A Valentine’s Day homage to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Ang Lee's gorgeous 2000 masterpiece has awe-inspiring martial arts stunts and a tragic love story for the ages.

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[Sci-Fi Writer]

Worst movie I've had to endure... So, let me get this straight, you've got a bunch of super athletes that can fly over buildings and dance across bamboo but when the hero needs an antidote they put some old biddy on the slowest donkey in the village to go into town for some tonic. Serious plot flaw, don'cha think?

 

[kimbykip]

I remember feeling ambivalent about the wire work because it was so beautifully done but also so physically unconvincing on screen. It's a neat stylistic choice

Stop right there, and you have it exactly. None of the fantastical stunts in this fairy tale were meant to be realistic, as you acknowledge later on. It was a dance show! I think if you watched it again now with a different mindset, it wouldn't ruin the immersion so much for you.

You certainly weren't alone, though. Saw this movie with my partner, and they had the same opinion you did. The flying-stuff kept distracting them. Only until they complained about this aloud did I realize that we entered the movie with vastly different expectations; my own first reactions were to gasp at the sudden wonders and try not to cry at the stylized beauty. Whatever movie magic my partner expected, it wasn't flying.

An analogous digression: this winter I finally got to see a production of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet. I saw godlike human bodies do things in sumptuous costumes that I'd never seen before, and didn't even imagine possible. I reflected on how 134 years ago, virtually all performed art had to be witnessed live -- recorded media wasn't nearly as ubiquitous as it is today. What was it like to see something like this for the first time? Again, I wanted to cry.

Maybe it's just me becoming a mush as I grow older, or maybe I'm just easy to impress (which would be weird if true; I didn't admire weird art as much when I was younger, which should've been when I was most impressionable). Ultimately -- and I think you'd agree -- I would say that one needs the right expectations in order to properly appreciate a cultural artifact: The Nutcracker didn't disappoint me because I found the combat between the Mice and Toy Soldiers unconvincing, and that would be an odd complaint to have, if I did.

Buuuut if you're looking for a fantastical over-the-top martial arts film that's still somehow "realistic," I think I do know of some movies that meet those particular expectations. If you haven't already, give the Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior series a try. It might as well be described as a violent muay thai ballet, but hey, I don't remember there being wire-work. Compared to CTHD, it might be your cup of tea


Edit: clarified intent re: friendly disagreement

 

[SnoopCatt]

I saw this movie at the cinema when it first came out. I thought I owned it on DVD, but because of this article, I actually went looking for it so I could re-watch it and discovered I didn't.
But then I saw that it was only $5 to buy through Apple TV, so that was a no-brainer.

I just finished watching it this afternoon, and it did not disappoint. If anything, I think I enjoyed it more because my head wasn't spinning so much from the incredible fight scenes and choreography and I was able to follow the plot more easily.

 

[cuvtixo]

I imagine many people miss that the "happy ending" we associate with Hollywood, is actually a very rigid requirement of traditional Chinese folk entertainment. Having a dark or tragic ending was considered an attack on the audience, not just being "edgy" or unconventional(as the case in Hollywood). Ang Lee threads the needle by purposefully making the tragedy ambiguous. With all the fantasy already in the film, one can imagine Jen might get her wish. But, there is also enough realism, and enough hints from the outstanding soundtrack by Dun Tan, that the wish will not come true. PS -I have a hard time saying that this or any of the details in article are "Spoilers," because even knowing the plot doesn't take away from actually watching the action, watching the story unfold. And that is also an aspect of Chinese folk stories, where everyone except the children are aware of everything that's going to happen in the story being told.

 

[cuvtixo]

I forgot to add that Yo-yo Ma plays the haunting cello in the music that was composed by Dan Tan. Personally, the music is more important to me than the stunts or beautiful scenery. I don't think I've seen Hero, but I don't think the soundtrack could possibly be as good.

 

[brionl]

Oh, the sound track in Hero is great too.
Especially his duel against the spearman while the blind musician is playing the lap harp.

 

[Huxley Dunsany]

I had the very good fortune to see CTHD in the theater when it first came out in the US, and it absolutely blew my mind. Along with echoing the praise being heaped upon this film in this article and the other comments, I have two quick things to share:

1. This movie has one of the all-time banger soundtracks. Each track is unique and moving and exciting and evocative. Highly recommend listening, whether or not you've seen the film.

2. After seeing CTHD in the theater, I ran home and jumped online to see if I could buy a copy of my own. I soon found an Asian website that claimed to be selling it on VideoCD, a format that was quite popular in Asian countries (especially in the pre-DVD era) but never really caught on in the US. I'd recently bought a generic "GameGenie" style gadget that plugged into my PlayStation 1's Parallel port (this port was dropped from later revisions of the PS1) and I remember seeing that it also enabled VCD playback, so I went ahead and bought the multi-disc VideoCD "collector's edition" of Crouching Tiger. It took weeks to arrive but finally showed up in a lovely embroidered case which almost distracted me from noticing that none of the screenshots on the back looked like they were from CTHD. I popped it into my PS1 and hit play... and that's how I discovered that this ultra low budget 1970's X-rated Chinese "period drama" was being sold to gullible westerners like me under the name Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lesson learned!

 

[Faceless Man]

Worst movie I've had to endure... So, let me get this straight, you've got a bunch of super athletes that can fly over buildings and dance across bamboo but when the hero needs an antidote they put some old biddy on the slowest donkey in the village to go into town for some tonic. Serious plot flaw, don'cha think?

And why didn't the Fellowship just ride the eagles to Mount Doom to destroy the ring? Could have knocked it off in an afternoon.

 

[cobew]

CTHD is a truly fantastic film. While Hero is amazingly beautiful, but the story doesn't resonate with me; I always get the feeling I'm getting forcefed when I watch it.

 

[SnoopCatt]

And why didn't the Fellowship just ride the eagles to Mount Doom to destroy the ring? Could have knocked it off in an afternoon.

OK, thought experiment: Eagle carrying fat hobbit vs the flying steeds of the Nazgûl, which are literally described as 'greater than all other birds'. Who wins?

 

[Faceless Man]

OK, thought experiment: Eagle carrying fat hobbit vs the flying steeds of the Nazgûl, which are literally described as 'greater than all other birds'. Who wins?

How fat is the hobbit? What's the thrust to mass ratio of a Middler Earth Eagle? Would you need two of them to string a bit of vine between them?

 

[SnoopCatt]

How fat is the hobbit? What's the thrust to mass ratio of a Middler Earth Eagle? Would you need two of them to string a bit of vine between them?

Nominally fat. Assume it has had second breakfast and elevenses, but not luncheon.

 

[Kyuu]

And why didn't the Fellowship just ride the eagles to Mount Doom to destroy the ring? Could have knocked it off in an afternoon.

Sorry, but that supposed LotR plot hole is just ignorant. The eagles were not subservient beasts of burden, they would never have signed up for that suicide mission.

 

[madzdad]

One thing not mentioned, is the beautiful and haunting music with the talents of Yo-Yo Ma.

 

[Faceless Man]

Sorry, but that supposed LotR plot hole is just ignorant. The eagles were not subservient beasts of burden, they would never have signed up for that suicide mission.

However, it is a "plot hole" I have had people repeat to me constantly.

My problem with it as a solution is that it ignores the entire metaphor of the journey, and especially the structure of the myth Tolkien is trying to create. You can argue that Tolkien is being pretentious, and why wouldn't you, but to try and reduce the entire story to "Well, they could have just flown there..." kind of ignores the whole point of writing the story.

And the same goes for saying "Why couldn't the super-humans just fly over to get the antidote?", which is what I was responding to. It's missing the point of the story.

Oh, and was it a suicide mission? Only one person lost their life at Mount Doom, and that was just Gollum. Not counting Sauron, I suppose, but the whole point was to destroy Sauron, so that doesn't count.

 

[graylshaped]

I imagine many people miss that the "happy ending" we associate with Hollywood, is actually a very rigid requirement of traditional Chinese folk entertainment. Having a dark or tragic ending was considered an attack on the audience, not just being "edgy" or unconventional(as the case in Hollywood). Ang Lee threads the needle by purposefully making the tragedy ambiguous. With all the fantasy already in the film, one can imagine Jen might get her wish. But, there is also enough realism, and enough hints from the outstanding soundtrack by Dun Tan, that the wish will not come true. PS -I have a hard time saying that this or any of the details in article are "Spoilers," because even knowing the plot doesn't take away from actually watching the action, watching the story unfold. And that is also an aspect of Chinese folk stories, where everyone except the children are aware of everything that's going to happen in the story being told.

Bear in mind the difference between Shakespeare's tragedies and his comedies comes down to the latter ending with a wedding, and the former ending with a funeral. By and large the groundlings were entertained similarly up until that point.

 

[graylshaped]

However, it is a "plot hole" I have had people repeat to me constantly.

My problem with it as a solution is that it ignores the entire metaphor of the journey, and especially the structure of the myth Tolkien is trying to create. You can argue that Tolkien is being pretentious, and why wouldn't you, but to try and reduce the entire story to "Well, they could have just flown there..." kind of ignores the whole point of writing the story.

And the same goes for saying "Why couldn't the super-humans just fly over to get the antidote?", which is what I was responding to. It's missing the point of the story.

Oh, and was it a suicide mission? Only one person lost their life at Mount Doom, and that was just Gollum. Not counting Sauron, I suppose, but the whole point was to destroy Sauron, so that doesn't count.

That and all the other stuff happening to distract Sauron so he didn't have the Nazgul handy to shoo away the eagles...

We also have the subtitle to The Hobbit reminding us the point IS the journey.