Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)-"PG-13"

Run Time:120 minutes

4 stars out of 4

Ang Lee's action-packed and excellent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) is based on the Chinese book by Du Lu Wang and is a Chinese film, shown in the U.S. with English subtitles, that delivers quite an experience to the audience. This film stirred up such a hubbub with its American release, that I decided I had to see it. It is one of the top-selling films and has been for weeks, and with good cause. The martial arts are stunning, the scenery beautiful, and the plot intriguing. Set against the breath-taking landscape of western China, Lee tells us a story of the gifted Wudan warriors, who have mastered martial arts to the level of flight. Yun-Fat Chow plays Li Mu Bai, a legendary Wudan warrior who gives up his ancient and deadly sword, Green Destiny, in hopes of shaking the trouble caused by its violence in battle. He appoints it to Sir Te, as a great honor, but it is almost instantly stolen by a visiting soon-to-be-wed princess with a gift for martial arts, Jen Yu (Ziyi Zhang). With the help of her elderly woman protegee, the infamous Jade Fox criminal (Pei-pei Chang), whom Jen has long since surpassed in skill, Jen has become a deadly force to be reckoned with. She flees her arranged marriage to a diplomat, in hopes of reuniting with a previous love, the desert barbarian warrior, Lo (Chen Chang). Along the way Jen humiliates scores of skilled Chinese warriors with the help of her Wudan training and the stolen Green Destiny, but she is tracked by Li Mu Bai and his best friend and love interest, Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), also an accomplished Wudan warrior. The tale is beautiful, a fairy tale in a way, but is also funny and filled with incredible martial arts fight scenes. Some of the characters and motives are slightly vague, and the flying jumps the Wudan fighters take are hard to believe, but hey, it's a damn fairy tale, these things can be expected to happen. Michelle Yeoh, Yun-Fat Chow, Ziyi Zhang, and Chen Chang all deliver powerful performances with fascinating characters in an involving story. This is one of favorite martial arts films and truly a movie-going experience. Make sure to see this one on the big screen, however, because some of the jaw-dropping landscapes are too beautiful to miss.