wars.
- Here and here are two 7 minute RealAudio reviews on NPR, with extensive detail, and some conversation with director Ann Lee.
- Here is about 45 minutes split between the director Ann Lee and the Actress, Michelle Yeoh, a star in the film on the NPR program FreshAir
There is another one I heard over the weekend which really goes into detail analyzing the film. I have not found that link. I wish I had found that one, because it is a discussion of the film by people expert in the genre, and the asian film industry.But the ones above are at least educational.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
to your own post on how awesome this movie is!
I think the Matrix is only 15% of this movie!
Geek dating!
GPL Deconstructed
As a martial artist myself (1st Dan TKD, 2 years of
aikido) I'm always on the lookout for martial-arts
films that don't insult my intelligence. CTHD
joins a depressingly short list that began with
"The Challenge" (1982), and includes both "The
Matrix" and "Shanghai Noon" (which was only stupid
deliberately and as a form of send-up).
Great movie, visually gorgeous, fine performances.
Easily blows away anything else I've seen this
year, and I doubt any movie I've heard or read
about would change that.
>>esr>>
I've seen a few other alternatives listed today. Most of them suck, IMHO. I am a man who has seen more B movies than any other man on earth, and I can give you the lowdown on which movies you should rent this holiday season that has not been embraced by US pop culture. Feel free to take them home for the holidays! Here they are....
;)
"Seven Samauri" (1954): I feel like starting with a classic from the fifties. This foreign flick inspired the story for everything from "The Magnificent Seven" to "A Bug's Life", and set the bar that most dramatic martial arts movies try yo live up to even today. I even believe this is one of the top 10 movies on IMDB's ratings list.
"Hard Boiled" (1993): This is what most of us video junkies would call, at a minimum, "John Woo's greatest movie ever". Take the coreographed gun battles from some of his US movies "MI:2" "Hard Target" and "Face Off", combine them and multiply by 15, then add Chow Yun Fat. A masterpeice that includes a 45 minute shootout in a hospital that probably cost him a fortune to do. If, somehow this is taken, then try his classic breakthrough "A Better Tommorrow". Watch it, then get the DVD.
"Iron Monkey" (1993): If you have the blues and want to see something built like Crouching Tiger, then try Iron Monkey. This is laugh out loud ridiculous but has well produced martial arts stunts. Taking the story of Robin Hood and twisting it into Fist of Legend, this also features good and bad guys that can jump over rooftops and change direction in midair, but it doesn't stop there. Ever wonder why Chinese royalty wears those humongous sleaves? It's a weapon that can shoot out up to 100 feet! Just go rent it
"El Mariachi" (1992): Starting south of the border, this movie is what inspired Quintin Tarentino to create the sequel, "Desperado", here in the USA.
The production isn't nearly as high class, but the story is far better and much less predictable, and it is very enjoyable to watch. BTW, it stars the same dude playing backup guitar during the intro of Desperado. And, no, he didn't really get his hand shot onstage, that's a dream that QT inserted to keep from spoling part of the first movie....
"City Hunter" (1992): Jackie Chan dressed like Chun Li (street fighter II). 'Nuff said? Not yet. This is one of Jackie's worse movies as far as story goes, mainly due to the fact it was based on a Japanese comic book. Look beyond that flaw and you'll see the most innovative fighting and weapon scenes just short of Drunken Master 2 and also, a rarity in Jackie movies, gunbusting! If you've ever seen him spinning people around his body, even in DM2, this is where it began and where it worked best. It's also good for a laugh.
That's enough for now. Enjoy!
I agree. Not only that, sounds like he might be a pedophile too...
The central theme of the movie is not the green Destiny sword, it is the personal search each person is looking to resolve.
The sword is simply the device that allows the characters to search for that which eludes them. Whether it be unrequited love, vengance, or escape from destiny, eachcharacter strives to fight against their own nature to achieve what they truly desire.
I can't go into more details without spoiling the movie. But the movie is about what is truly important in life, love and happiness.
If you've already seen the movie, ask yourself, what does each personm in the film really want? Then look at the obstacles the person puts in their own way on the path there. Puts a whole different spin on the film.
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IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0190332 As of this post, it has 8.7 rating out of 10 with 1415 votes (ranked #137 out of 250 on the top 250 movie list). I consider that very good!
:).
Also, check moviefone.com for more details.
Notes: The movie is in Chinese (Mandarin) so you will have to read the english subtitles if you are watching in U.S. The movie is showing in limited theaters (i.e. not in AMC theaters).
The movie has three Global Globe nominees (2001):
1. Best Director -- Motion Picture
2. Best Original Score - Motion Picture
3. Best Foreign Language Film
From Source.
I still haven't seen it yet, but I am taking my relatives to see it soon
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Gee, I haven't seen any .375 Magnums. Maybe I need to check the latest Guns&Ammo.
Last I'd heard, they settled on .357 as a bore size.
You've gotta check five times for stupid mistakes, when you call someone else on their stupid mistkaes.
[
Katz is clearly on top of the trends here: he's noticed the surge in popularity of the .9mm gun. Using bullets ten times smaller than the popular 9mm which it replaces, the .9mm is a thousand times less deadly. People who have been shot with .9mm guns say it feels like the biggest fucking mosquito they've ever seen just bit them, hard. You need a good pair of tweezers to get the bullets out.
In a private interview with Katz, he told me that he was impressed by the fact that the .9mm was 2.4 times bigger than that other famous microweapon, the .375 Magnum. When I pointed out to him that .375 was actually an inch measurement, he turned an unusual shade of crimson and mumbled something about NASA and Mars probes before changing the subject.