Rating: 
Summary: The Perfect Movie
Review: This is by far the best movie I have ever seen. Everything was done well. From the story, to the cinematography, to the directing to the editing it truly lacked nothing. This movie is an epic film that will be timeless. It is a delicate balance of mysticism, romance and action. Ang Lee has put together a masterpiece and established himself as an artist. I highly recommend this movie; however the viewer may understand the story more and appreciate it more if they have background knowledge about Chinese culture and the obligations of the classes. The pieces of this intricate puzzle will fall into place easier.
Rating: 
Summary: Yek
Review: From what I heard about this movie I expected it to be great. Unfortunately, it didn't even come close. I find that the majority of people who rave about this movie are those who view a lot of anime. I found out from several of them that the reason they like it is simply because it has foreign people and martial arts. They actually agreed. I gave it one extra star only because I did find it somewhat entertaining, however from a filmmaking aspect this is a total waste. The choreography is so-so, nothing too special, and the special effects are awful. The scenes where they are flying and running up walls and just AWFUL. They're stumbling all over the place and it's so apparent they're on wires because they lack grace. Bouncing across water, up in trees, they're shaking and stumbling all over the place. One scene where a woman is running up a wall she's struggling to keep her body tilted sideways and actually look like she's running across it, while in reality gravity wants to take her down and she's losing the battle. It's really disgusting. I don't understand why people are raving about this mediocre piece of trash. Toss it in the inferno with the rest.cular walks around pompously distributing bits of Taoist wisdom. The director Ang Lee describes it thusly: "The internal strength, which in essence is searching for nothingness, the void, to find your strength.... If you can lose all the tension and direct all your energy to one channel, you create tremendous power and wisdom." Oh please....this is the kind of stuff one can find in the average self-help guide. The astonishing thing about this film, set in "feudal China", is the thoroughgoing absence of social commentary or protest. Certainly that was a common feature in Kurosawa's samurai films, for example. Even in the cheezy martial arts film one comes across on late-night television the hero is often defending oppressed villagers or opposing some evil lord or other. Not in Ang Lee's film. The subject matter is borrowed from every trivial, self-absorbed story of the middle class in recent years: a girl struggles with her identity amidst a world of pressures and temptations. The lower classes are kept properly in the background.And then there are reviewers who say that because the women are given equal opportunity (or more) to perform as fighters, that Crouching Tiger makes an "important feminist statement." Yeah, right, as if those weren't a dime a dozen. Females of the upper classes have lots of defenders. After all, there are women studio executives making millions of dollars and stupid movies just like the men. What a step forward for humanity! Who speaks for the poor and the oppressed in contemporary filmmaking? This is the Ang Lee's own self-important description of the film: "Some may have thought it strange that I could just drop what I normally do and make something like a B-movie. And as I was doing it, there was no escape, I had to bring in drama, I had to bring in women, I had to bring beauty and whatever I felt added quality to it. It became an Ang Lee movie." And what precisely is that you may ask? A rather amorphous liberal sensibility, combined with a certain technical skill. I find his work insipid. A devotion to the fate of humanity, which one sticks to under all circumstances, is a precondition in our day for serious artistic work. This is NOT what we find here.y request is that there would be a sequel should it be appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Crouching Entertainment, Hidden Art
Review: Some may like a movie for its entertaining tenor. Others do it for its art. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" comes to remind us all that a motion picture can perfectly combine these two elements, can both entertain and enchant.Director Ang Lee maestry takes us to a journey through a visionary world of tigers and dragons where our imagination, our emotions and dreams come true. The cinematography is magic and sublime, the soundtrack epic and triumphant, the performances truly emotional (specially by Michelle Yeoh) and the story..., the story is simply extraordinary! An unforgettable cinematic experience. Behind every scene, every take, from the most outstanding battles to the most introspective ones, there is hidden poetry declaimed by means of images. You just need to develop an eye for this in order to find out what a best picture is about.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed but amazing.
Review: First the bad. the film was slightly overrated. but i did love the movie. THe bad parts are this: it dragged at the end and often in between the fights. also the film being in Mandarin hindered Chow Yun Fats ability to exude his charisma somewhat it thought. hes much cooler in cantonese films. That said it had a great director. Ang Lee, not sondberg was the years best director. he has a true eye for detail that saves the film. and lets not forget perhaps the greatest fight scenes ever put to film. amazing to see. overall the movie aint perfect but is pretty cool and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Tale of Two Cities
Review: A Superlative once in a rare while Cinematic Gem that crosses and transcends both cultural and filmmaking barriers! A Ten out of Ten, Two Thumbs Up as Siskel and Ebert would have said! Actually my title is a play on this years' Oscars prime contenders for the Best Film award. So this film review is as much as extolling the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, as well as acknowledging its counterpart in this crucible of film excellence. What is it they say about Hollywood, they "so love an epic", well then it was no coincidence that this years raisons d'être for the Oscars owes a lot to two cities or should I say classical cultures a sort of East meets West saga, a quintessential Yin & Yang juxtaposition, every bit about classic and ancient cultures & philosophies as well as blockbuster filmmaking at its best! From the coliseums of Rome (that's the other movie) to the grandeur of Peking, the desolate beauty of the ancient Silk Road to the lush, verdant Chinese Bamboo Sea and snowcapped peaks (of Mongolia?), a forbidden love affair unfolds, of two star crossed lovers, and of another subdued and hidden yet poignant/noble love. The movie is very much story driven with multifarious underlying themes and incisive dialogue (yet there are subtle nuances that are sadly always lost in the translation/dubbing) intertwined in a hypnotic and magical portrayal of events occurring in as Ang Lee himself said... "kind of a dream of China, a China that probably never existed, except in my boyhood fantasies in Taiwan"... an allegorical setting of ancient feudal China, but likewise having the dimensions of a cultural epic. There is the depiction of feministic beliefs and behavior of our heroine the strong willed and free spirited Jiao Long Yu (Jen) portrayed by newcomer Zhang Zi Yi in contrast to the chaste, demure and elegant love of Yui Hsui Lien, played by Michelle Yeoh, for the enigmatic Li Mu Bai, the indomitable Chow Yun Fat. The fast paced brilliantly and impeccably choreographed action sequences by Yuen Wo Ping (of "The Matrix" fame) in contrast with the almost surrealistic landscapes that served as a backdrop to the unfolding of an epic love story. Again kudos to Ang Lee whose direction is singularly unique in its style and breadth and his cinematographer Peter Pau whose spectacular composition and rendering of the panoramic background landscape is nothing short of a tourist guides' dream package. Exquisite musical scoring by Tan Dun was brilliant, enchanting and heart stirring, certainly Yo Yo Ma's masterful rendering of the sweet, haunting, and melancholic strands of the love song and background theme did it no harm either. Definitely a must see film...in the Big Screen!!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: The greatest foreign film ever. The only one that comes close is RAN, a japanese film by Akira Kurosawa. But seriously, i don't believe this is the best film, or anywhere close best film of the year. The achievements of Gladiator and Traffic surpass those in this film. The actor's chinese speech is terrible, I can't believe the cheesiness of the acting. no offense to Ang Lee, who should have won BEST DIRECTOR. The language barrier prevented this film from receiving greater honors. over all rating: Screenplay- C+ Acting- C Directing- A- Special Effects- A+ Moral/Story- B+
Rating:
Summary: Thank God for the English dub......
Review: I liked CTHD in the theatre a lot and I appreciate the fact that this film stayed in its origionlal language with english subtitles. But I am also glad that the DVD will have an english dialogue track as an option. As with most subtitled films you miss some of the on screen detail while reading the text. Crouching Tiger is a beautiful film and I will watch the english version at home only to see more of the epic picture its self. I am not against subtitled films, but I am glad to have the option included to keep my eyes fixed on the action and not the text at the bottom of the screen.
Rating:
Summary: Chic flick on speed or sublime flight of the imagination?
Review: Call it what you will--archetypal fable with a feminist twist, exquisitely choreographed martial arts movie, balletic spectacle balancing image, action, poetry and music--"Crouching Tiger" is a distinctive variation on familiar genres. The words "ballet," "choreography," "Eastern" exotic myth don't quite do justice in describing the film. For one, the action sequences are lightning swift--reminiscent of American silent comedies and more suggestive of music than of formal dance. And certainly the tempo of this music and the pace of the film seem more Western than Eastern (as does the throbbing romantic cello of YoYo Ma). Some will single out the three female leads in this rite-of-passage archetypal story as the film's most distinctive twist. But even more novel is the way the form foregrounds allegory and approaches the theme of teaching and learning. Film is a medium that is normally "relentless" in his representation of the physical world, satisfying viewers' expectations of actions that are at least humanly plausible. But by making his characters fly all over the frame, director Lee keeps reminding the spectator that if you try to respond this film as another action movie you will not only miss the point entirely but be thoroughly disappointed. Sword play, flying, and fighting are metaphors for living, learning and loving. All of the 5 principals in the story are learners--and all are failures to greater and lesser degrees. In fact, the alleged villain, Jade Fox, is in some respects the most sympathetic of all the characters. She had access to the most masterful swordsman of all but not to his teaching because of her status as a woman. At one point sword play is compared with word play, or writing (through the picture-grams of Mandarese script). Whether the instrument is a sword, a pen, or a brush, the viewer of this enchanting parable is finally enjoined to fashion a personal narrative that rejects pride and selfishness in favor of a life sufficiently disciplined to give itself over to love.
Rating:
Summary: A Visual Masterpiece: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the film based on the novel by Wang Dulu in traditional Mandarin focuses on master warriors, the legendary Li Mubai, played by Chow Yun-fat, and his beloved, Michelle Yeoh's (the best) stunning portrayal of Yui Hsuilien, deriving their skills from the Wudang order, on self-mastery and actualization, and about the poisoning of those ideals from a scheming governess Jade Fox, the actress Cheng PeiPei, to a young, very gifted and beautiful May Wong a wayward half-pint, on the spectacular newcomer Zhang Zi Yi. What is her story anyway? The girl must learn to become an independent, responsible woman while maintaining traditional values unfurling a deadly Western-like contradiction, unraveling before her. The drama centers on the mystical "Green Destiny", a 400 year old sword and traditional heirloom of the monastary which Li Mubai gives to his confident, Yui Hsuilien for delivery as a gift to a respected Beijing leader Sir Te, in nineteenth century, China. The sword as if the spirit of past warriors infused it seemingly takes on a life of its own adding power infinitely, the wizards possessing it. Upon arriving in Beijing, Yui Hsuilien meets the young, impressionable beauty, May Wong Jen, the aristocratic daughter of the powerful Governor Yu. She's fascinated about the apparent free life of a martial arts super warrior, adding more to her objections about the arranged marriage to come. She later in the film recounts in finding brief but unlikely love and the direction seamlessly takes us to another journey in X'ianj'iang. Someone steals "Green Destiny" that night, the climax then begins.... All blame the deadly and frightening female witch, "Jade Fox" forstealing the Sword at the compound, who had also poisoned Li Mubai's Master Teacher of the Wudang monastary, significantly weakening her opponents, she once believed. The two schools fatally weave together and the plot burns to boil in the ultimate though complicated clash between the enchantment of experience and the seduction of evil. A million leaves fall none the same, different times, different ways one turning slowly among clouds a dot on an infinite plane. Brief tears fall, tomorrow, a different story made, cycle never broken, promises always eternal. I can say that the spectacular backdrop of Central and Southern Mainland China and the Gobi Desert of X'ianj'iang in the West, gives a fine taste on the work. The length and the depth of fine acting complements Wang Dulu's novel of art and textural composition. Ang Lee's direction adds a fascinating mix of Western "superhero" motifs well within Asian traditions, a much needed breathtaking, though tragically, relieving welcome. With 10 nominations, the winner of four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the best foreign language film of the year, including best cinematography, and best director, Ang Lee. http://preview.epinions.com/content_14661815940
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but wildly overpraised
Review: While I enjoyed CTHD and found it entertaining, I can't help but think that if it hadn't been directed by the respected Ang Lee, most critics would have dismissed this as just another martial arts/action movie and wouldn't be vomiting all over themselves to overpraise this and try to top each other with their reviews and supposed wide-eyed wonder at the action sequences. There really isn't much here that hasn't been seen before; the running/leaping/flying sequences were fun to watch but I'd seen most of that before (particularly in "The Matrix") however I will say I did enjoy the scene in the forest. I didn't have any problems with suspending my disbelief and getting into the film, but overall I didn't think it was anything special. Just a good entertaining movie that in my opinion was wildly overpraised. If you haven't seen this film yet, go ahead; you'll probably enjoy it but don't believe all the hype. I might rent this but it will not become a part of my permanent collection.
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