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- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(Reviewed November 15, 2000, by James Dawson)
- Here is a very strange movie that tries to be several different things at once, and occasionally even succeeds. It starts out as a solemn, and frankly kind of dull, tale of a
conflicted warrior (Chow Yun Fat) in ancient China who decides to hang out in retirement with the female head of a bodyguard concern called Sun Security. He gives her his sword to take to a nobleman in
Peking for safe keeping. When the sword is stolen from that man's house, the movie turns into a predictable "police procedural" with occasional martial-arts scenes to break up the
monotony.
Although "fight choreographer" Yuen
Wo-Ping did the same duties on "The Matrix," don't expect any of those swell bullet-time shots that we all know and love. Also, although the kickboxing scenes in "Matrix" between Neo and Morpheus
tended
toward the gravity-defying, this movie dispenses with gravity altogether. Characters bounce along the ground and glide over rooftops like helium balloons. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near as
cool-looking
as it sounds; many of the wire-work fights end up resembling cheesy "Ultraman" TV-show scenes. Knowing that the tussles are supposed to look fake and goofy does not save them from being, well, fake
and
goofy.
Next, the movie makes a jarring shift into a long flashback involving a teenage aristocratic girl who does not want to go through with her impending marriage. She recalls being kidnapped
by a
desert bandit (who bears a strong resemblance to Keanu Reeves, actually) and sharing blissful cave-love with him until returning to her family. Great photography, stunning landscapes, cliche
melodrama.
Finally, the movie returns to the hunt for the thief. A silly scene in a tavern results in Jackie-Chan-style destruction, throwing things off in yet another direction. Things get back on
track
later with the best fight scene in the movie, which takes place in a lush bamboo forest. The "magic realism" that the director was going for all along works beautifully in this scene, where the flying
combatants
really seem to be flying with grace, instead of merely bobbing along on digitally-erased wires.
There are a lot of frustrating elements to this movie, not the least of which are the majority of fight scenes that are unconvincing and silly because, to paraphrase the old "Superman" tag line, "you
won't believe a man can fly."
On the other hand, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is almost always gorgeous to behold, and occasionally breathtakingly so, with a final scene that will knock
your
eyes out. And so, in true Taoist fashion, this review is neither a rave nor a pan, and is content to walk the middle path we all must travel to gain true enlightenment. (Wishy-washy? Me?)
Back Row Grade: C
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