For a long time now, and often on these pages, I have complained of the lack of quality, fantasy films. At long last one has finally been delivered. For I can think of no other genre for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, to fall into than fantasy.
Chow Yun-Fat plays a mystical warrior in China who is weary of fighting and can no longer find inner peace in meditation. He decides to lay down his legendary sword, The Green Destiny, and entrusts it into the hands of his closest friend and longtime love, played by Michelle Yeoh. She is the owner and operator of a company which guards caravans against bandits. She agrees to deliver the sword to Peking for him.
Shortly after its delivery, the sword is stolen by a thief who is believed to be within the Governor of the province's house. The first portion of the film deals mainly with the attempts to get the sword back without offending the governor or accusing anyone.
It also deals with the return of The Jade Fox, Chow Yun-Fat's character's mortal enemy. The person who killed his master and stole the manual of The Wudan. A book which details the mystic fighting ways of the warriors of The Wudan, of which Chow Yun-Fat is a master.
The movie then goes on to the main thrust of the plot which deals with young Jen, the governor's daughter, who shows amazing ability in the ways of The Wudan and the choices she must make regarding life, marriage, and the path of good or evil.
There is also a running subplot between Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh who have been in love all their lives, but been unable to do anything about it, owing to a debt of honor they each feel they owe to Michelle Yeoh's dead betrothed.
What makes this movie a Fantasy film, and not merely a period piece, is The Wudan. With the mystic powers of The Wudan, warriors can jump for incredible distances, walk on water, move at lightning speed, and in one of the most amazing scenes in the movie, even fight while balanced on the highest branches of trees.
The scenes involving The Wudan are some of the most amazing fight scenes ever staged. They are filmed so beautifully, and the moves are so agile, that it hardly seems violent at times. It's more like watching ballet movements. Or to put it more succinctly, it's like watching a ballet combined with The Matrix and an old Bruce Lee movie. And all three of them are combined in the most beautiful, amazing way.
My only problem with this otherwise great movie, is its ending. Don't worry, I'm not going to give it away. I'll just say that it is a bit of a downer, and a little ambiguous, at the end of an otherwise incredible movie.
Just as a warning, this movie is done completely with sub-titles. This does put some people off. If you do have that prejudice, this is the movie you should lose it for. Like all good sub-titled movies, ten minutes into it, the tiny eye flicker between the actors and the words on the bottom of the screen, becomes so unconscious that you no longer realize you are even reading.
So, at long last, a truly great fantasy movie has been made. And while it does take place in China, and not a medieval, European type setting, as is more typical, it far outstrips any previous attempts at an adult fantasy film.
