Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Director: Ang Lee Ang Lee

Overview

"Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Film, Ang Lee's sumptuous and romantic martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has been given an excellent DVD release from Sony Pictures Classics. The colors are always vibrant and alive (just check out the lush greens during chapter 25, ""Li vs. Jen"") and there is much depth to the many nighttime scenes as well. Picture and colors are stable throughout, though there are a few scenes in which background colors tend to slightly pulsate. Overall, the disc's transfer is superb. The film is offered in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and has been enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The soundtrack has been digitally mastered and there are multiple listening options, including the original Mandarin language (Dolby Digital 5.1), an English-dubbed track (Dolby Digital 5.1), and a two-channel French track, as well as optional subtitles in English and French. The DVD also contains a commentary track with director Lee and co-executive producer and co-screenwriter James Schamus. Unfortunately, the commentary track is a major letdown, due mostly to Schamus' annoying and constant sarcasm and his uncanny knack for continually interrupting Lee and turning the attention back to himself. What could have been a great extra is sadly almost ruined by Schamus' input. Included on the disc is a 20-minute Bravo making-of special called Unleashing the Dragon, which gives a nice overview of the film, with plenty of interviews of cast and crew members. There is also a conversation with actress and martial arts icon Michelle Yeoh, a photo montage (accompanied by Tan Dun's haunting score), and a short interview with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. This is a great release, though one that could be improved upon."

Product Details

Release Date:	06/05/2001
UPC:	0043396059900
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	25,853

Special Features

Digitally mastered audio & anamorphic video; Ang Lee and James Schamus commentary; Bravo making-of special: "Unleashing the Dragon"; Conversation with Michelle Yeoh featurette; Photo montage; Link to website; Filmographies; Animated menus; Production notes; Scene selections

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Chow Yun-Fat	Master Li Mu Bai(as Chow Yun Fat)
Michelle Yeoh	Yu Shu Lien
Ziyi Zhang	Jen(as Zhang Ziyi)
Pei-Pei Cheng	Jade Fox(as Cheng Pei-Pei)
Yan Hai	Madame Yu
Wensheng Wang	Gangster A(as Wang Wen Sheng),Actor
Chen Chang	Lo
Sihung Lung	Sir Te
Cheng Pei-Pei	Actor
Fazeng Li	Actor,Actor
Xian Gao	Actor
Yo Yo Ma	Performer
Tan Dun	Composer

Technical Credits

James Schamus

Tsai Jung

Wang Hui-Ling

Hui Ling Wang

Ang Lee	Director,Producer
David Linde	Executive Producer
James Schamus	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Li-kong Hsu	Producer,Producer
Bill Kong	Producer
Tsai Jung	Screenwriter
Wang Hui-Ling	Screenwriter
Tiger Chen	Stunts
Eugene Gearty	Sound Editor
Hui Ling Wang	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Billed as Sense and Sensibility with kung fu, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the wildest and most entertaining films to come down the pike in a long, long time. Ang Lee manages to spin stunning martial arts set pieces around a compelling and believable coming-of-age story. From Seven Samurai to the The Terminator, the key to a really good action movie is not the size of the gun or the variety of objects exploded, but the depth of characters; in Crouching Tiger, the players are given the same fine shading that Lee lent to The Ice Storm and other intimate character pieces. International superstars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh give perhaps the best performances of their careers as a couple bonded by the perils of war and an intense, yet unfulfilled, love. Despite the magnitude of their star power, Chow and Yeoh are all but upstaged by Zhang Ziyi as the impetuous Jen Yu. Gorgeous, graceful, and possessing a near-lethal high kick, she dominates the film. In one show-stopping sequence, this lithe young lass cleans the floor with a room full of thick-necked guys toting blunt weapons. In another she almost takes out a band of Mongol marauders in a wild Gobi Desert melee. There she meets and eventually falls in love with bandit king Lo (Chang Chen). Lee deftly structures much of the film like a Shakespearean romantic comedy -- the fiery passion of Jen and Lo are contrasted with the quieter, deeper love of Li and Shu Lien. The fervid romance of the young couple makes the sense of loss and repression in the older duo all the more poignant. The action is startlingly fresh: Drawn from conventions in popular Chinese Wuxia kung fu literature, the heroes are such masters of martial arts that they literally, and quite believably, fly. The first confrontation between Yeoh and Zhang -- a dizzying chase over the tiled roofs of a rich man's estate, in which the two adversaries literally bounce off the walls and sail over buildings -- simply has to be seen to be believed. Romantic, haunting, and sublimely entertaining, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should not be missed.