If there’s one movie from the past year that should elicit an out-and-out "wow," it’s director Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Perhaps the best martial arts film not starring Bruce Lee, Crouching Tiger makes use of modern photographic technology and time-tested storytelling to produce a dazzling display of intrigue and entertainment.
Master Li (Chow Yun-Fat) returns to his home village to settle down after roaming the countryside for years in defense of law and order. He hands over his prized sword, the Green Destiny, to his former teacher, only to have it stolen in the middle of the night by an unknown assailant seeking revenge. Li and his longtime love interest, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), believe his archenemy, Jade Fox (Cheng Pei Pei), is behind the burglary, because the culprit demonstrated a fighting style to which only a chosen few are privy. This all may seem like typical Kung-Fu movie fodder, but the drama is far more intense and the combat scenes absolutely exhilarating.
Action director Yuen Wo-Ping, who made his mark choreographing The Matrix, is the man responsiblefor the balletic action sequences that defy both gravity and the imagination. However, no amount of special effects could sustain a film without a substantive plot, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon does not disappoint in that department either. A true epic that will absorb your attention and stun you senses, it will be a long time before another action film of this caliber graces the silver screen.
Director: Ang Lee; Cast:
Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei Pei; (Sony
Classics/Columbia, 2000) Rated: PG-13
Return to Seb's Homepage