Dreamy ‘Crouching Tiger’ Is Completely Satisfying

When was the last time I used the word “dreamy” to describe an action flick? When was the last time I used that word to describe anything? It sounds like the kind of adjective Velma from “Scooby Doo” might use. Regardless, it’s the first, best word that comes to mind for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a dreamy, lyrical action-adventure film, now playing at Bethel Cinema, that is best experienced in a theater, on the big screen, with the lights down low, the popcorn buttered, and your senses captivated.

Director Ang Lee plays pied piper to our imaginations for this fable of a film set in imperial China and involving noble heroes, charismatic scoundrels, deadly villains and a sweepingly romantic, epic style of storytelling. Venerable warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) has decided to turn the page from his fighter’s past and has given his legendary sword, Green Destiny, as a gift to a friend in Peking. Mu Bai’s trusted ally, friend and fellow warrior, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), who heads a security service, delivers the valuable weapon and finds herself in the middle of a nasty skirmish when the sword is stolen and evidence points to one of Mu Bai’s deadliest foes, Jade Fox, as the culprit behind the larceny.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is told in Mandarin Chinese (with easy-to- follow English subtitles), has a wonderfully simple plot yet deceptively complex portraits and shadings. Though set in the very repressed Ching Dynasty of the past, the film features the kind of rounded characterizations one rarely gets from the action movies of today: Shu Lien is a respected, independent and esteemed woman who is also feared as an intense warrior; a young, engaged woman, Jen (Zhang Zi Yi), yearns for freedom and respect and is willing to face down anyone sluggish to show her proper approval; and the cunning and dreaded Jade Fox, the villain who struck down Mu Bai’s master, is a woman.  Plus, for good measure, Lee tackles such issues as honor, responsibility, trust, setting one’s priorities in life, emotionalism vs repression, and more.

Perhaps what is most impressive about Lee’s effort is not so much all the colors with which he uses to paint his picture, but the vast canvas on which he paints it. Lush and scenic, colorful and vibrant, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is like a martial arts movie as filmed by John Ford. It’s the classic western film revisited as a classic kung-fu movie. Chow Yun-Fat, elegant, stately and full of presence as Li Mu Bai, is essentially John Wayne, hanging up his gun (in this case, sword) after a lifetime of battling baddies. The beautiful and charismatic Zhang Zi Yi, as the feisty Jen, is the young whippersnapper looking to take the place of the exiting gunslinger/swordsman. The graceful Michelle Yeoh turns the conventions of the typical “love interest” on its head as she captivates on screen with both her dignified manner and ferocious fighting style (no weeping willow is she!).

Oh, and by the way, did I mention the film’s intense action sequences? As choreographed by veteran fight-meister Yuen Wo-Ping, the genius behind the eye-popping action of The Matrix, the clashes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon practically defy description.  The characters’ movements flout the laws of physics as combatants glide over rooftops, skip over water and, amazingly, battle amid and atop swaying bamboo trees.  It’s all exhilarating to watch and its contrast of lyricism and ballet-like precision helps transport the viewer into another world. By the time you exit the theater, you’ll be as stoked to pick up a sword and the martial arts as audiences were to pick up the boxing gloves and jump rope after seeing Rocky.

Rated PG-13 for intense action sequences, some violence, and some sexuality, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is without doubt one of the best films of 2000. Not only does it merit a trip to the theater to see it on the big screen, but it’s worth a return engagement, not just to soak up all its richness, but perhaps just because it’s so satisfyingly entertaining.