SParkfan77's Full Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
I can justify the title. I see a lot of movies. I see more than the average person would. 2000 in particular was not by any means, a good year in movies. This is where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comes in. Directed by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon becomes just the sixth movie a Golden Globe history that a foreign film has been nominated for best picture. If it has been nominated for best picture on the Golden Globes than it is likely going to be nominated for an Oscar and believe me, it deserves to win. This movie captured my sense of movies and then re-defined it. Not only was I surprised by this movie but also I was more than happy that I went. I told everyone the next day to see this movie right away. CTHD succeeds in being an Oscar worthy movie and should have no competition this year in the Oscar race.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Let me start off by saying that I do not know how to speak Mandarin. This language is from China. It does not matter because I had no problems reading the subtitles. This movie first starts off when Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) returns to town when he cuts his meditation training short because of an evil he felt. We then see Yu Shu Lien played by Michelle Yeoh. They never say how they know each other but we later find out that he has always loved her.
Li Mu Bai is dishonored by his training that he gives up his sword named Green Destiny to one Yu Shu Lien’s fathers friend. He was a trainer and kept it on a mantle. That night there is a break-in where the sword is. This is when the fun starts. My jaw dropped in amazement and how great these fight scenes were. The intruder and Yu Shu Lien were fighting in an area that was filled with high walls and building. As they glide from rooftop to rooftop, I kept saying to myself “wow”. They finally start to fight in a closed in area with tall wall. They run up and down the walls as if it were normal and the audience was in awe. I was impressed with these fight scenes and believe me there were many. They were co-coordinated by Yoo Ping. He was the very stunt co-coordinator of my favorite film, The Matrix. I started to notice a pattern in his fighting methods. I though that I would ever say this but this movie had better fight scenes than the Matrix. And we all know that The Matrix had amazing fight scenes.
This intruder attacks frequently at night. She fights with the sword that she stole. This was an ancient sword and it was an honor to use it. Green Destiny was called the perfect sword because of how fast it is and its sleek design. There is a young women that is shortly going to be married to a rich man. Her name is Jen in the movie and Zhang Ziyi plays her. She spends her days laying around and doing nothing. She talks to Yu Shu Lien and she tells her that she admires her for her fighting skills. What was cool about this movie was that the intruder was the Jen. You would never guess it but she is one great sword fighter.
Please don’t think that this movie has a thoughtless story behind the fighting. If anything, the story is what sticks out in the movie. I am very pleased with how they fit the whole movie together. A love story, fight scenes and life of a rich spoiled girl that steals for fun. Even though there were multi-stories going on, I never got confused, they all came together at the end though and you will see one of the best endings for a movie.
I really loved this movie. Time and time again I like to update my top movies list. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is my second favorite movie of all time. The best movie of all time was of course The Matrix. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but that is my opinion.
So how great was this movie? Most definitely good enough for a strong five stars. It has been getting rave reviews from the critics. Lets see how it stacks up to my standards. Ratings are from one to five stars.
Here’s The Breakdown
Script *****
Great dialogue. I hate reading but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought. If the reason why you don’t want to see this movie is because of the dialogue, than you will be surprised when you find out that this plays little factor when watching this movie. The emotion in every punch or sword slash does all the talking. The lines were good and very smooth script converting to English.
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Story *****
Aside to the absolutely amazing fight scenes this movie had, it also had one of the best stories in any movie that I have ever seen. I loved every minute of this movie and the story that they wrote for it. I was surprised by how great this story was. All I was expecting was an empty story with great fight scenes. Well it had the fight scenes and then while watching the movie I realized that the story was equally good.
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Overall *****
This movie broke the rules and re-wrote them for any kung-fu movie. Not only was it a kung-fu movie, it also had a great story that I have emphasized on just as much as the fighting. I went with two other people. My one friend thought that it was great and my other friend thought that it was good. He had some complaints on how they jumped high in the air and from roof-top to roof-top. This is a traditional way of fighting scenes throughout Japanese kung-fu movies. Everything about this movie was great. I want to see it again and buy it on video. Every news publication I read and every critic that I hear about all loved this movie and I wish it luck at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
Bottom Line: Best movie of 2000. Incredible.
Memorable Quote: Jen: ”Make a wish Lo”.
PG-13
SParkfan77: This is my work. Epinions has not been showing my name on my last few reviews. Sorry for this glitch. I emailed them and they said that they were going to fix it. Oh well.
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Named Best Picture of the Year by over 100 critics nationwide!Two master warriors (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest chall...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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