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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Dir: Ang Lee

I held off watching this movie because of the American involvement and Chow in a full on Martial Arts role (not his forte) and the, what seemed like from clips, overuse of the flying effects.
I was so wrong.

It had it's flaws (perhaps the story was too repetitive, and small scale...and some sub-plots were forgotten, like the relationship between the Guard 'Bo' and the Daughter of the Policeman), but overall this was lovely stuff.

Chow Yun Fat was in fact perfectly at ease with the Martial Arts/Swordplay and was as wonderful to watch as always.
His whole performance was majestic. To the way he fought off (with smooth casual moves) the attacks by Jade Fox, to the way he handled his characters relationship with Jen (Zhang Ziyi) and especially Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). It was a masterful and stately performance.

Yeoh (who I have been watching for years now from her 'Khan' moniker days, and it's great to see her getting Western attention at last) also gave a majestic performance. Shu Lien was a proud but ultimately tragic figure and Yeoh brought all these facets across. We felt for her, for her sacrifice and her lost love. But she was also a noble fighter and it was in the fantastic fight scenes (By Yuen Woo Ping, another name I have followed well before he became bogged down in the dull stodge of "The Matrix") that she came into her own. Her epic battle in the courtyard with Jen, where she went through loads of weapon changes with breathtaking ease, was one of the best sword play scenes I have seen...and I've seen a lot. of outstanding stuff.

Zhang Ziyi was also a revelation. After first seeing her in an enjoyable but typically throw away 'baddie' role in "Rush Hour 2"...I was expecting some good stuff...but nothing like this.
Her prowess was wonderful to behold. This lovely, sweet ethereal woman became a lethal (if tragically flawed), Martial Artist, and her battles with Yeoh were the action highlights.
But she also gave a heartbreakingly moving performance as the confused and ultimately self-defeating Jen. Her scenes with Chang Chen (as her bandit lover, Lo...another good performance) were truly romantic and innocently erotic.
Her solo action sequence in a Tavern, where she takes on and defeats dozens of roaming, rival Martial Artists (with some very funny, in-joke names) was quite simply stunning.

The music (by Tan Dun with solos by the legendary Yo Yo Ma) was also superb. From full on, almost Kodo Drum, led action themes to lilting romantic melodies, to more lighthearted pieces it all worked perfectly. Perhaps a few less orchestral movements and more pieces with traditional instruments would have been an improvement...but overall a wonderful score with a very moving repeated Main Theme running throughout that really brings the old lump in the throat out!
The sound mix on the DVD was a real treat!!

The sets and costumes were spot on (like watching a mega-bucks "Shaw Bros" film!!) and the careful use of CGI for the landscapes made for sweeping, fantastical eye candy.
The flying (after the initial, breathtaking chase over the rooftops) actually worked...and gave the film a unique sense of the mystical.
Sure we have been watching fighters fly around for years...but this was in short, fast Martial Arts battles...not in slow, lyrical fashion like the sequence in the forest (unless it was a ghost in say "A Chinese Ghost Story") or as an extended chase sequence.
The first rooftop chase is completely jaw dropping in its conception!

So overall a wonderful movie, that was totally Chinese, and a completely entertaining, majestic, thrilling, lyrical, poetic and deeply moving (42nd Street Freak had a good sniffle, he is proud to admit...so there!) piece of Martial Arts cinema.