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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Don't worry, there's no spoilers here. I'm just going to give sort of a theatrical review here. Sort of a Siskel review. First off, I'd love to give hollywood a hand for putting out something so cultural, and backing it up enough as to give it some fame. It was very ethnic, and althought a few parts were slightly Americanized, they kept to the ethnicticity very well. It's about time people here in the states get a view of another culture! Maybe we can finally take a short break from all of the coming of age and teen flicks to sit down and realize that we're not alone on this green planet! The subtitles were not nearly as annoying as I thought they would be. Halfway through the movie, I forgot I was reading them, and it was as though the people were speaking english! I've seen other movies with sub titles before (none of which were top notch hollywood productions, mind you), and it got very distracting to have to look down and read a couple of lines every few seconds. I normally ended up missing a good chunk of the movie. I think the last movie I saw with sub titles was Run, Lola, Run, and the only problem I had with that one was when the main guy got angry in the phone booth and started spouting german like a fountain. The action sequences are really what made this movie great. With movies like The Matrix, X-Men, and now Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it's not hard to see that we're in a definate Mystical/Fantasy Action movie nitch. I personally love it, and I know that most other people do, too. I'm not going to say a whole lot more other than that, but be prepared for some amazing scenes. Imagine Dragon Ball Z, only faster and live-action, and without all of the energy bolts. The basic plot line was great. It left a lot to be desired in some aspects, however. It didn't explain a lot behind the mystical aspects of the movie, rather than just saying that they were trained in the "Wudan" style of martial arts. Other than that, it was deeply involved and required a lot of thought on the viewer's part. They even managed to sqeeze some humorous tid-bits into the mix. All in all, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a really good movie. A little confusing at times, especially the ending, and leaving the viewer out on a limb here and there, but ultimately a great movie. I recommend it to anyone, and if it's still in a theater near you, I recommend seeing it there before it's too late and you have to wait for it to come out on video. |
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