Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[pjshimmer]

Is it a good movie? How would you rate it compared to "Tai-Chi Master", "Wing Chun", or "Iron Monkey"?<br><br>

[pjshimmer]

A couple of things<br><br>1) I've only watched a small portion of the movie. From what I've seen so far, it is nothing more than a boring plot, silly choreography, and poor acting. I do hope the rest of the movie will be better<br><br>2) The movie was adapted from a well-known book/Chinese radio broadcast epic program, which I used to listen to everyday in China. The story is quite modified though, from the book, with the set in a slightly earlier timeline, and different main characters. (When I first realized the names, I was so happy, because I had been wanting to see a TV serie or a movie adapted from the book!)<br><br>

[subgum]

good story,nice photography,mediocre kung fu<br><br>subgum

[pjshimmer]

I will agree on that it was long and was sorta boring if you were familiar with the famous Chinese folk novel of which this movie was adapted from <b>(the sad truth is, nearly every kung fu movie in HK is adapted from either a novel or a folk tale, or a remake of an older version, like Once Upon a time in china, Tai Chi Master, Fong Sai Yuk, 7 blows of the dragon, house of traps, Bastard Swordsman, Sentimental Swordsman, King of Beggars, Kung Fu colt Master, Swordsman, Storm Riders, The Duel, Iron Monkey, Brave Archers, Ashes of time, royal tramp, A Warrior's tragedy, Zen of Swords, and just about anything else you can name. There are so few original scripts in Martial Arts cinema of HK)</b>. But this movie really didn't do the tale justice; just another poor adaption well reflected in the plot.<br><br>

[pjshimmer]

This film did indeed bring back the Kung Fu genre in HK cinema, which as you said, was just about as dead as it has ever gotten. There was kind of a gap between '85-'89, a period of time where I don't think any kung fu movie came out of. But from '91 to late '94, with the born of Once Upon a Time in China, Kung Fu again was back on mainstream and was taken on to the next level. I think 1993 was the peak of new wave kung fu, with no less than 30 productions in that year alone. But between 1995 to 1998, only 5 or 6 kung fu productions come to mind. Two of those acclaimed ones are Forbidden City Cop and the groundbreaking Storm Riders. I am also very thankful for the making of Storm Riders; without which we probably wouldn't even have Crouching Tiger now, needless to say the same for A Man Called Hero and The Duel. Of course, it's not hard to see that these special effects generated period pieces aren't quite as popular as the wire generated new wave kung fu in the early 90s. I only hope that at least 1 good kung fu film comes out of the Chinese-speaking territories once a year.<br><br>

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Well here's my 2 cents worth. I too saw it in a theatre. My first instinct when the movie ended was why is this getting such praise?? I have watched it again at home and now I see it was too hyped making me expect too much. It was a decent film. Obviously no where near Tai-Chi Master or Iron Monkey. It's a love story with a little Martial Arts thrown in. <br><br>

[pjshimmer]

Crouching Tiger had very, very cool (not to mention unique) fight sequences - mostly generated by wires, but the story was confusing and pointless. To this day I still don't get why the girl, Yu Jiao Long, tried to steal Li Mu Bai's sword. Was she just bored or did Jade Fox tell her to do it...? The acting was also very unconvincing, but then again with such a boring script one can only expect so much from Asia's most acclaimed actors and actresses...<br><br>Another reason why I didn't jump all over Crouching Tiger was the fact that I've read the original novel-and heard radio broadcast of the same story-in China, and I have to say, I enjoyed reading it-and listening to it on radio-much more than watching this poor adaption. This movie just isn't very interesting, and, as my family and I find, rather pointless and 99% overrated. Those western critics definitely needed to see some earlier standard-establishing productions such as Once Upon a Time in China and Fong Sai Yuk before they went on and called Crouching Tiger the best oriental product ever. In my judgement, Crouching Tiger is just barely on the same boat as The Barefoot Kid, Kung Fu Colt Master, and Swordsman II. Anything on the next level-A Chinese Ghost Story, King of Beggars, Once Upon a Time in China IV-would probably be superior to Crouching...<br><br>I think the overall format of Crouching may be a little similar to that of Dragon Inn, except Dragon Inn delivered high quality music, an interesting story, and suspense as its best. Crouching is only slight better in action sequences.<br><br>

[pjshimmer]

I'm glad to see a Chinese point of view. Honestly, I don't think any person of Chinese descent who has seen any TV series in the last 20 years or movies in the 90s will be impressed with CTHD. I initially liked it a lot, but ever since I've gone back to rewatch it with friends and family and they were all disappointed and angry about all the oscar nominations. As for me, well, I must say my opinion of the film has only gone from impressed to resentful.<br><br>

[xiaoka]

I see your guys point about /not/ looking at it as a martial arts film, but to be honest, the wushu was the only good thing about the movie. <br><br>But I think this film is overrated by the western media who hasn't been exposed to a lot of good Chinese films.<br><br>And another thing to consider is the language. One main reason it didn't catch on in Chinese speaking areas (Mainland and Taiwan specifically - two of the few places in the world they didn't really like it) was the language... having Michelle Yeoh butcher the Mandarin that badly made this film pretty unwatchable for anyone who speaks Mandarin (I kept thinking 'damn, her Chinese is worse than mine...'). All the romance, all the drama, all the lines were just kind of overshadowed... <br><br>And as we all know, there are better martial arts films, better dramas and better romances out there...<br><br><i><b>-Xiao Ka</b></i>

[pjshimmer]

Yes, it's funny how when they finally make a movie in Mandarin, the Mandarin speakers despite the movie. Which shouldn't be surprising either, since, as Xiao Ka pointed out, the only good thing about the whole movie is the martial arts. The romance between Yu Jiao Long and Luo Xiao Hu is a disgraceful version of the original novel; the drama is long and boring; the acting was just beyond mediocre. Chow Yun Fat should NEVER be part of a period kung fu film. <br><br>And does anyone know why the film chose Mandarin to be the official language of the movie? Was it because Ang Lee, a Taiwanese (I think), wanted his mother tongue in his movie? Apparently the Mandarin dialogues presented were most inconvincing, just like the rest of the elements of the movie. I, however, do not have the Mandarin version yet, and having Cantonese spoken (which I do not speak) certainly does not help.<br><br>