Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Ang Lee was a virtual unknown out of Asia until he made Emma Thompson's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility which brought her an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and Lee recognition of a 'new' talent. Five years later and after success with The Ice Storm was another period piece but this time set even further back in history, in the Qing Dynasty at the end of the 18th century. Drawing Hong Kong legend Chow Yun Fat away from the John Woo action thrillers that made him a star and cast him in his first martial art movie, Lee also brought established Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh to play his love interest.  Finishing the principal cast was then upcoming youngster Ziyi Zhang as Jen, an aristocrat who found love in the desert and learnt martial arts by herself as escapism. 
 
 

Learning that the sword is missing, Li travels to Beijing and is embarrassed to be reunited with Yu.  The thief is a skilful and accomplished warrior and, when Yu gave chase, she recognised that he is practised in the art of Wudang fighting.  She knows that the thief is Sir Te daughter Jen and Li and Yu team up to recover the weapon and capture or kill Jade Fox who is suspected of being Jen's master and the woman who killed Yu's fiancé. 
 
What follows is an epic period romance set against a Wu Xia martial arts setting with both Yu and Li forced to rein in their urges and concentrate on the job at hand.  Meanwhile Li recognises the promise in Jen and wants to draw her away from Jade Fox and take her to Wudang Mountain for proper training. 
 
For a martial arts film, this was an extraordinary worldwide success, picking up awards wherever it went, culminating in the 4 Academy Awards it won and drawing a massive audience to a type of film previously ignored by the mainstream. In addition, western audiences were introduced to the cast and crew which included Yuen Wo-Ping who went on to work with the Wachowski Brothers on the other Matrix films having already wowed audiences with his wire work and action choreography in the first of the trilogy. 
 

 
I was stunned the first time I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and have seen it many times on DVD before its release on Blu-ray Disc.  It opened doors for me and I have seen Wu Xia films that I didn't know existed previously and checked out (most of) Chow Yun Fat's extensive back catalogue.  I think this is a beautiful and involving film, wonderfully shot, acted and scored and is one of the great films of the 21st Century. 

The Disc

 
Extra Features
Sadly there is absolutely no new material and the disc has even been shorn of some of the features that were included on the original DVD.    
You get the admittedly brilliant commentary with Lee and James Schamus in which they rib each other about the writing and how long it takes to get to a fight scene in a martial arts movie, whilst providing all sorts of interesting information about the shoot and casting. 
 
Leaving the Photo Gallery to one side (does anybody really go through these?), all you get is the A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh where she talks about the shoot and working with Lee and Chow which is interspersed with scenes from the film.  It's a shame that this was just with Yeoh and not more members of the cast or crew.  This is immediately followed by a featurette on the music where Tan Dun and Yo-Yo Ma talk about the difficulties of composing a score in only 2 weeks along with footage of the orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma on his multi-million dollar cello.
 

 
The Picture
For a film that is so aesthetically pleasing, the DVD was a bit of a disappointment on the visuals front with some grain and lack of definition, but no such problems are evident here.  The contrast is deep and colours vibrant.  Skin tones are superb and the effort that went into making Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon such a superb visual spectacle is evident.  If I was really going to nitpick, the wide shots of the Gobi Desert and the mountains have a slight shimmer to them but that is the only fault in what is a near flawless transfer.
 
What makes Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon such a special film is the fight scenes with the wire work by Yuen Wo-Ping and his team.  Looking at Chow and his ability to handle a sword you would never guess this was his first martial arts film as he looks like he had been making Wu Xia movies for the better part of a decade, not shooting countless bad guys and causing mayhem in John Woo flicks. 
 
The Sound
You get Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtracks in both Mandarin and English; I hate dubbed films so watched it with the original soundtrack and subtitles.  The dialogue is crisp and the surround speakers are used to good effect, particularly with the combat scenes but even with more nuanced sounds like wind and dust effects. 
 
Tan Dun's score is superb with the percussion really adding to the tempo of the fight scenes and the cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma are very special; they complement each other and really help to make the film the emotional ride that it is. 
 

 
Final Thoughts
I think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a tremendous film so was eagerly anticipating the HD release.  On the AV side it doesn't disappoint but where the disc is a let-down is under the Special Features side.  If you want to upgrade to a version with a near flawless transfer and tremendous sound and aren't too bothered about the paucity of sundries then this is for you.  If you are happy with the disc you have and wanted some new extra material then give this a miss.  Personally, as this is such a great film and one that relies so much on the visuals and sound, it's almost worth upgrading just for the superior AV quality.  Basically this is a disc for those who don't already own the film or are hardcore fans.