WOW! The most simple and direct way to describe this movie. Everything just fits.

The cinematography, the directing, the story, the acting, the choreography... everything just comes together in a perfect blend that makes this movie a pleasure to watch. I was at first curious about this movie... the critics couldn't stop lavishing it with praise, everyone I know who had seen it couldn't say anything bad about it. My time to see it, finally came on Oscar Night... and I must say, believe the hype... this movie is that good. This is the movie that should have won best picture.

The story revolves around four main characters played by Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, and Pei-Pei Cheng. The story begins with Li Mu-bui (Yun-Fat Chow) retiring as a warrior, and placing his sword, the Green Destiny, in protective custody. The sword is then stolen, apparently by the Jade Fox, a master thief... and we get our first taste of the superb choreography. The fighting scenes in this movie are so fast paced you'd swear they were filmed slow, and played back at double speed... but they're not. Neither are there stunt people performing the scenes... which gives this film a sense of reality. No other film that has seen such wide release in the western world can even begin to compare to the choreography that this movie so aptly portrays.

The use of wires has only recently been actively used in western films (most of that credit comes from the huge success of The Matrix... which was also choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping)... but in eastern films it has become an art form What may seem silly and unrealistic to us in this movie, is how the characters fly over walls, and rooftops, and walk on treetops... but what we have to realize is that these characters are the stories told to children... they're legends. It's no different than our stories of an abnormally tall man who chops down trees in a single swipe, and traveled with his blue ox. Or a man who could drive a railroad spike in one swipe... faster than any machine could do it. You know these stories... these legends.

This movie certainly challenges western audiences in many ways... the use of wires for one... but the main hurdle this movie faced was that it was subtitled. We hate having to read what the characters are saying for more than a few lines... it's sad really. This movie certainly didn't get the credit it deserved, mainly because of this hurdle. We're a nation of illiterates. Maybe in it's DVD release, it will get that credit it so rightly deserves... because there is an English language audio track.

I've watched this movie twice since picking it up on DVD. Once through with the original Mandarin audio track, and later with the English audio track... but I kept the subtitles on, because I was interested to see the differences in the literal translation (the text) and the westernized translation (the audio). Surprisingly the dubbing was good, though obviously a few changes were made. We've come a long way since the Bruce Lee era, where the lips weren't moving in sync with the voice. Yes, there are times when you can see the dubbing job, but for the most part, it almost looks as if they're speaking the English words that you're hearing.

Choreography aside, this movie is on the scale of a modern epic. The characters aren't force fed to us... we gradually learn more about them throughout the film. Each one is well developed... attention isn't wasted on one particular 'star'... and in the end, you really connect with all these characters... they become ... in a sense, real.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a rare breed of movie... because it appeals to everyone. I can't think of very many movies that I've ever seen, that I would give a perfect 5 rating... but this movie deserves it. This movie, obviously, comes highly recommended. If you have not yet seen it... do so.