Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I know this is by no means a timely post, as it came out 8 years ago, but I recently re-discovered the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and had forgotten how good it really is

I'm just curious what others here think about it, as it's a movie very open to different interpretations and likely to invoke very different reactions

I'm somewhat of a film buff, I love learning about directors and composers and try to sample all kinds of films, but I don't know of any movie to really compare it to. I think it's one of the most beautiful films ever made, at least that I know of (I find it even more engaging than Zhang Yimou's work which I loved).

Considering it's no longer really talked about since its buzz has long since died I'll understand if this post gets a limited response...but I just love talking movies

if you have any thoughts on the film or any others like it you'd like to recommend please do so!

To be honest, I disliked it. I have seen it twice and - yes - I just dislike it. The problem is that I am used to watching martial arts films that involve no 'surreal' action moves. Everything in the movies I watch is done by the human body alone, without the aid of special effects. I'm talking about movies such as the Police Story series, Drunken Master, etc.

Kevin.

I didn't exactly love it, actually I found it sappy, but it was interesting because it challenged my sense of reality. How can someone fly while fighting while everything else is normal? It also makes me think of Buddhist stories of monks flying, cutting off their own arms to find enlightenment, and doing all sorts of strange things.

I liked the magical tone to everything, and how they never even ventured at an explanation, because any explanation they could have given would have been totally insufficient. The action sequences I thought were elegant and beautiful, much more entertaining than most real action scenes, in my opinion

And I usually don't like love stories either, unless they're done right, and I actually was quite drawn into the love stories in the movie. As much as I loved the action scenes to me they're the least important part of the movie, I just loved the story and characters, few films have made me care about whether a character finds love

And the music by Tan Dun is gorgeous, I recently bought the soundtrack (as I often do) and I've listened to it a bunch of times already, it's wonderful. He also did a great job for Hero

I really didn't like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It was a little bit of everything. The story was cheap, the characters were cheap, the martial arts was cheap, the cinematography was cheap. It was all in all very contrived and tacky IMO.

It wasn't the epic combat that bothered me, mind you. Like the OP said, it incites a sense of wonder as suspension of disbelief becomes rather redundant in relevance.

A better alternative I would recommend would be 'House of Flying Daggers'.

See I actually didn't care as much for house of flying daggers. As much as I love Zhang Yimou's directorial style the art direction just seemed too forced in that one, like they were trying just too hard to make this bigger and look more like ancient china, the costumes seemed more fit for a stage production than a film IMO. Also I never believed for a moment that Zhang Ziyi's character was blind with all of the things she was able to pull off, it just took me out of the experience

Although if you liked the elaborate art direction in Hous of Flying Daggers I would recommend Yimou's "The Curse of the Golden Flower." Even though it smacks even more of effort in terms of making the imperial palace elaborate, it's simply soooo gorgeous I don't care. And it also tells a good story

DownAnd0ut wrote:See I actually didn't care as much for house of flying daggers. As much as I love Zhang Yimou's directorial style the art direction just seemed too forced in that one, like they were trying just too hard to make this bigger

See I actually found it to be much more intimate and personal than the hopelessly forced 'epicness' of CTHD.

and look more like ancient china,

Indeed, the setting.

the costumes seemed more fit for a stage production than a film IMO. Also I never believed for a moment that Zhang Ziyi's character was blind with all of the things she was able to pull off, it just took me out of the experience

As opposed to watching her fight Li Mu Bai balancing on twigs. I actually though in terms of acting, Zhang Zi Yi nailed blindness. The extent of her abilities was obviously a Wuxia style exaggeration, which I might add turned out to be actually false in the story anyhow.

Although if you liked the elaborate art direction in Hous of Flying Daggers I would recommend Yimou's "The Curse of the Golden Flower." Even though it smacks even more of effort in terms of making the imperial palace elaborate, it's simply soooo gorgeous I don't care. And it also tells a good story

See, I would disagree. While I definitely agree the visuals are stunning, the story is very two dimensional. Plus it also lacks that fantastical wuxia epicness and impossibility. To me it was a visually stunning retelling of a simple anecdote.

I thought Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was okay but it wasn't as good as Hero.

quiet-loner wrote:I thought Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was okay but it wasn't as good as Hero.

I agree. Hero is by far the most visually stunning of the lot. The story isn't complex, but it serves it's purpose. The whole movie is more like a poem than a narrative, really.

I saw Fearless last night, with Jet Li. It was very good - Anyone else seen it?