Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

*As always, my review assumes that you're familiar with the movie. Consider this a blanket spoiler alert.*

What's different

Very little was altered from Jane Austen's source material for this adaptation, aside from the addition of martial arts — just kidding, obviously everything is different, it's a fucking martial arts movie fer godssakes.

I wanted to review this movie because the director, Ang Lee, is often quoted comparing it to Sense and Sensibility, which he also directed (the 1995 Emma Thompson adaptation). In Lee's own words:

"At the core, my movies are a lot alike, and I see this film as Sense and Sensibility with martial arts. There's a 'sensibility', a passionate, frantic force; if you go overboard it can be destructive. Then, there is 'sense' - restraint, social code, obedience, repression. My films always seem to be about how these conflicts resolve themselves." Source

 Is Ang Lee trolling us? I'm going to try real real hard to take this claim seriously and suss out the similarities.

I spent way too much time on this.

Fist of all, I do see Lee's point about the basic dichotomy of passion and restraint, or sensibility and sense. Jen is a sword-stealing badass warrior wannabe version of Marianne Dashwood. She's full of raw talent and energy, and she's itching to take her destiny into her own hands and on her own terms. On the other side is Shu Lien who is a battle-tested badass already, but she got there by following all the rules — even the rule that says women cannot train at Mount Wudang. At first glance, a woman warrior seems to flout all social convention, but from little hints dropped throughout the film, it's clear that the conventions are a little different in this world. Shu Lien and her friend/romantic interest Mu Bai both adhere firmly to the expectations of their culture, which means they cannot act on their feelings for each other. Sound familiar?

Comparing Jen and Shu Lien to Marianne and Elinor is pretty easy, especially since Jen makes a point of considering Shu Lien as her sister, but the other characters don't map so easily. Mu Bai gives me both Edward and Brandon vibes: he's clearly the love interest of Shu Lien, but he is also very interested in Jen's potential and repeatedly tries to become her mentor. The mentor-mentee relationship echoes the professor-student vibe that many adaptations create between Brandon and Marianne.

But what about Willoughby? Jen does have an ex-boyfriend. His name is Lo, and he's the leader of a Mongol horde. He's certainly not worried about any debts, and he doesn't answer to any aging benefactress aunt. He also never wavers in his devotion to Jen, who seems pretty indifferent to him throughout the movie, outside of the flashback that shows how their relationship began. They sort of end up together at the end, but that's the least of my reasons for not considering Lo as a Willoughby figure.

Jen seems to transcend mortal desires like sex and romance by the end of the film, so she doesn't need a Willoughby OR a Brandon. Come to think of it, though, she does have a sort of defeated vibe that is similar to Marianne's after her heartbreak. For Jen, I think it comes from knowing that the one person who had anything left to teach her is dead. There's nowhere for her to go but over the side of a mountain, apparently.

"Later, losers."

What I liked

The fight choreography is graceful and surreal, like dancing. The characters spend a lot of time in the air, bounding over roofs and treetops, running up walls, and skipping across pools of water. It adds a feeling of unreality, like anything can happen, and it unsettles the viewer's expectations. Physics don't apply here, so suspend your disbelief.

I also liked all the badass women in this movie. Another similarity that Ang Lee has pointed out is that this is a movie about two women; the men are minor side characters, mostly there for the romantic subplots. It's easy to accept that Sense and Sensibility should focus on the women, but it's unfortunately less expected that a martial arts action movie would have two women at the center, including at the center of all the epic fight scenes. Mu Bai is the greatest warrior, but he's so great that we barely see him do anything, he's just too efficient at disarming his opponents. The real action is reserved for the ladies.

And speaking of badass woman warriors, Jade Fox should not be discounted. An entire character was created just so he could be killed off to prove that she's a formidable opponent.

Let's face it, Officer Bat'leth here only existed to die.

And her cause was feminism! She killed Mu Bai's master because he refused to train her but was fine with keeping her around for sex. She literally says, "He underestimated us women... He deserved to die by a woman's hand." How badass is that?! She's awesome, and I can't stay mad at her for trying to poison Jen. Like all Marianne incarnations, Jen is kind of annoying anyway.

What I disliked

Did anything really happen in this movie? It feels like kind of a weak plot: a famous warrior wants to retire, so he gives away his sword; then his sword gets stolen by a promising young warrior, so he and his crush team up to get it back. It has the basic narrative structure, there's a climax and a denouement, but it's not clearly defined. I get that this is a movie about relationships and ideals or whatever, but I can't help feeling like a story from Mu Bai and Shu Lien's past would be a lot more interesting. This comes down to my personal preference for plot-driven movies, I guess.

That's more like it.

On a probably related note, I took issue with the ending. I'm okay with an ambiguous ending in theory, but this one was a little too ambiguous. Asking myself, "Did Jen die or not?" is well and good, but I find myself asking instead, "Why did Jen jump in the first place?" She's acting out the legend that Lo told her about the man who jumped from the mountaintop and because he believed, his wish came true. But what is Jen wishing for? No clue. 

Speaking of the mountain, though, I'm also bothered by Jen being allowed into the mountain keep in the first place. A big deal is made of the fact that women are not allowed at Mount Wudang. Mu Bai thinks he can convince them to make an exception, but by the time Jen gets there, Mu Bai is dead. He can't vouch for her from the grave. Any by the way, how rude was he to suggest an exception for Jen right to Shu Lien's face? It never even occurred to him to ask for an exception for Shu Lien, who clearly deserves it! #JusticeForShuLien

Does Shu Lien get her revenge in the sequel?
We'll never know because I'm not reviewing that.

Adaptation wish list

1. Is it funny? — It has its moments.
2. Is it bitchy? — Does Jade Fox's righteous anger count?
3. Is Brandon less pathetic? — He doesn't really exist, so yeah, that's technically an improvement.
4. Is Marianne more believable? — Jen is a governor's daughter who becomes the greatest warrior to ever live by reading a book about martial arts... You tell me.

As a Sense and Sensibility adaptation, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is obviously lacking. For general entertainment value, though, it's pretty good. I had never seen such an arty action movie, and if you haven't either, then I recommend checking this one out. Just don't expect any weddings at the end.