Quotes & Reviews
"An irresistible action extravaganza! A spectacular panoply of fight sequences and acrobatic action that make this the Asian martial-arts film the West, all unknowing, has been waiting for! Eye-catching! An electrifying battle."
-Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES"A mix of THE MATRIX and martial arts. A tale of love and revenge in ancient China that also contains some of the most audacious action sequences ever committed to film."
-John Anderson, NEWSDAY"**** highest rating! THE MATRIX is kids stuff compared to Ang Lee's rapturous CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, the first art house kung fu movie with true office potential. CROUCHING TIGER is handsome, passionate, and fun. It's everything we go to the movies for. Ang Lee's sensuously gorgeous epic. A gravity-defying masterwork, whose fight sequences were choreographed by Yuen Wo-Ping of THE MATRIX. A lush period martial arts flick featuring breathtaking fight scenes and a star crossed romance. Poised to be bigger than THE MATRIX. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is handsome, passionate and fun. It's everything we go to the movies for. This is also a rare martial arts movie to embrace the female perspective."
-Jami Bernard, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS"An exhilarating kung fu movie!"
-HARPER'S BAZAAR"Full of fantastic balletic martial arts scenes choreographed by the guy who did THE MATRIX"
-ESQUIRE"A powerful film, a terrific movie! A thrilling action drama that roars and soars! It's contemplative and it kicks ass!"
-Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE (Asia)"If a star was born in Cannes, it was Zhang Ziyi, the 20 year old in Ang Lee's sensation, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. This was the most buoyant film at Cannes, and not just Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat spend so much time flying on invisible wires in Lee's fantabulous martial arts ballets. The first action scene, with Yeoh chasing Zhang up walls and across roofs, earned spontaneous applause. CROUCHING TIGER made the most searing, soaring impression. For two hours, we were all on wires. Cannes has emotional lift-off. And Zhang emerged as an imposing actress, a radiant presence. We'd call her the young star of Cannes 2000. Ang Lee pays glorious tribute to both Chinese action films and Western-style love stories. A mature crowd pleaser, with brisk pacing and a lingering melancholy. There are fierce sword fights and ancient enmities, gravity defying battles on rooftops and treetops, rapturous smooches in the Gobi Desert-genuine old fashioned movie magic all around"
-Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE"The uncontested hit of the Cannes Film Festival was Ang Lee's foreign entry CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. With gravity-defying roof hops, sinewy swordplay and enough acrobatic kicks to make Jet Li proud, the high velocity fable, starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, was proof that the melodrama maestro of THE ICE STORM has reinvented himself as the international scene's hottest action director."
-Stephen Garrett, TIME OUT NEW YORK"A soulful action film by the master of comedy of manners! Brimming with physical grace and was held together by an ethereal calm as its battlers soared through the air. Chow Yun Fat strides onto the screen proud, erect and easy; he's Cary Grant with a ponytail. His witty reserve is used beautifully here, and the picture is more fun than it has a right to be. Mr. Lee's takes the action form, which often attacks the screen with energy and movement, and creates a placid surface that offers a new perspective and a spirituality not normally found in these pictures. It could be SENSE AND SENSIBILITY with a body count. CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON glides through the trees like its characters; it's an epic that breaks the laws of gravity."
-Elvis Mitchell, THE NEW YORK TIMES"I can safely guarantee that one movie alone Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON- will rescue your faith in the medium and deliver you, in metaphorical terms, to the promised land. Ang Lee has fused the sensibilities of his two cultures in making what many critics are calling one of the finest action films of all time. Foreign language films have been nominated for best picture in the past; some critics are betting this will be the first to win." -Jack Matthews, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"I hope that everyone who sees Ang Lee's rousing martial arts saga bursts into applause as we all did, critics and non-critics alike, for the sheer, soaring joy with which it invigorates a mighty Hong Kong genre."
-Lisa Schwartzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY"But the singular sensation was CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Ang Lee's smart and soaring TITANIC meets THE MATRIX martial-arts romance that had audiences exploding in applause. Gravity defying fight scenes are matched by the grace of a stellar cast, including Asian superstars Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat, and newcomers Chang Chen and the astounding Zhang Ziyi, who accomplish as much with a heart melting glance as with a thrilling leap through the air."
-ELLE, Jennifer Weisel"Cannes' most satisfying film! With some of the most spectacular airborne kung fu scenes in history, the movie soars for two hours and the audience soars with it!"
-Mary Corliss, FILM COMMENT"The masterpiece of the Cannes Film Festival! Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a marvel! A stunning period martial arts film!"
-Noah Cowan, FILMMAKER MAGAZINE"Add ballet's grace and the kinetic movement of the martial arts to Lee's trademark sensitivity, and you get CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON."
- Howard Feinstein, Time Out New York"A truly unique martial-arts film- a spellbinder that brings a poet's eye to stunts of Matrix-level intensity! Let Lee and MATRIX fight-choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping dazzle your eyes. Lee raises kickass action to the level art. Zhang Ziyi is a sensational newcomer."
-Peter Travers, ROLLLING STONE"This martial arts epic is packed with fight scenes that make THE MATRIX look like a game of rock, paper, scissors. High flying femme fatale ZHANG ZIYI steals the show."
-NEWSWEEK"One of the most visually stunning of martial arts movies and a tongue-in-cheek historical epic saturated with beauty and wit. A gorgeous action movie. A unique and sumptuous martial arts adventure."
-Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE"Gives the old style romantic Hollywood epic a much needed shot in the arm. A martial arts GONE WITH THE WIND…Audiences love CROUCHING TIGER"
-Mark Horowitz, NEW YORK MAGAZINE"It's breathtaking"
-Chris Hewitt, PIONEER PRESS"Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was my favorite, a slam-bang action movie with lovely medieval trappings plus the sly humor and emotional depth"
-Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times"One of the year's best films!"
-PEOPLE MAGAZINE"The marvelous martial arts fantasy by director Ang Lee! Jaw-Dropping Fight sequences!"
-Rene Rodgriguez, THE MIAMI HERALD"CROUCHING TIGER is a marvel of moviemaking that should appeal to art-house aficionados as well as the fans of the effects-laden, choreographed super-fights of THE MATRIX."
-Stephen Rea, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER"Ang Lee has created an amazing, free-wheeling, ferociously feminist, martial arts action-adventure love story. Cinematographer Peter Pau creates a visual surrealist feast amid the awe-inspiring landscapes of ancient China, but it's the miraculous acrobatic by Yuen Wo-Ping that makes this film quite sensational as buoyant, gravity-defying warriors, wielding swords, scamper across rooftops, pirouette in the air, and float through swaying treetops of a bamboo forest. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a dazzling, thrilling action packed 10- creating a fantasy world I would want to visit again and again!"
-Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate"You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't swoon for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Director Ang Lee's sumptuous martial-arts marvel is entertainment of the highest order, taking its story from a turn-of-the-century serialized novel about a stoic warrior (Chow Yun-Fat), his magical sword, his fighting equal and soul mate (Michelle Yeoh) and a mysterious princess."
-Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press"However, the one to beat may be Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. The astonishing martial-arts epic starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi won the People's Choice Award, voted on by festival audiences, as AMERICAN BEAUTY did last year. Lee's stunning masterpiece, an early 19th century Chinese love story whose fight sequences were choreographed by THE MATRIX's Yuen Wo-Ping, also earned enthusiastic bursts of applause from usually reticent film critics at the press and industry screenings."
-Dave Larsen, Dayton Daily News"A romantic adventure set during China's Qing Dynasty, CROUCHING TIGER stars Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat as a legendary warrior whose retirement plans are upset by the appearance of an old enemy with whom he has a score to settle and an impetuous diletante determined to challenge his might. The film, which also dazzled audiences at May's Cannes Film Festival, plays like a Chinese equivalent to the "Superman" films….Also playing to positive word-of-mouth were Ang Lee's brilliant martial arts action-fantasy "CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, which we like to think of as 'The Tao of Lee'…." -Jack Mathews, Daily News
"If this wondrous, Mandarin-language, martial-arts fable can translate its festival appeal to multiplexes-and Oscar voters-when it opens in December, that will make for a great story; foreign-language films with a sense of visual poetry could use the boost. But, CROUCHING TIGER is to be appreciated for existing in its own timeless world, not for how it comments on our present one."
-Mark Caro, CHICAGO TRIBUNE"At Toronto's landmark 25th anniversary film festival, the first People's Choice award of the new millennium went to the gorgeous action movie, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a unique and sumptuous martial arts adventure by Taiwanese-American filmmaker Ang Lee that stars Hong Kong cult actors Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh."
-Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE"The most universally beloved of this festival's entries so far is Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, a wondrous, lyrical, Chinese-language martial-arts period film in which Zhang Ziyi, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh do their sword fighting and karate on invisible wires that make them fly through the air even more dramatically than the characters in THE MATRIX."
-Mark Caro, CHICAGO TRIBUNE"CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, one of the gala premieres, is another startling genre exploration by the always unpredictable Ang Lee; it is one of the most visually stunning of martial arts movies and a tongue-in-cheek historical epic saturated with beauty and wit."
-Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE"Ang Lee's dazzling martial arts romance has been building a following since it wowed 'em at Cannes and the Toronto Film Festival. Mind boggling action sequences!"
-Lou Lumenick, THE NEW YORK POST"**** Rare is a film such incontestable quality and effervescent potency that the viewer immediately wants to watch it again. Lee imbues the martial artists with spectacular athletic abilities that seem a blend of Superman and Gene Kelly."
-Scott Feschuk, THE NATIONAL POST"**** Visually gorgeous, balletic martial arts film"
-Liam Lacey, THE GLOBE AND MAIL"***** A walking dream of truly operatic dimensions. Visually spectacular and morally complex, this is a classic. Not to be missed."
-EYE WEEKLY"Ang Lee's ravishing epic! A prestige exploitation film with the kick of the best martial arts imports and the sweep of David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA"
-Glenn Lovell, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS"An elegant martial arts fable that has left audiences breathless where ever it has been played."
-Robert Denerstein, THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS"One of the year's best films!"
-Leah Rozen, PEOPLE"A lavish martial arts extravaganza. The film is guaranteed to please all ages. There are enough toys and whirling weapons in this fanciful tale of noble knights, romantic lady warriors, flying villians, desert tribes and balletic-battles in the billowing branches of bamboo forests to make it the STAR WARS of kung fu!"
-THE NEW YORK OBSERVER"There is something worth cheering about. The work of daredevil cinematic artistry. Here is the kind of filmmaking magic that we've been missing for years. Breathless storytelling, ravishing romance and martial arts miracles to sweep us into adventures beyond our imaging. It's great, gorgeous fun. Both actors (Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat) bring startling intimacy to a relationship that has been thwarted by a rigid sense of honor. Yeoh, radiating strength and graceful beauty, is a knockout. If there is a more visually stunning scene on film this year, I haven't seen it. Chow reveals astonishing depths. But the revelation is Yeoh. Yeoh scores an acting triumph in a heroic role that she instills with power and true romantic yearning. Ang Lee, a world class director working at the top of his elegant form, has done something thrilling. For all the leaping action, it's the film's spirit that soars."
-Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE"Zhang Ziyi is the new Chuck Norris, only with ballet skills and prettier and able to kick Chuck's creaky old ass. Impossibly beautiful martial arts fable that combines the storytelling of Kurosawa with the action effects of THE MATRIX"
-ESQUIRE"CROUCHING TIGER is nevertheless a gloriously big epic, starring the Hong Kong action stars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in a visionary adventure where the characters seem set free from the force of gravity."
-Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES"Lyrical and lush with Ang Lee's sure, smooth hand at the controls, the film is an epic superior to anything Hollywood has produced in the last twenty years. And the fight scenes! Impeccably staged and shot, they don't so much redefine martial arts choreography as refine it, honing the poetry of the fighting like a blade. Every major set piece immediately joins the list of classic martial arts movie battles."
-Ain't It Cool News.com"See this movie as soon as you can. Do whatever it takes to get into the encore screening. I loved this film. It is all that anyone could ever want from a movie."
-Harry Knowles, Ain't It Cool News.com"Ang Lee, has established himself as one of the most enterprising autuers of the new millennium. It is a triumph. A lavish martial arts historical epic! Filled with surprises! The actions scenes replace standard movie violence with balletic combat that's consistently wondrous to behold. Elegant cinematography and a soaring score, CTHD envelops you in its exotic universe. Michelle Yeoh brings tremendous dignity and poise to her portrayal of the seasoned older woman. Jen Yu, a startingly original creation played to perfection by beautiful new Zhang Ziyi…Breathlessly paced and packed with strong characters and performances, this picture is first and foremost a rousing yarn. Lee confirms his versatility and also brings off one of the year's most gratifying moments."
-Stephen Farber, MOVIELINE