Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

A magnificently-crafted hybrid of the Chinese historical epic, F/X-enhanced martial arts spectacular, mystical romantic tragedy and live-action anime, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a film that defies genre while embracing traditionalism. It's an intellectually challenging story of noble warriors in feudal China packed with eloquent swordplay and lightning-fast hand-to-hand combat. But it's also the story of a burning, long-unspoken love between one warrior (Chow Yun-Fat) and the fiancée (Michelle Yeoh) of a fallen comrade--a woman his honor forbids him from pursuing, even years later as they fight side-by-side against a mysterious and vengeful sworn enemy and try to train a beautiful--but dangerous--teenage apprentice (Zhang Ziyi) who is desperately seeking freedom in the face of an impending arranged marriage. Intelligent, emotional, metaphysical and peppered with incredible, gravity-exempt kung-fu and sword duels, this is a native-language masterpiece for director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) and a wonderful opportunity for Americans to see how brilliant Yun-Fat and Yeoh can be outside of the pure-action genre. Highly recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Aug. 3, 2010—Sony, 120 min., in Mandarin w/English subtitles, PG-13, $24.95—Making its first standalone appearance on Blu-ray, 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon features a great transfer and a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (the first is all-new with cinematographer Peter Pau; the second is archival with director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Schamus), an “Unleashing the Dragon” making-of featurette (21 min.), “A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh” interview with the actress (14 min.), a photo gallery, the BD-Live function, and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent Blu-ray debut for a martial arts classic.][Blu-ray Review—Nov. 29, 2016—Sony, 120 min., in Mandarin w/English subtitles, PG-13, Blu-ray: $19.99—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sports a great transfer and a DTS-HD 7.1 soundtrack. Extras include two audio commentaries (the first with Ang Lee and James Schamus; the second with cinematographer Peter Pau), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A Retrospective” (81 min.), a “making-of” featurette (19 min.), a conversation with Michelle Yeoh (14 min.), deleted scenes (8 min.), “A Love Before Time” music video, and a photo gallery. Bottom line: if you don't own the earlier release, this newly remastered edition is the one to pick up.]