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- [crouching tiger, hidden dragon]
- -- china/usa / 2000 / 120 mins
- -- director : ang lee
- -- screenplay : hui-ling wang, du lu wang (novel)
- -- starring : yun-fat chow, michelle yeoh, zi-yi zhang, chen chang
- -- certificate : IIb(hk)
- based on an epic novel with the same name, crouching tiger, hidden dragon gets its name from a chinese proverb that refers to hidden heroes that emerge from the fact that nothing is in fact what it seems. as a mythological fantasy, it tells the story of a legendary warrior, li (chow yun-fat) and another female warrior, yu (michelle yeoh). on a mission to deliver li's sword, the green destiny to beijing, it was stolen and was finally traced to a young aristocrat (zi-yi zhang) with a lust for independence.
with an ensemble cast of all-star chinese actors and internationally-acclaimed director ang lee (sense and sensibility, the ice storm), it easily becomes one of the most anticipated motion pictures in 2000 and one of the major contenders in oscar next year.
unfortunately, crouching tiger, hidden dragon is not able to deliver what i expected. in fact, it is a huge disappointement for me mainly due to the poor script and surprisingly bad acting from the protagonists. ang lee made a very disastrous decision, trying his best to make this chinese legend, which supposes to be serious, to become a comedy. in fact, it would not be a problem if it is really funny and the viewers do feel good. but it is not. what the people would like to see is not some stupid fight scenes but some brilliant and exciting actions from the same man responsible for the matrix sequences.
the acting is below par overall, especially chang chen and michelle yeoh. you can hardly say if they are acting or if they are just reading word by word from the script. zi-yi zhang, who recently starred in zhang yi mou's the road home, gives the best performance among all the protagonists.
the cinematography is good comparatively. it'd particularly appeal to foreigners as the film captures the landscapes in north-western china and the spectacular architecture of the qing dynasty. music by tan dun is good but not outstanding. theme song by coco lee is worth-listening, though.
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