Smashing apart the stereotypes of poorly-acted, horribly-dubbed, shitty martial arts films, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON raises the bar to almost unprecedented heights.
Chow Yun Fat, verteran of several John Woo films, and Michele Yeoh, who you may have seen in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, take on the two lead roles in this film by Ang Lee.
In additon to assembling an award-winning crew (the film won four academy awards), Ang Lee adapted the story from a Chinese pulp-fiction novel written by Wang Du Lu. Lee focused not on the pursuit of a legendary sword known as "The Green Destiny," but instead on the struggles of his female leads against social obligation. In his hands, the requisite fight scenes become another means of expressing the individual spirits of his characters and their conflicts with society and each other.
The fight scenes, by the way, are breath-taking. Through the use of harnesses and wires (and then removing them all digitally), the characters leap effortlessly into the air, and from rooftop to rooftop, swords drawn, to do battle with one another.
