Wuxia

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an early attempt to bring foreign films – specifically, the Chinese kung fu fantasy – to an American audience with high production values and more sophisticated plotting than the usual chopsui. It succeeds admirably, and was justly recognized with multiple awards.

As a fan of chopsui, I was not disappointed. The kung fu is powerful in this movie. Although much is fast, it is not too fast to follow, and the camerawork does an excellent job of maintaining a smooth visual continuity that showcases even the more complex fighting. The fighting utilitizes a variety of weaponry, without skimping on the unarmed combat, and there are several brilliant sequences. Unfortunately, the movie also suffers from an overuse of wirework and flight sequences; while those are to some extent a tradition in the genre, it’s not a tradition that I approve of. Such scenes only mildly detract from the rest, however.