So let’s get to it shall we? Our
first film is the martial arts film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon".
In a time where gunfights and
explosions dominate the box office, it is still possible to have films with
ample sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and violence come off as quite
dramas. Usually those are martial arts or wuxia movies from the east.
“Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” is probably the most famous of those, being
the first to become successful and critically acclaimed.
Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and
Zhang Ziyi star as a group of people fighting over the Green Destiny, a special sword that resembles the wands in the
“Harry Potter” universe; it might be useful but in the end it is only as good
as it’s wielder. All three of them are very skilled fighters, so you can
imagine that the sword doesn’t just sit in a single person’s hands for that
much. Aside from the three warriors fighting for a sword, there is a criminal
named Jade Fox who is just as skilled at martial arts as everyone else. But the
film is essentially the quest for justice and honor rather than the quest for a
weapon and a criminal, which separates it from most action movies.
Ang Lee directs the film with such
precision you almost forget you are watching a live action film; some of the
fighting is so outrageous but graceful you think it is a cartoon. Every fight
scene is as magnificent as the next, and the choreography manages to make
impossible stunts look easy for the fighters such as running across walls,
jumping across buildings, or even gliding.
This doesn’t mean that the film is
flawless; it loses points because Lee gives us too much of the good stuff. An
audience is like a dog: if you keep feeding them juicy human food they aren’t
going to like dry dog food. Same here, there are too many perfect action scenes
making us feel bored with withdrawal between them even though normally the
calmer, quieter sequences would be very interesting. It is much like the film “The
Matrix” in a way because the fights are staged by the same martial artist but
where they differ is in the quiet sequences; In Crouching Tiger you are waiting
for the next fight scene whilst in “The Matrix” you are intrigued by the
dialogue and the exposition and in that way I think “The Matrix” is a better
film.
But nevertheless the fight scenes
are more than worth the wait, and the overall experience certainly merits a
watch.
9/10
Don’t forget to leave a comment suggesting a film I should
review. Next it is “Run Lola Run (Lola Rent)” and after that is “Pan’s
Labyrinth”.
