It's funny that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a gigantic success in the United States; however, it was considered just another high-flying ninja movie in Asia (the Asians apparently had a huge issue with the actors' accents being wrong).Foreign-language karate films had not been popular in the United States for the previous 30 years and I am not including The Karate Kid or the Jonathan Brandis vehicle, Sidekicks.
This film comes out and it knocks everyone's socks off because it featured stunts and choreography that Americans had never seen.
It is super smooth choreography. I like the way the actors would fight with grace and the least amount of effort. Fighting was like standing up or stretching. Nothing that resulted power or strength or brutality.
Overall, I didn't like this film for a couple of reasons. First of all, I didn't get the flying. Crazy, insane fighting and unbelievable moves are one thing. Flying is another.
Two, I hated that nobody ever killed each other. The police officer there around the beginning was killed, but the rest of the film was everyone pointing swords at each other's necks and either too scared or bold to finish the job.
Also, I hated the story. Foreign-language ninja movies typically have a really good story. Look back at all the old Japanese and Chinese films from the 1950s and 1960s. I never really minded Bruce Lee's films and their story lines. They don't need to be complicated. Just something beyond nothing.
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