A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
In Shanghai, China in the 1940s, a wannabe gangster aspires to join the notorious "Axe Gang" while residents of a housing complex exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.
During the Japanese invasion of 1937, when a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home and work to support his family, he reluctantly agrees to train others in the art of Wing Chun for self-defense.
During World War II era, a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.
In 19th century Qing Dynasty China, a warrior gives his sword, Green Destiny, to his friend to deliver to safe keeping, but it is stolen, and the chase is on to find it. The search leads to the House of Yu where the story takes on a whole different level.Written by
Jwelch5742
Director Ang Lee pitched the film to Michelle Yeoh as "Sense and Sensibility (1995) with martial arts." See more »
Goofs
(at around 1h 30 mins) During the fight between Yu Shu Lien and Xiou Long many floor tiles are smashed by Shu Lien. After Shu Lien discards her heavy metal weapon and continues to fight, the tiles appear repaired. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Man:
Master Li is here! Master Li is here!
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening title appears in Chinese and English. See more »
Alternate Versions
When aired for the first time on television in Australia (Sunday, 12 September 2004) on their free-to-air international channel SBS, SBS used their own international translators to subtitle the movie from scratch, resulting in quite a few changes reflecting character names (some different spelling, most directly spelt from their Mandarin forms and not changed/altered into more Western forms), and a much closer, 'truer' explanation of events and people than the 'dumbed-down' translation of other DVD releases offer. See more »
Chinese martial arts films had found a market in the West during the Kung Fu boom initiated by Bruce Lee in the early 1970s But "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" represents a new departure, an attempt to produce a sophisticated, big-budget Chinese film that would appeal both to mainstream Western audiences and to audiences in the Far East Through their quest to find the stolen sword of Green Destiny, warriors Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) explore themes of love, loyalty and sacrifice
Ang Lee was an astute choice as director The location shooting was on the Chinese mainland and the actors came from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as China Instead of the Shaolin school of martial arts favored by Bruce Lee, Ang Lee opted for the more spiritual form of Wudan; brute force is replace by scenes of balletic grace as opponents climb up walls or flit through tree-tops
The widespread success of the film is a firm indication that Chinese culture is making its mark
40 of 63 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Chinese martial arts films had found a market in the West during the Kung Fu boom initiated by Bruce Lee in the early 1970s But "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" represents a new departure, an attempt to produce a sophisticated, big-budget Chinese film that would appeal both to mainstream Western audiences and to audiences in the Far East Through their quest to find the stolen sword of Green Destiny, warriors Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) explore themes of love, loyalty and sacrifice
Ang Lee was an astute choice as director The location shooting was on the Chinese mainland and the actors came from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as China Instead of the Shaolin school of martial arts favored by Bruce Lee, Ang Lee opted for the more spiritual form of Wudan; brute force is replace by scenes of balletic grace as opponents climb up walls or flit through tree-tops
The widespread success of the film is a firm indication that Chinese culture is making its mark