CROUCHING
TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a film with some dazzling
set pieces. But the story never quite jells. It begins
by focusing on a master warrior who wants to give
up his fighting ways so he can be with the woman he
has always secretly loved. But then the story switches
to a young aristocratic woman with tremendous warrior
potential who is about to marry a man she doesn't
love. These lines run parallel but never become one.
The first story has a passive hero. The second story
has a terrific hero but one without a clear goal or
need.
A
central feature of the film is the use of the Chinese
convention of warriors being able to scale walls and
defy gravity. The writers take this convention to
a new level by having the fighters in effect fly over
rooftops and natural settings of incredible beauty.
A fight in the treetops is especially stunning.
But
the real potential of this technique is largely wasted
because it is not connected to character and theme.
Flying is the ultimate expression of freedom. But
the characters doing the flying here do so only as
a technique of fighting.
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