1、Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is based on a pre-World War II novel about characters who (in spite of Lees protests of originality) will be quite familiar to fans of HKs golden age films. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is a legendary martial artist whose attempts to find enli
2、ghtenment have left him disillusioned. He gives away his famous sword, the Green Destiny, to signal a move into a new, nonviolent life. His courier is Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), another well-known fighter whos been pining away for him for years. Shu Lien becomes friendly with the aristocratic young J
3、en (Zhang Ziyi), who is secretly a superior swordswoman, the lover of the desert bandit Lo (Chang Chen), and a disciple of the vicious middle-aged female criminal Jade Fox (Cheng Pei Pei). From this setup, the film details the theft of the Green Destiny, the romantic and political intrigues that ens
4、ue, and the major characters life quests: Jen for love and power, Li Mui Bai for peace, Shu Lien for Li Mui Bai, Jade Fox for revenge against all men, and Lo for Jen.The film has a muted, elegant look that works in its favor to transport the viewer to its setting of ancient China, meticulously recre
5、ated. But this rich pictorialism has a down side: Lee seems to be so in love with his compositions and conceits that the film slows to a crawl in some sequences. A particular offender in this regard is a seemingly endless diversion in the desert, where the love affair between Lo the bandit and Jen t
6、he captured lady begins. Lee exploits the bleak beauty of this setting (shot in the Gobi desert and the Taklamakan Plateau north of Tibet) but eventually loses the viewer in the interminable love scenes.More successful indeed, the films major draw are the stunningly executed fight scenes. No expense
7、 was spared in rendering these magical sequences, with characters scampering up buildings, bounding across roofs, and flying through treetops. Unlike some HK films where the viewer gets lost in a battle (not necessarily a bad thing), Crouching Tiger keeps all the details clear, giving full play to t
8、hese skilled performers leaps and thrusts and always interspering high-angle shots for context. Theres a mix of the fantastic and the visceral in these scenes that should satisfy fans of both styles. Michelle Yeoh executes her typical stunningly economical moves, while hefty middle-aged Cheng Pei Pe
9、i is her opposite, relying more on brute strength and raw power to conquer her enemies. Most impressive is Zhang Ziyi, a marvel at only 19 (when the film was shot two years ago). Her dazzling gymnastics put her immediately in the company of legendary predecessors in the field like Angela Mao Ying.Cr
10、ouching Tiger hedges its bets by featuring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, icons of the golden age of HK cinema. But their characters are probably the least interesting in the film. Chows Li Mu Bai never transcends the formulaic dispirited hero wandering pathetically through a world he doesnt feel p
11、art of. The glorious Michelle Yeoh is mostly decorative, full of winsome glances and stony stares but finally unaffecting. The film ultimately belongs to Zhang Ziyi, brilliant as the schizoid Jen, and, in her unfortunately limited screen time, to Cheng Pei Pei as Jade Fox. The latter, a veteran of 1970s and 80s HK martial arts films, is far from the smooth, sleek young heroines of many HK movies. With her hefty figure, ravaged face, and palpable desperation as she feels Jen slipping from her grasp, she gives the film an unexpected poignancy and power.