Next up for the month is a look at a kung fu movie that’s
critically acclaimed. Not many in the genre can say that, but this one can.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie I’ve heard things about but never saw
it until this year. Yeah, I’m kinda lame like that. I think I may have said
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Negro” at some point in my life. I know one reason I
didn’t watch it was because it wasn’t dubbed. Also, I know I wasn’t the biggest
fan of the wuxia style of martial arts films. It took me a while to get there, folks.
I think movies like Iron Monkey, Hero, and Fearless helped get me there.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released in 2000, and it
was directed by Ang Lee. It was based on a novel of the same name. It ended up
getting nominated for some major awards. It was even nominated for 10 Academy
Awards, and it won four of them. The movie starred some big names like Chow Yun-fat
and Michelle Yeoh. It also brought acclaim to actress Zhang Ziyi. A sequel was
also released a couple of years ago called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
Sword of Destiny. It wasn’t as critically acclaimed, but it did bring back
Michelle Yeoh in her role. It also stars recognizable names like Donnie Yen and
Jason Scott Lee.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The movie takes place in the 19th century. Master
Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) gives his legendary sword, the Green Destiny, to Yu
Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) so she can take to an old friend. These two have unrequited
love for one another, but don’t act on it for reasons. The sword ends up
getting stolen by someone skilled in the same style Li teaches. Shu Lien then goes
on the search for the thief and comes across Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi), a young woman who is much
more than a soon-to-be bride. Insert themes of unrequited love, rebelliousness,
revenge, female empowerment, and a whole lot of wire-fu.
I don’t know why it took so long to see this movie because
this was pretty good. If you’re someone who doesn’t like reading subtitles, I’d
shelve that dislike for this one. The
story is pretty good overall. I didn’t know what to really expect with the romance
between Mu Bai and Shu Lien. I thought that was played pretty well. I also thought
Jen was a nice wild card. She wasn’t too likable, but that may have been the
point. While the story can move a little slow at times, the characters make it
an interesting watch.
Then, you get to the awesome choreography. What can I say about it other than it’s awesome?
Yeah, it’s not grounded like some films, but I like that about this one. It’s pretty
akin to folklore or mythology. You got folk gliding rooftops and trees like
they’re superheroes. The best fight of the bunch is the throwdown between Shu Lien
and Jen towards the end. The cinematography and music is awesome and it’s easy
to see why this won the Awards it did. The only thing that is a bit of a
negative is that it can be a little slow at times. Other than that and maybe a
couple of nitpicks, this is one of the best kung fu movies.
"I'm just gonna hang around on this limb here."
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
The movie was released in 2016 and takes place about 18
years after the first movie. Shu Lien (Yeoh) went into solitude after what
happened in the first movie. She only comes out because Master Te, an old
friend and the holder of the Green Destiny, has died. She ends up entering into
a new conflict as warlord Hades Dai (Jason Scott Lee) wants the Green Destiny
so he can rule the martial world. He also has quite a few skilled fighters on
his side. Luckily, Shu Lien has some help from a few folk. There’s Snow Vase, a
young woman who reminds Shu Lien of Jen. Then, there’s a group of warriors who
still follow the code of the Iron Way. They’re led by Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen),
a man who has ties to Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai.
The two good parts in the movie.
This movie was okay at best. Let me get the good out of the
way first, though. I did like how most of this tied into the first movie. We
end up seeing what happened to Shu Lien as well as a couple of characters who
were important to her. I liked seeing Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen team up even
though this isn’t their first outing together. Even though he’s pretty much a
cackling villain here, it was cool to see Jason Scott Lee in a martial arts
movie again. The fight scenes were okay but not bad. The final fight was pretty
cool, but that’s about it in terms of coolness.
As for the negatives, where do I start? It’s definitely a
few notches down from what Ang Lee’s movie was. I think part of that has to do
with the fact that it’s a Netflix production, but even then, it feels lacking. The
story wasn’t as good here. It did feel like the writers were trying to rehash
some of the same story beats from the first movie. The acting felt a bit off. I
don’t know if it was the actors themselves or the dialogue, though. I also felt
there were too many characters running around in this one. That didn’t make
much sense especially when the runtime was around 90 minutes.
While the fight scenes were numerous and at times fun,
something felt off about them. I couldn’t lay my finger on why at first. I realized
that the camerawork felt weird especially when the more fantastical stuff happened.
I also noticed that we didn’t get too many long shots of some pretty cool
stunts like we did in the first movie and some other movies. So many cuts were
here and I don’t like that. Even though I had issues with the movie, I can’t
call it horrible. It’s passable, but know you’re getting something that’s not
that good.
So, we got two dudes who either played Bruce Lee or played characters portrayed by Bruce Lee... Cool.
……………………………………………………………………
In the end, one out of two good movies isn’t too bad. Even
though the long-though-not-that-awaited sequel isn’t really good, you should check
it out once. I do recommend the first movie. Even if you don’t like foreign films,
do what you can with this one. It’s worth it. Well, I’m off to write about one
of my favorite game franchises while watching a retrospective on Fullmetal
Alchemist. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t let promises to dead people
get it in the way of true love.
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