Response Paper

I have been a fan of martial arts movies since the late Bruce Lee so I figured Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, even though it was the winner of four academy awards, would just be another attempt to make a poor example of a kung fu movie that lacked culture and poor acting. Acting, scenery, choreography, and story line made this an incredibly good movie.

The movie features subtitles which I was impressed to see most foreign movies have overdubbed voice which takes away from the original feature. The setting for the movie takes place in China one of the places martial arts originated and creates a beautiful background for the entire picture. Acting was a big part in making this movie such a big hit. Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh make their presence known whenever they are on the screen.

The costume designs throughout the movie were ancient designs with a modern touch to them. The fight scene choreography was state of the art if you turned your head for one minute you were going to miss an eye popping move. The flying that the characters had the ability to do reminds me of the cinematography they used in the Matrix.

The roles of the females throughout the movie made it different then a traditional martial arts movie. They were a big impact on the characterization of the film. This film was all so was similar to an epic romance with moral instincts. Chow Yun-Fat is in love with Michelle Yeoh throughout the entire movie and his dying words were that he had always loved her.

My reaction to the film in contrast to Humanities is that the picture had all the aspects of a Greek tragedy. A hero goes out to avenge his masters death and falls in love and by getting his revenge ends up dying in the process. In other aspects it reminds me of war over clans or in humanities perspective war to over take another countries boundaries similar to Germany trying to take over most of Europe just like in Crouching Tiger Jade Fox and her clan were making themselves superior and known to every other clan.

It takes the work of a good cast and crew to pull off a movie like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. All the elements of love and action take place in this film and without the remarkable acting in this movie this would not have been possible. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is well worth the money you spend to see it especially if your up to a different genre of film.

Word Count: 434