Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a surprise hit and award winner back in the early 2000s. It was a surprise hit in America (although not a box-office smash) because it was entirely in Chinese and subtitled in English (which I think worked a lot better than bad overdubbing would have). It starred Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and newcomer Zhang Ziyi, and was directed by Ang Lee. It is, in part, a love story, in part a quasi-supernatural martial arts movie, in part a revenge story. It centers around a stolen sword of destiny which is protected by Chow Yun Fat's character. He suspects there is more to the thief than meets the eye and tries, along with Yeoh's character to catch the thief.

The movie is set in the present (which is still really ancient China) and then interspersed with flashbacks telling the love story part of the movie. And, there are amazing action sequences interspersed that include a lot of high-flying wirework. It definitely helped that all of the actors playing the main characters has at least some martial arts training and ability.

The movie has been released several times, first, of course, on DVD, then on blu-ray, and it has been released on 4k UHD, although the transfer is apparently not that great in the latter. I have the blu-ray version of the film and it looks wonderful in that format, especially if you have a large screen to watch it on. The cinematography of the movie is top-notch and is right up there in quality with the action sequences.

The blu-ray extras include two commentary tracks on the move, a conversation with Michelle Yeoh, a making-of featurette, a photo gallery, trailers, and some BD-Live features (which can be accessed if your player can access the internet). So, a decent amount of material for people who like to go through the extras. 

Overall, it is a wonderful movie, especially for those who are into martial-arts action films. But, it is so much more than just that, so even if you are not a fan of the old Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movies, which are what most people think of when they hear Chinese martial arts movies, you may still enjoy this one. I definitely recommend it.