Love your reaction. If you like this movie you'll love Jet Li movie "Fearless". It is base on a real life martial art master and his life journey. Please react to it.
If you enjoyed Michelle Yeoh in this movie and EEAAO, give The Heroic Trio a try, one of my absolute favourite martial arts movies led by 3 excellent female stars, Yeoh included.
If you guys want to watch other amazing martial arts movies you should watch Jet Li movies. The Bodyguard from Beijing (The Defender in the U.S. release but try to watch the movie in the original language not the crappy English dubbed version), Once Upon a Time In China 1-3 (again try to watch the movie in it's original language not crappy English dubbed version), Romeo Must Die, Kiss of The Dragon, The One, Cradle 2 The Grave
Fun fact: Cheng Pei Pei, who played Jade Fox, was considered the first female action stars. She starred in a number of Hong Kong action films in the 1960's.
The deeper meaning to this movie is about desire and being true to oneself and being honest and open with your feelings. The three main characters are kept from their desires either internally like Chow Yun Fats and, Michelle Yeohs with their unspoken love for one another vs Zhang Ziyi who acts free but is restricted by her life circumstances.
This is my favourite movie of all time. The ending had me in tears when I first watched it. This movie is essentially about freedom, but that there is sometimes a price with being free. That society can place restrictions on who we really want to be. Love this movie so much.
She absolutely leapt to her death. What she wanted most in life was freedom. In the end, even her time as a wandering swordsman of wasn't what she thought it would be. I think she knew she'd never be free in this life so all she could do was give Lo his chance to make a wish. This is a beautiful tragedy.
@iamme25yago “confirms that she survives” u know this is a fictional story right, movie adaptations don’t have to the exact replicas of the source material
This, Hero and House of Flying Daggers are all incredible films, everyone should watch, and each has distinctive and mind blowing, choreography and cinematography, these are truly works of art!
If you really want to know what happens to Jen, read on. But beware... CTHD is the 4th book in a pentalogy. The movie version is meant to strongly imply that she fell to her death, but leave a possibility she survived. But remember the end of the story. While the man in the story wasn't hurt because his heart was pure, he was never seen again. Lo was weeping as Jen jumped because he knew either way he would never see her again. The book version is explicit as to her fate. The book flips the final two scenes and has Jen surviving the fall and then spending the night with Lo before leaving him forever. She wanders into the desert to never be seen again. Well, until book five. At the beginning of book five, Jen gives birth to Lo's son, who is stolen and swapped for a girl. Jen searches for her son, but cannot find him and chooses to raise the girl as her own. 19 years later, she leaves the desert to try and find her son once again but grows ill and cannot continue. A man on a quest stops to take care of her. During their talks, she realizes that the man is her missing son. She tries to get him to come with her back to the desert to meet her adopted daughter, but she dies on the way back before telling him that she was his mother. The son briefly finds the daughter, discovers Jen was his mother, and also comes across Lo(his actual father), who had been searching for a child he believed to be a daughter(because of the swapped babies). But Lo dies soon after from injuries sustained in a fight. Eventually the son and daughter meet for good, fall in love, and have a happy ending. Out of the four primary pairings over the five books, they were the only ones to get the happy ending. The books were written from 1940 to 1944 in Japanese-occupied China, so I can understand the bleakness in the series.
Thanks for the additional info! I had read that in the books, Jen survives, but never any further detail beyond that. Considering the worldwide success of the film, it's surprising that the series has never been translated into English, beyond what I understand to be a partial fan effort that hasn't gotten to the stories in this film yet, if I recall correctly.
I remember crying so much at the end when she flies. I felt like after everything she's been through she was still looking for something, maybe her true self. I felt that was very moving. And it is a beautiful shot. The film is gorgeous and what a cast!
Wether she survive the jump or not, either way lo isn't going to see her ever again. This movie is so beautiful and yet so hopeless lol. Definitely my favorite martial arts movie. They totally deserved those 4 oscars.
yup, she carried a heavier burden than what mu bai and shu lien did (meng zi zhao's death) and she would not be able to wash that guilt off if she becomes happy with lo
Michelle Yeoh’s performance was impeccable, she deserves the Oscar in this movie. She should have won if Oscar was fair. This is my favorite movie. Not to forget the sound track was amazing. Main Theme was sang by Coco Lee, love the song too.
I had a big crush on the actress who played Jen Yu. Her name is Zhang Ziyi. Another great movie with her is Memoirs of a Geisha. It's not a movie I thought I would enjoy at all but I loved it.
Memoirs of a Geisha has a couple of redeeming qualities and one of them is Zhang Ziyi. Unfortunately Zhang Ziyi's accent is an issue when speaking English and Japanese. She can't shake off her Chinese accent. The inherent problem with the story is that it was stolen by the author of the novel. The movie is based on the novel written by Arthur Golden who based most of it on conversations he had with Mineko Iwasaki, an actual Geisha. He never acknowledged this fact until he was forced to. After stealing Iwasaki's story, the novel and the movie were ironically being sold as giving a voice to women in the Geisha world. This was then revealed to be utterly ridiculous when Iwasaki sued and revealed Golden for who he is. There are other internal issues with the movie itself leaving all that aside. The much better movie to recommend is "House of Flying Daggers."
Its a great film and was one of the first films I actually purchased myself (back then on DVD), and more recently on Blu ray 4K UHD. See this is how you make films with strong female characters, you just write superb stories and the characters find their strength in the fantastic plot lines. You don't have to force it. Beautifully paced and filmed. It left me in awe when I first saw it and still does to this day. Glad you guys enjoyed it so much and can I just say I absolutely love the dynamic between the two of you, no over talking, pure joy in the experience, you are one of the best reaction teams out there. Long may it continue, you both brighten my day
It's worth noting that in the major fight between Michelle Yeoh and Jen, the weapons that Yu Shu Lien chose were meant to try and get around the strength of the Green Destiny sword. The double blade katanas, the spear, the hooked swords, and the sword breaker. One reason she looked so shocked was because the one hit she did that sent Jen flying back should have broken the sword, but it didn't. The long sword was the last one and the one that ended up winning her the battle. It's just interesting to see how like y'all said, experience still triumphed over an OP sword.
Maybe that sword is damascus blade especially when they said its 400 years old which is coincidently 400 years before qing dynasty which this movie set from. Why crusaders afraid of damascus blade because its very hard and can break european sword used by crusaders.
Zhang Ziyi is amazing. She doesn't get the credit she deserves. I don't speak a lick of Chinese but she tugs my heart strings in everything she's in lol
A movie with Zhang Ziyi that you should see is The Road Home, you wouldn't regret watching it. It was actually her first movie, and the movie was directed by Zhang Yimou who directed her in a lot of her biggest films like Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dagon, House of the Flying Daggers, etc.. Zhang Yimou is probably the most famous and succesful chinese director.
Not many people react to Martial Arts movies so im glad to find this channel. I would like to see you guys react to Reign Of Assassins it has Michelle Yeoh as a main lead. Has great action and plot twists.
I'm so glad y'all finally reacted to this movie! It's my favorite of 2000! A few other awesome flicks in this genre are Hero, Iron Monkey, House of Flying Daggers and Shaolin Soccer (the first and best film from Stephen Chow, who also directed Kung Fu Hustle)
Incase for people that don’t know, wudan = wu-tang (rap group) wudan is the current sound translation by China vs. wu-tang was sound translation via Hong Kong (Cantonese), wu-dan-pie = wu-tang-clan. wu-dan is actual rival to shao-lin… wudan is Taoism (tao), shaolin is Buddhism.
Excellent choice. One of the greatest movies ever made. I just watched the 4k Version in english about a week ago. Seen it tons of times though. Beautiful artistry.
I am thrilled you guys loved this movie. I read that this movie is being re-released in theaters in 4k next month around Valentines Day. Great Reax Video guys!
The earliest memory that I had of watching a Michelle Yeoh movie as a kid was Butterfly & Sword. That movie also introduced me to Tony Leung & Donnie Yen, though the emphasis was on Tony and Michelle's characters. It's an extremely old movie, I think it's 30 years since but I still have vivid memories of it. Michelle's been in many movies, though her breakthrough to Hollywood was Tomorrow Never Dies. Both of you have to react to Hero. That movie's plot and story is just brilliant and the visuals are incredible. One of my favorite wuxia films of all time!
Growing up reading martial arts novels you’d be surprised at how much romantic elements are included in them. One of my favorite films so beautifully done.
Michelle Yeoh got her break in Jackie Chans Police Story 3 Supercop. Worth checking out. Also for more of the actress that played Jen watch House of Flying Daggers
Not really. Police Story 3 was sort of her comeback after a failed marriage. She waa briefly retired from acting when she was married. Her breakthrough role was Yes Madam in 1985 because it was sort of the first time a woman fight as good as a man in HK cinema
I remember watching the Oscars when this movie was up against Gladiator. Sadly, I don’t think the academy was ready for this type of film to win best picture back then. Even years later, Crouching Tiger has stood the test of time and is still exhilarating to watch. This reaction was also fun to watch!
i also had tears watching the dying scene of li mu bai, ....'i'd rather be a condemned soul than enter heaven without you...' and that few seconds of acting by michelle yeoh gets to me everytime.
That's awesome you guys got into martial arts films. Do take it with a grain of salt though because you have to understand that the subtitles doesn't NEARLY do the dialogue justice. It's like Shakespearian English, characters speak in unique phrasings to convey certain ideas, each line of dialogue is filled with idioms, and double, triple entendres, it is actual poetry. But the sub titles often can't even translate these phrases at their most superfacial level. A quick example is "Jade Fox", the literal translation is actually "Jade eyed fox". But character for "jade" can also mean "green" so really, it should be "green eyed fox". In this case, the color green represents "greed", and "fox" is commonly used to describe someone who is slick and tricky. So really, before this character is even introduced, we already know that we are dealing with a "greedy trickster". This is just one of hundreds if not thousands of dialogues that can't be translated properly.. it is such a shame really. Still though, mad props for watching all these martial arts movies, love all your content as usual! Cheers!!
With the subtitles.. you guys probably missed the whole taboo romantic undertone between the master and the student. He had feelings for her since they first met, which was what really caused the fight between her and Michelle Yeo, which was what really led to the scene where she asked "do you want the sword, or me?". This movie is no joke, lots of underlying intricacies left for the audience to unpack. Was not famous for no reason.
' dance' - great description! It's choreographed like a beautiful dance. Everything bout this film is beautiful: fights, imagery & even the language! don't take a bishes' comb! 😉 'nobody's love interest better die in this film' - bites tongue er fingers 😏 That 'ghost by your side' line is one of the most sad/romantic lines ever written! ♥ 😢 I ♥ how the ending they don't decide for us. We're left to ponder/decide whether she got her wish, or not
Great reaction to a GREAT movie. This, along with Hero is probably my fav movies in this genre. (Ok, gotta add Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon ... and almost every Shaw Bros. movies.) As for Michelle Yeoh, she was also VERY briefly in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - she was one of the Ravager captains at the end. As for the lead actor in this movie, Chow Yun-fat, he is a well known actor in his own right. The other US movie that I recall him acting in was the remake of Anna and the King, where he played the King of Siam across from Jodie Foster.
Loved this movie growing up, and to this day, it's still my favorite modern/big budget martial arts film. For some reason i'm more forgiving of the whole wire-flying in this movie than others, which i suspect is because it seems like it's only a select few that can do it, cos of their training. This was also the first movie i saw Chow Yun Fat (Li Mu Bai) Michelle Yeoh in, and Zhang Ziyi (Jen) and they're just great in everything they're in. Another movie i remember Michelle being in was a Brosnan Bond movie, "Tomorrow Never Dies" i believe, and Zhang Ziyi was in "Rush Hour 2" i think.
Actually, Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon might be have turned out to be a big box office smash hit, it was not a big budget film at all. It was a fairly low budget Independent film by Hollywood standard. It just became a big sleeper hit film in 2000 and really made Ang Lee, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi became world renowned even though Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh were already famous in Asia for many years before that. Zhang Ziyi was a completely new actress than only had one small film prior to this directed by the legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
youre more forgiving of the wirework because it lends itself to the mystique, fairytale like otherworldly nature of the story, we were all like wtf they can all fly...... but its meaant to represent and portray grcefulness, just like the martial arts is a dance.... and that love and hate between jen and lo, jen and jade fox, li and shu lien is all a graceful dance and a thin line between whats being said and whats not being said..... like chinese brush painting, there are no harsh definite lines... it leaves alot to the imagination
I love that you pointed out the fighting is kind of like a dance. I've lived in 2 countries: 🇺🇲 🇨🇳. I've seen western (Italian) opera and Chinese opera. Both are semi-ancient forms of storytelling. The stories are usually ridiculous tales about vengeance and angsty love. In Western opera, the emphasis is all on the music. There's no action (I mean they say there is but no) the most you get is maybe a choreographed masquerade kind of scene but western opera is music music music. The most powerful scene can be someone standing utterly still but godDAMN their voice shakes you to your core. Chinese opera is a whooole nother thing. 'Opera' should be understood as 'operatic storytelling.' As a high school student sitting down in a Beijing theater, I understood 'opera' to mean boring but beautiful sounding. Chinese opera DOES. NOT. SOUND. BEAUTIFUL. I subtly covered my ears a few times. Sometimes it's interesting singing with a pitch that goes everywhere. Other times it's: banging cymbals and caterwauling. But Chinese opera is about 1 notch lower from being a true acrobatics show. The opera players are real athletes. While singing, they may cross the stage doing amazing circle kicks in the air. It makes sense that the western form of storytelling that breaks 1 rule of reality is musicals. And the Chinese form of storytelling that forges 1 rule of reality is wuxia. And 💯 Star Wars is inspired by eastern storytelling. I went to Catholic school so we had religion class. During world religions, when we got to eastern thinking in Hinduism and Buddhism my teacher saw us hitting a mental wall trying to understand an interpretation of god as Brahman, not as a personified character, but as an "'the all, everything.' H̶e̶ It is Form, without form. Obviously we were like ???? My teacher sighed and said, "for Westerners...the easiest way to understand it is like the Force in Star Wars." Everyone immediately went ohhh and we had no problem studying the specifics in Eastern religions after that. 🤷🏻♀️ It appears silly that we resort to using a sci-fi franchise as a reference spot but it just so happens it's the most convenient exposure to Eastern philosophy
All form without form is why those religion goes astray. Even judaism and Christianity also fell the same mentality. In islam, God is unlike anything which means he has no physics but have attributes. Its fixed old religion teaching. God doesn't need his creation but creation need him. This is why when God said in Islam he rest in arash doesn't means literally but he is all power over his creation because arash is bigger than 7 heaven. In islam, anybody Who said God have body but unlike Others is commiting heavy mistakes because those mentality is what distorted old religion turned into making God into his creatures. What funny thing is every extremist islamic group have the same mentality about God and no wonder they all gone astray
Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon is one of my favorite films,Ziyi Zhang is a charming actress of China.By the way,House of Flying Daggers you guys should watch it,because Ziyi Zhang looks beautiful in this film.
Since you guys are really getting into the martial arts genre, I would recommend: - Once Upon A Time In China (1990) with Jet Li. It's a whole saga with 6 films. The first 3 are very good. - Iron Monkey (1993) with Donnie Yen. It's kind of a prequel for Once Upon A Time in China. - Tai-Chi Master (1993) with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. Marketed in the US as "Twin Warriors". But make sure you avoid the US dubbed version. - Fist of Legend (1994) with Jet Li. Those films are Hong-Kong martial arts films, shot in cantonese language. They weren't made with western audiences in mind, but they're very accessible. If you want something more like The Raid, you can try SPL (2005) also known in the US as "Killzone". With Donnie Yen. Honorable mentions: - Police Story (1985) with Jackie Chan. - Prodigal Son (1982) with Sammo Hung. Best. Fight. Choregraphy. Ever. - Drunken Master 2 (1994) with Jackie Chan. Don't worry about the "2", the first isn't required viewing. TH-camr "James vs Cinema" can hook you up with the correct version, which is hard to find.
“The Prodigal Son” is a brilliant film with wing chun in it. Yuen Biao and Lam Ching-Ying were great together. Another film that Sammo did a few years earlier that also focuses on wing chun is “Warriors Two”, which has Sammo more prominently than “The Prodigal Son”, in which he does not appear until about half-way through the film.
I think it's absolutely implied that she jumped to her death. There's the old legend he mentioned about the boy who jumped and wasn't hurt, but that's a legend. The progress of the story and her character shows passion over contemplation. The progression implies tragedy. She acted on passion, witnessed the damage of her actions, and then fell into depression from it.
His wish was to go back to the desert with her, but she never spoke hers...I think in fact she was conflicted between her passionate love for Lo, and her chaste love for the Chow Yun Fat character. I think THAT is why she jumps.
Quoted from memory: 'every tree holds a crouching tiger, every cave a hidden dragon'. This is a symbol of yin / yang, the two animal symbols of it, and purple is the colour of yin, and green the colour of yang. Which makes the Incredible Hulk a problem... This story is one half of a large novel, which itself is one of a series. The backstory mentioned and alluded to are earlier books, and there are books after this. Essentially: no-one can escape the wheel of karma.
Another great martial art movie with good romance story line is"The Grandmaster". Zhang Ziyi had another good role in this movie. Well choreographed with sad love story ending, that sure will make you cry
1/3 way thru I just loved how you guys were enjoying this movie, without judging about all the wire flying wushu film style. I watched this film with my two brothers in Canada in the theatre when I was a teenager. It was a big thing for us because it was actually the first "Chinese" movie we could see in theatre after we moved to Canada from Hong Kong. Wushu film was one of a kind from the Hong Kong cinema for ages. I have to find time to re-watch this whole movie again!
Anthony: I love how in Martial Arts films they have such gentle feet, ...you never hear them land.' Me: but you already saw Hero. The impact of kicks given in first fight alone are heavy enough that the audience feels it.
Fom Wikipedia: "An overwhelming critical and commercial success, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won over 40 awards and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography, receiving the most nominations ever for a non-English-language film at the time, until 2018's Roma tied this record. The film also won four BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Foreign Film. Along with its numerous awards, Crouching Tiger is often cited as one of the finest wuxia films ever made. The film has been praised for its story, direction, cinematography, and martial arts sequences."
Loved this. Since you liked this and "Hero", I hope you will one day check out House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). They are both from the director of Hero and have a similar vibe.
My observations, You guys did the best reaction to this film, most of the others couldn't catch the momentum maybe watching martial arts movies adjusted you make impressive!
Michelle Yeoh, was in 007 James Bond "Tomorrow Never Knows", and with Jackie Chan, in "Super Cop", and "Super Cop 2", and more recently at the end of "Guardians Of The Galaxy vol.II", and featured prominently, in "Shang-Chi".
I would still highly suggest Jet Li's Fearless based on the real life of Huo Yuanjia. Like the rest of the movies you've been watching, this is another where the original and Dubbed versions feel different simply because you don't get to feel the actors acting/emotions almost at all in the Dubbed. The movie is simply Jet Li's finest in terms of storytelling, writing, and acting. The martial arts of course is also top notch. However if you're looking for Jet Li movies more based on higher quality and or over the top martial art work, then the Once Upon a Time in China series would be another route to take. (Usually people say to watch up to the 3rd movie in the series. The later ones afterwards aren't nearly as good.) Regardless, of all the martial arts movies available to you, I'd say Fearless would be a very good movie for you two to watch. Happy New Year and I wish you two continued success in life as well as this Channel/Community.
Fearless also has the same fight choreographer and action director as this one. His name is Yuen Woo-Ping, who also fulfilled the same roles on The Matrix 1-3.
You missed that he said he floated away and never seen again... So, regardless of if she died she was atoning for her failure to truly understand her destiny. That destiny she denied herself by betraying what she had been offered finally realized with Bi's death her pride had been her defeat.
A titbit: in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Evelyn's Chinese name is Shu Lien, the same one as Michelle Yeoh's character in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
When he said "it's like watching a dance," he nailed it. That wire look is all done on purpose, has been sent Samurai Sunday (for all those who know). Honestly I don't see the wire look anymore just the story behind it.
It's ang lee movie, who also directed brokeback mountain. Most of his movies have like romance elements, which was why him directing a Wuxia movie, like traditional Chinese kung Fu movie with flying etc was a risky affair, and could have been a miss. But as we know in hindsight, it was a great movie, and even though it was not full of fighting and killing, the fights were still good but more poetic, like dancing almost as you guys said at the start.. especially the fight in the bamboo forest. So graceful. The cinematography was great too, so beautiful. The forest, the lakes and rivers, the deserts, etc. Just missing the beautifully mountains, which makes up a big element of Wuxia and Jiang hu(underworld of kung Fu). Like wudang mountains, mount hua, Huang San, etc. These are common Wuxia tropes, and while ang lee borrowed and incorporated a lot of those well known/used tropes, he also brought his own style and put in romance elements too. It was a great movie by all accounts and deserved the Oscar it won, best foreign movie oscar iirc. Glad you guys liked it, and i also liked your review and analysis. You guys understood the movie well and quite thoroughly too for a first viewing and for someone not very experienced with Wuxia and Jiang hu tropes. Although if you've seen many other Wuxia Kung Fu movies then it makes more sense.
For Michelle Yeoh, watch Super Cop. It was a big breakout role for her in Hong Kong. She does her own stunts, and almost steals the show from Jackie Chan. In fact, Jackie put in a stunt for himself when he saw Michelle’s big stunt so that he didn’t get upstaged.
Infernal Affairs is a must watch for Hong Kong classic... they just celebrated 20 years too. Martin Scorsese adopted it and won Oscar for "The Departed"
There has been a report, of people who practice a form of meditation, called "Long Dam". They could be seen, doing high, and long jumps through the midpoint of a valley. The one that reported witnessing this, was warned, not to break their concentration, as it could be fatal for the practitioner, to come out of meditation, mid-leap.
awesome reaction! better than any others that I couldn't watch. you found the best parts and put them together. .... and this is exactly why you steal a girl's comb!
Been a Michelle Yeoh fan since "Supercop" with Jackie Chan. Can't believe more people aren't recommending her movie "Wing Chun" which is a fun, albeit a kind of campy, kung fu romantic comedy. Come on, the Tofu fight scene is legendary! Cheng Pei Pei (Jade Fox) is also in the movie, along with Donnie Yen.
Hard to think that Michelle Yeoh never formally trained in martial arts; she has a background in dance, was very supple and good at copying movements, which helped her immensely with the complicated action choreography.
Watch all of our martial arts film reactions: th-cam.com/play/PLaJ2CjniK40pvvg28ifXZXmPjcUSYSaA4.html
Love your reaction. If you like this movie you'll love Jet Li movie "Fearless". It is base on a real life martial art master and his life journey. Please react to it.
@@liarson4430 Agreed
If you enjoyed Michelle Yeoh in this movie and EEAAO, give The Heroic Trio a try, one of my absolute favourite martial arts movies led by 3 excellent female stars, Yeoh included.
now you should watch Hero! most beautiful martial arts film ever!
If you guys want to watch other amazing martial arts movies you should watch Jet Li movies. The Bodyguard from Beijing (The Defender in the U.S. release but try to watch the movie in the original language not the crappy English dubbed version), Once Upon a Time In China 1-3 (again try to watch the movie in it's original language not crappy English dubbed version), Romeo Must Die, Kiss of The Dragon, The One, Cradle 2 The Grave
Fun fact: Cheng Pei Pei, who played Jade Fox, was considered the first female action stars. She starred in a number of Hong Kong action films in the 1960's.
"Come Drink With Me" , is a classic.
Not quite the first. But definitely a pioneer.
The restaurant scene here is a direct homage to the Come Drink With Me inn scene.
Umm aren’t you forgetting Jennifer Lawrence?
@@yodieyuh the inn scene is a staple classic and is in 75% of the period kungfu movies
The deeper meaning to this movie is about desire and being true to oneself and being honest and open with your feelings. The three main characters are kept from their desires either internally like Chow Yun Fats and, Michelle Yeohs with their unspoken love for one another vs Zhang Ziyi who acts free but is restricted by her life circumstances.
❤
This is my favourite movie of all time. The ending had me in tears when I first watched it. This movie is essentially about freedom, but that there is sometimes a price with being free. That society can place restrictions on who we really want to be. Love this movie so much.
Of course society need to put a rule. Looks what happen in US when mental illness is taught to be normal and people became more extreme every year.
She absolutely leapt to her death. What she wanted most in life was freedom. In the end, even her time as a wandering swordsman of wasn't what she thought it would be. I think she knew she'd never be free in this life so all she could do was give Lo his chance to make a wish. This is a beautiful tragedy.
dude.u know she can fly?
@iamme25yagoyeah it’s essentially confirmed she lives
Missing the point of the ending if you’re trying to decipher whether she lived or died in the literal sense
Stop trying to turn it into some feminist thing.
@iamme25yago “confirms that she survives” u know this is a fictional story right, movie adaptations don’t have to the exact replicas of the source material
The fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi is absolutely spectacular. One of the best fights between two women ever put on film.
Subtract the "between two women" and it is still one of the best fights ever put on film.
This, Hero and House of Flying Daggers are all incredible films, everyone should watch, and each has distinctive and mind blowing, choreography and cinematography, these are truly works of art!
2nd both of these!
Facts !!
Hero is a must watch
Totally agree. Hero is so incredibly beautiful.
Hero has an amazing plot, and then the production on top of that, superb.
If you really want to know what happens to Jen, read on. But beware...
CTHD is the 4th book in a pentalogy. The movie version is meant to strongly imply that she fell to her death, but leave a possibility she survived. But remember the end of the story. While the man in the story wasn't hurt because his heart was pure, he was never seen again. Lo was weeping as Jen jumped because he knew either way he would never see her again.
The book version is explicit as to her fate. The book flips the final two scenes and has Jen surviving the fall and then spending the night with Lo before leaving him forever. She wanders into the desert to never be seen again.
Well, until book five. At the beginning of book five, Jen gives birth to Lo's son, who is stolen and swapped for a girl. Jen searches for her son, but cannot find him and chooses to raise the girl as her own. 19 years later, she leaves the desert to try and find her son once again but grows ill and cannot continue. A man on a quest stops to take care of her. During their talks, she realizes that the man is her missing son. She tries to get him to come with her back to the desert to meet her adopted daughter, but she dies on the way back before telling him that she was his mother.
The son briefly finds the daughter, discovers Jen was his mother, and also comes across Lo(his actual father), who had been searching for a child he believed to be a daughter(because of the swapped babies). But Lo dies soon after from injuries sustained in a fight. Eventually the son and daughter meet for good, fall in love, and have a happy ending. Out of the four primary pairings over the five books, they were the only ones to get the happy ending. The books were written from 1940 to 1944 in Japanese-occupied China, so I can understand the bleakness in the series.
I really wish all the books would be adapted.
Thanks for the additional info! I had read that in the books, Jen survives, but never any further detail beyond that.
Considering the worldwide success of the film, it's surprising that the series has never been translated into English, beyond what I understand to be a partial fan effort that hasn't gotten to the stories in this film yet, if I recall correctly.
Thanks....didn't know there were actually three books/story arcs before the film and one concluding book/story arcs after.
Thank you for this, opened the comments about to type my own recap of the book series and saw your excellent summary.
Thank you!
I saw this in the theater when it came out and afterwards people applauded.
I remember crying so much at the end when she flies. I felt like after everything she's been through she was still looking for something, maybe her true self. I felt that was very moving. And it is a beautiful shot. The film is gorgeous and what a cast!
Wether she survive the jump or not, either way lo isn't going to see her ever again. This movie is so beautiful and yet so hopeless lol. Definitely my favorite martial arts movie. They totally deserved those 4 oscars.
yup, she carried a heavier burden than what mu bai and shu lien did (meng zi zhao's death) and she would not be able to wash that guilt off if she becomes happy with lo
Michelle Yeoh’s performance was impeccable, she deserves the Oscar in this movie. She should have won if Oscar was fair.
This is my favorite movie. Not to forget the sound track was amazing. Main Theme was sang by Coco Lee, love the song too.
rip coco lee
@@antwango , ya, sad 😭
Yeah, that final scene with Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat gets me every time 😭
Michelle Yeoh from the 80's, my god, she kicked asses and looking like a goddess. She was 1983 Miss Malaysia pageant winner.
She's a Bond girl bro
I had a big crush on the actress who played Jen Yu. Her name is Zhang Ziyi. Another great movie with her is Memoirs of a Geisha. It's not a movie I thought I would enjoy at all but I loved it.
They did see her in Hero. Another big US movie she's known for is playing the female villain in Rush Hour 2.
Memoirs of a Geisha was the first Blu-ray I bought.
Memoirs of a Geisha has a couple of redeeming qualities and one of them is Zhang Ziyi. Unfortunately Zhang Ziyi's accent is an issue when speaking English and Japanese. She can't shake off her Chinese accent. The inherent problem with the story is that it was stolen by the author of the novel. The movie is based on the novel written by Arthur Golden who based most of it on conversations he had with Mineko Iwasaki, an actual Geisha. He never acknowledged this fact until he was forced to. After stealing Iwasaki's story, the novel and the movie were ironically being sold as giving a voice to women in the Geisha world. This was then revealed to be utterly ridiculous when Iwasaki sued and revealed Golden for who he is. There are other internal issues with the movie itself leaving all that aside. The much better movie to recommend is "House of Flying Daggers."
Zhang ziyi was one of my childhood crushes and she doesn't age either
@@tranquilk5912 100% agree. I know she was born same year as me.(79)
Its a great film and was one of the first films I actually purchased myself (back then on DVD), and more recently on Blu ray 4K UHD. See this is how you make films with strong female characters, you just write superb stories and the characters find their strength in the fantastic plot lines. You don't have to force it. Beautifully paced and filmed. It left me in awe when I first saw it and still does to this day. Glad you guys enjoyed it so much and can I just say I absolutely love the dynamic between the two of you, no over talking, pure joy in the experience, you are one of the best reaction teams out there. Long may it continue, you both brighten my day
It's worth noting that in the major fight between Michelle Yeoh and Jen, the weapons that Yu Shu Lien chose were meant to try and get around the strength of the Green Destiny sword. The double blade katanas, the spear, the hooked swords, and the sword breaker. One reason she looked so shocked was because the one hit she did that sent Jen flying back should have broken the sword, but it didn't. The long sword was the last one and the one that ended up winning her the battle. It's just interesting to see how like y'all said, experience still triumphed over an OP sword.
Maybe that sword is damascus blade especially when they said its 400 years old which is coincidently 400 years before qing dynasty which this movie set from.
Why crusaders afraid of damascus blade because its very hard and can break european sword used by crusaders.
Thank you for watching and reacting to this film
That final scene with Li Mu Bai is the most beautiful and best written piece of cinema I've ever seen.
This came out right while I was in film school and we watched and discussed it in my Narrative Cinema class.
Zhang Ziyi is amazing. She doesn't get the credit she deserves. I don't speak a lick of Chinese but she tugs my heart strings in everything she's in lol
A movie with Zhang Ziyi that you should see is The Road Home, you wouldn't regret watching it. It was actually her first movie, and the movie was directed by Zhang Yimou who directed her in a lot of her biggest films like Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dagon, House of the Flying Daggers, etc.. Zhang Yimou is probably the most famous and succesful chinese director.
Not many people react to Martial Arts movies so im glad to find this channel. I would like to see you guys react to Reign Of Assassins it has Michelle Yeoh as a main lead. Has great action and plot twists.
I'm so glad y'all finally reacted to this movie! It's my favorite of 2000!
A few other awesome flicks in this genre are Hero, Iron Monkey, House of Flying Daggers and Shaolin Soccer (the first and best film from Stephen Chow, who also directed Kung Fu Hustle)
There are a lot of great movies starring Stephen Chow but maybe not for western taste or ... and his debut direction is The King of Comedy
@@argentumsurfer4155 Also "Journey to the West" very very funny movie
The journey to the west is arguably the best story from Stephen Chow due to its multiple layers.
Incase for people that don’t know, wudan = wu-tang (rap group) wudan is the current sound translation by China vs. wu-tang was sound translation via Hong Kong (Cantonese), wu-dan-pie = wu-tang-clan. wu-dan is actual rival to shao-lin… wudan is Taoism (tao), shaolin is Buddhism.
Excellent choice. One of the greatest movies ever made. I just watched the 4k Version in english about a week ago. Seen it tons of times though. Beautiful artistry.
I am thrilled you guys loved this movie. I read that this movie is being re-released in theaters in 4k next month around Valentines Day. Great Reax Video guys!
really? *goes to look for it*
Seen it once at old timey theater & it was an amazing experience!
I can't tell you I looooove this movie, I saw years ago and it has alwys been among my favorites of all time. Thanks for the reaction.
The earliest memory that I had of watching a Michelle Yeoh movie as a kid was Butterfly & Sword. That movie also introduced me to Tony Leung & Donnie Yen, though the emphasis was on Tony and Michelle's characters. It's an extremely old movie, I think it's 30 years since but I still have vivid memories of it. Michelle's been in many movies, though her breakthrough to Hollywood was Tomorrow Never Dies.
Both of you have to react to Hero. That movie's plot and story is just brilliant and the visuals are incredible. One of my favorite wuxia films of all time!
Growing up reading martial arts novels you’d be surprised at how much romantic elements are included in them. One of my favorite films so beautifully done.
literally Ang Lee has been robbed of Best Picture twice at the Oscar
I think the freedom that Jen wants doesn't exist in mortal realm. Even Lo's love is possessive. That's why she chooses to leave everything behind.
Michelle Yeoh got her break in Jackie Chans Police Story 3 Supercop. Worth checking out. Also for more of the actress that played Jen watch House of Flying Daggers
Not really. Police Story 3 was sort of her comeback after a failed marriage. She waa briefly retired from acting when she was married. Her breakthrough role was Yes Madam in 1985 because it was sort of the first time a woman fight as good as a man in HK cinema
I remember watching the Oscars when this movie was up against Gladiator. Sadly, I don’t think the academy was ready for this type of film to win best picture back then. Even years later, Crouching Tiger has stood the test of time and is still exhilarating to watch. This reaction was also fun to watch!
I love this movie. This is the best reaction i have watched to it. You guys are awesome!
i also had tears watching the dying scene of li mu bai, ....'i'd rather be a condemned soul than enter heaven without you...' and that few seconds of acting by michelle yeoh gets to me everytime.
That's awesome you guys got into martial arts films. Do take it with a grain of salt though because you have to understand that the subtitles doesn't NEARLY do the dialogue justice. It's like Shakespearian English, characters speak in unique phrasings to convey certain ideas, each line of dialogue is filled with idioms, and double, triple entendres, it is actual poetry. But the sub titles often can't even translate these phrases at their most superfacial level.
A quick example is "Jade Fox", the literal translation is actually "Jade eyed fox". But character for "jade" can also mean "green" so really, it should be "green eyed fox". In this case, the color green represents "greed", and "fox" is commonly used to describe someone who is slick and tricky. So really, before this character is even introduced, we already know that we are dealing with a "greedy trickster". This is just one of hundreds if not thousands of dialogues that can't be translated properly.. it is such a shame really.
Still though, mad props for watching all these martial arts movies, love all your content as usual! Cheers!!
With the subtitles.. you guys probably missed the whole taboo romantic undertone between the master and the student. He had feelings for her since they first met, which was what really caused the fight between her and Michelle Yeo, which was what really led to the scene where she asked "do you want the sword, or me?". This movie is no joke, lots of underlying intricacies left for the audience to unpack. Was not famous for no reason.
' dance' - great description! It's choreographed like a beautiful dance. Everything bout this film is beautiful: fights, imagery & even the language!
don't take a bishes' comb! 😉 'nobody's love interest better die in this film' - bites tongue er fingers 😏
That 'ghost by your side' line is one of the most sad/romantic lines ever written! ♥ 😢
I ♥ how the ending they don't decide for us. We're left to ponder/decide whether she got her wish, or not
Great reaction to a GREAT movie. This, along with Hero is probably my fav movies in this genre. (Ok, gotta add Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon ... and almost every Shaw Bros. movies.)
As for Michelle Yeoh, she was also VERY briefly in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - she was one of the Ravager captains at the end.
As for the lead actor in this movie, Chow Yun-fat, he is a well known actor in his own right. The other US movie that I recall him acting in was the remake of Anna and the King, where he played the King of Siam across from Jodie Foster.
I very much love this one. It's more of a dramatic love story than a martial arts movie imo.
Also love your denial about Jen jumping off the mountain.
Check out House of Flying Daggers too if you liked this one :)
Loved this movie growing up, and to this day, it's still my favorite modern/big budget martial arts film. For some reason i'm more forgiving of the whole wire-flying in this movie than others, which i suspect is because it seems like it's only a select few that can do it, cos of their training.
This was also the first movie i saw Chow Yun Fat (Li Mu Bai) Michelle Yeoh in, and Zhang Ziyi (Jen) and they're just great in everything they're in. Another movie i remember Michelle being in was a Brosnan Bond movie, "Tomorrow Never Dies" i believe, and Zhang Ziyi was in "Rush Hour 2" i think.
Actually, Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon might be have turned out to be a big box office smash hit, it was not a big budget film at all. It was a fairly low budget Independent film by Hollywood standard. It just became a big sleeper hit film in 2000 and really made Ang Lee, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi became world renowned even though Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh were already famous in Asia for many years before that. Zhang Ziyi was a completely new actress than only had one small film prior to this directed by the legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
youre more forgiving of the wirework because it lends itself to the mystique, fairytale like otherworldly nature of the story, we were all like wtf they can all fly...... but its meaant to represent and portray grcefulness, just like the martial arts is a dance.... and that love and hate between jen and lo, jen and jade fox, li and shu lien is all a graceful dance and a thin line between whats being said and whats not being said..... like chinese brush painting, there are no harsh definite lines... it leaves alot to the imagination
The fight sequences in this movie are a beauty, amazing choreography .........
I love that you pointed out the fighting is kind of like a dance. I've lived in 2 countries: 🇺🇲 🇨🇳. I've seen western (Italian) opera and Chinese opera. Both are semi-ancient forms of storytelling. The stories are usually ridiculous tales about vengeance and angsty love.
In Western opera, the emphasis is all on the music. There's no action (I mean they say there is but no) the most you get is maybe a choreographed masquerade kind of scene but western opera is music music music. The most powerful scene can be someone standing utterly still but godDAMN their voice shakes you to your core.
Chinese opera is a whooole nother thing. 'Opera' should be understood as 'operatic storytelling.' As a high school student sitting down in a Beijing theater, I understood 'opera' to mean boring but beautiful sounding.
Chinese opera DOES. NOT. SOUND. BEAUTIFUL. I subtly covered my ears a few times. Sometimes it's interesting singing with a pitch that goes everywhere. Other times it's: banging cymbals and caterwauling. But Chinese opera is about 1 notch lower from being a true acrobatics show. The opera players are real athletes. While singing, they may cross the stage doing amazing circle kicks in the air.
It makes sense that the western form of storytelling that breaks 1 rule of reality is musicals. And the Chinese form of storytelling that forges 1 rule of reality is wuxia. And 💯 Star Wars is inspired by eastern storytelling.
I went to Catholic school so we had religion class. During world religions, when we got to eastern thinking in Hinduism and Buddhism my teacher saw us hitting a mental wall trying to understand an interpretation of god as Brahman, not as a personified character, but as an "'the all, everything.' H̶e̶ It is Form, without form. Obviously we were like ???? My teacher sighed and said, "for Westerners...the easiest way to understand it is like the Force in Star Wars." Everyone immediately went ohhh and we had no problem studying the specifics in Eastern religions after that.
🤷🏻♀️ It appears silly that we resort to using a sci-fi franchise as a reference spot but it just so happens it's the most convenient exposure to Eastern philosophy
Because Star Wars is influenced by Eastern philosophy & the only way Lucas could slip all that into Western minds is via Sci-Fi.
All form without form is why those religion goes astray. Even judaism and Christianity also fell the same mentality.
In islam, God is unlike anything which means he has no physics but have attributes. Its fixed old religion teaching. God doesn't need his creation but creation need him. This is why when God said in Islam he rest in arash doesn't means literally but he is all power over his creation because arash is bigger than 7 heaven.
In islam, anybody Who said God have body but unlike Others is commiting heavy mistakes because those mentality is what distorted old religion turned into making God into his creatures. What funny thing is every extremist islamic group have the same mentality about God and no wonder they all gone astray
I LOVE this movie. Great Reaction
I remember completely falling apart at the theater when this movie ended, I did not cry, I wept. So many layers of sadness, but so beautiful.
your whould watch "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" 2002, another great movie with martial arts.
this is my top 3 favorite reactions from you guys. should have 9,999,999 views by now
25:43 I can't even imagine how this scene was filmed, with all the wire work and cameras in this tight environment.
As others have said, more like this is Hero and/or House Of Flying Daggers.
Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon is one of my favorite films,Ziyi Zhang is a charming actress of China.By the way,House of Flying Daggers you guys should watch it,because Ziyi Zhang looks beautiful in this film.
Such a great movie Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi are such amazing actresses and so gorgeous its ridiculous
That was a beautiful watch with the two of you, thank you for that. I reeeally hope you both try Ang's Life of Pi as well... at some point.
I love how much you guys are enjoying this xD
this is still ONE of the BEST movies ever! glad u found and enjoyed it!
Appreciated the reactions and connections. You good fellas 🤍
Since you guys are really getting into the martial arts genre, I would recommend:
- Once Upon A Time In China (1990) with Jet Li.
It's a whole saga with 6 films. The first 3 are very good.
- Iron Monkey (1993) with Donnie Yen. It's kind of a prequel for Once Upon A Time in China.
- Tai-Chi Master (1993) with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. Marketed in the US as "Twin Warriors". But make sure you avoid the US dubbed version.
- Fist of Legend (1994) with Jet Li.
Those films are Hong-Kong martial arts films, shot in cantonese language.
They weren't made with western audiences in mind, but they're very accessible.
If you want something more like The Raid, you can try SPL (2005) also known in the US as "Killzone". With Donnie Yen.
Honorable mentions:
- Police Story (1985) with Jackie Chan.
- Prodigal Son (1982) with Sammo Hung. Best. Fight. Choregraphy. Ever.
- Drunken Master 2 (1994) with Jackie Chan. Don't worry about the "2", the first isn't required viewing. TH-camr "James vs Cinema" can hook you up with the correct version, which is hard to find.
Don't forget "Once Upon A Time in China II" starring Jet Li, kung-fu movie leading man from the 1970s and 1980s David Chiang, and Donny Yen
I like, the original Drunken Master.
Same feeling, for your other recommendations.
“The Prodigal Son” is a brilliant film with wing chun in it. Yuen Biao and Lam Ching-Ying were great together.
Another film that Sammo did a few years earlier that also focuses on wing chun is “Warriors Two”, which has Sammo more prominently than “The Prodigal Son”, in which he does not appear until about half-way through the film.
To me the themes of this movie are sacrifice & duty. All the main characters sacrifice their own happiness in the name of Duty & Honor
Really great reaction from you two.
I think it's absolutely implied that she jumped to her death. There's the old legend he mentioned about the boy who jumped and wasn't hurt, but that's a legend. The progress of the story and her character shows passion over contemplation. The progression implies tragedy. She acted on passion, witnessed the damage of her actions, and then fell into depression from it.
His wish was to go back to the desert with her, but she never spoke hers...I think in fact she was conflicted between her passionate love for Lo, and her chaste love for the Chow Yun Fat character. I think THAT is why she jumps.
I can't watch this too often, the two tragic stories always make me cry.
"Put that needle in that woman's eye!" 😆 I'm dying...
It's a beautiful love story. I enjoyed re-watching my favourite movie with you
You guys should watch The Grand Master directed by Wong Kar-wai.
Quoted from memory: 'every tree holds a crouching tiger, every cave a hidden dragon'. This is a symbol of yin / yang, the two animal symbols of it, and purple is the colour of yin, and green the colour of yang. Which makes the Incredible Hulk a problem...
This story is one half of a large novel, which itself is one of a series. The backstory mentioned and alluded to are earlier books, and there are books after this.
Essentially: no-one can escape the wheel of karma.
Another great martial art movie with good romance story line is"The Grandmaster". Zhang Ziyi had another good role in this movie. Well choreographed with sad love story ending, that sure will make you cry
Nice reaction, I would also recommend anime Link Click, one of the best executed anime I watched in recent years.
Yes this film is a masterpiece, imaging watching in a theater when it first came out. It was so great.
The audience got up and applauded at the end.
One of the most beautiful movies ever made . Absolutely amazing
1/3 way thru I just loved how you guys were enjoying this movie, without judging about all the wire flying wushu film style. I watched this film with my two brothers in Canada in the theatre when I was a teenager. It was a big thing for us because it was actually the first "Chinese" movie we could see in theatre after we moved to Canada from Hong Kong. Wushu film was one of a kind from the Hong Kong cinema for ages. I have to find time to re-watch this whole movie again!
I was big on martial arts films when I was little. I snuck into a movie theater to see this movie 🤣
Anthony: I love how in Martial Arts films they have such gentle feet, ...you never hear them land.'
Me: but you already saw Hero. The impact of kicks given in first fight alone are heavy enough that the audience feels it.
She was in a James Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan
This is a great film, deserving of more than one viewing.
Fom Wikipedia: "An overwhelming critical and commercial success, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won over 40 awards and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography, receiving the most nominations ever for a non-English-language film at the time, until 2018's Roma tied this record. The film also won four BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Foreign Film. Along with its numerous awards, Crouching Tiger is often cited as one of the finest wuxia films ever made. The film has been praised for its story, direction, cinematography, and martial arts sequences."
Loved this. Since you liked this and "Hero", I hope you will one day check out House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). They are both from the director of Hero and have a similar vibe.
Slow clap for Dos Cavazos for choosing amazing films
While a tragedy hurts for the moment, it helps us appreciate what we have in real life. A happy ending can't give that.
My observations, You guys did the best reaction to this film, most of the others couldn't catch the momentum maybe watching martial arts movies adjusted you make impressive!
THis was the best kung fu movie of all time for me. Also has an great and sad love song soundtrack which I listen to this day, and I'm not Chinese.
I remember Good Morning America doing a movie review of this in the 2000s and recommending everyone to go see it. Such a good film
Michelle Yeoh, was in 007 James Bond "Tomorrow Never Knows", and with Jackie Chan, in "Super Cop", and "Super Cop 2", and more recently at the end of "Guardians Of The Galaxy vol.II", and featured prominently, in "Shang-Chi".
I second that. Hero is one of the most beautiful, poetic movies ever made.
I would still highly suggest Jet Li's Fearless based on the real life of Huo Yuanjia. Like the rest of the movies you've been watching, this is another where the original and Dubbed versions feel different simply because you don't get to feel the actors acting/emotions almost at all in the Dubbed. The movie is simply Jet Li's finest in terms of storytelling, writing, and acting. The martial arts of course is also top notch. However if you're looking for Jet Li movies more based on higher quality and or over the top martial art work, then the Once Upon a Time in China series would be another route to take. (Usually people say to watch up to the 3rd movie in the series. The later ones afterwards aren't nearly as good.) Regardless, of all the martial arts movies available to you, I'd say Fearless would be a very good movie for you two to watch.
Happy New Year and I wish you two continued success in life as well as this Channel/Community.
Fearless also has the same fight choreographer and action director as this one. His name is Yuen Woo-Ping, who also fulfilled the same roles on The Matrix 1-3.
@@zuriyel5368 yup
You missed that he said he floated away and never seen again... So, regardless of if she died she was atoning for her failure to truly understand her destiny. That destiny she denied herself by betraying what she had been offered finally realized with Bi's death her pride had been her defeat.
A titbit: in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Evelyn's Chinese name is Shu Lien, the same one as Michelle Yeoh's character in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
When he said "it's like watching a dance," he nailed it. That wire look is all done on purpose, has been sent Samurai Sunday (for all those who know). Honestly I don't see the wire look anymore just the story behind it.
Ok do of the house of the flying dagger next please!!
It's ang lee movie, who also directed brokeback mountain. Most of his movies have like romance elements, which was why him directing a Wuxia movie, like traditional Chinese kung Fu movie with flying etc was a risky affair, and could have been a miss. But as we know in hindsight, it was a great movie, and even though it was not full of fighting and killing, the fights were still good but more poetic, like dancing almost as you guys said at the start.. especially the fight in the bamboo forest. So graceful. The cinematography was great too, so beautiful. The forest, the lakes and rivers, the deserts, etc. Just missing the beautifully mountains, which makes up a big element of Wuxia and Jiang hu(underworld of kung Fu). Like wudang mountains, mount hua, Huang San, etc. These are common Wuxia tropes, and while ang lee borrowed and incorporated a lot of those well known/used tropes, he also brought his own style and put in romance elements too. It was a great movie by all accounts and deserved the Oscar it won, best foreign movie oscar iirc.
Glad you guys liked it, and i also liked your review and analysis. You guys understood the movie well and quite thoroughly too for a first viewing and for someone not very experienced with Wuxia and Jiang hu tropes. Although if you've seen many other Wuxia Kung Fu movies then it makes more sense.
For Michelle Yeoh, watch Super Cop. It was a big breakout role for her in Hong Kong. She does her own stunts, and almost steals the show from Jackie Chan. In fact, Jackie put in a stunt for himself when he saw Michelle’s big stunt so that he didn’t get upstaged.
Hero with jet li is a must watch. It’s pretty similar to this film
Curiously, my mom, who was not a fan of martial arts or action films, was the person who turned me on to this movie.
when i saw this in the movie theater when the lights came on the guy behind me was crying his eyes out. 😁
Omg! I hope to see you guys react to House of Flying Daggers. Im sure you'll love it as well.
Infernal Affairs is a must watch for Hong Kong classic... they just celebrated 20 years too. Martin Scorsese adopted it and won Oscar for "The Departed"
Michelle Yeoh was in one of the best action movies ever with Jackie Chan, Supercop. Im sure you would love this movie.
There has been a report, of people who practice a form of meditation, called "Long Dam". They could be seen, doing high, and long jumps through the midpoint of a valley. The one that reported witnessing this, was warned, not to break their concentration, as it could be fatal for the practitioner, to come out of meditation, mid-leap.
awesome reaction! better than any others that I couldn't watch. you found the best parts and put them together. .... and this is exactly why you steal a girl's comb!
Great movie ! One of my all time favorites !!!!!
Been a Michelle Yeoh fan since "Supercop" with Jackie Chan. Can't believe more people aren't recommending her movie "Wing Chun" which is a fun, albeit a kind of campy, kung fu romantic comedy. Come on, the Tofu fight scene is legendary! Cheng Pei Pei (Jade Fox) is also in the movie, along with Donnie Yen.
You should check out Yes Madam. That movie was her breakthrough role and established her as the top female martial arts actress in HK
Hard to think that Michelle Yeoh never formally trained in martial arts; she has a background in dance, was very supple and good at copying movements, which helped her immensely with the complicated action choreography.