Review: Movie
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Hype That Won the Oscars
Brad J. Reid, Staff Writer

There is one inescapable conclusion-people can fly in China.

For years now, Chinese films of all types have had people walking on walls, water, heads, and when out of options, looking straight up and doing their best superman impersonation. Maybe the Earth's gravity is a little bit weaker there, or maybe they just exercise their legs a little more. Either way, with over a billion people hanging around, the extra elbowroom that a little flying affords must be welcome.

However, since we Americans haven't yet worked out the intricacies of flying, a movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon could really take many of us by surprise. Directed by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility), the movie is an attempt at genre blending in order to create a movie similar to Lee's boyhood fantasies. It stars veteran Hong Kong actors Chow Yun Fat (A Better Tomorrow) as legendary Wudan warrior Li Mu Bai, and Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) as Yu Shu Lien, a fellow warrior with whom there is an unspoken love. A strong showing is put in by Zang Ziyi, in her first film, as Jen, a girl born into aristocratic family and taught secrets of the Wudan warriors by her Governess, played by Cheng PeiPei. Based in part on a 1930's novel, the story, put simply, has the four main characters flying and fighting, trying to either reclaim, hold onto, or steal the sword known as the Green Destiny (think of a Jade Excalibur).

Fitting Crouching Tiger into a genre isn't easy, which is both its greatest attraction and worst trait. It's a tale of romance, coming-of-age, repressed love, and tragedy - all topped off with a couple of fights.

Poetry In Motion or Over-rated Wirework?
Characters in Hong Kong movies will often leap, fly, and otherwise defy the laws of gravity effortlessly, at times for no apparent reason. It can add a dream-like fantasy element to a movie when done right. But even dreams have some connection to reality, and Ang Lee must not have received his flying permits while filming in China, because the wirework ranged from good to awkward.

The wire-effects have awed many critics and moviegoers, but in truth they've been done better elsewhere. Forget defying the laws of gravity, these people are flat out defying all the laws of physics. At times it appears as if there's a magical force suddenly jerking them around, and of course there is, the wire. All too often the viewer can almost feel the wire's presence as the actor's body motions and reactions don't match the movement they're supposed to be doing. Characters will wildly kick their legs, while soaring through the air, completely out of synch with anything. Dangle an actor from a string, tell them to pretend they're on a bicycle, then pull them along in a smooth motion and you won't be too far off from Crouching Tiger.

Michelle Yeoh has done better, more believable wirework in movies like Tai Chi Master, where, when she ran up a wall briefly, it actually felt as if she was touching and pushing off the wall, as opposed to somehow magically gliding along it.

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