Li Mu Bai is a legendary martial artist whose attempts to find enlightenment have left him disillusioned. He gives away his famous sword, the Green Destiny, to signal a move into a new, nonviolent life. His courier is Shu Lien, another well-known fighter who’s been pining away for him for years. Shu Lien becomes friendly with the aristocratic young Jen, who is secretly a superior swords woman, the lover of the desert bandit Lo, and a disciple of the vicious middle-aged female criminal Jade Fox. From this setup, the film details the theft of the Green Destiny, the romantic and political intrigues that ensue, and the major characters’ life quests: Jen for love and power, Li Mui Bai for peace, Shu Lien for Li Mui Bai, Jade Fox for revenge against all men, and Lo for Jen.
The film has a elegant look that works in its favor to transport the viewer to its setting of ancient China. But this rich pictorialism has a down side: Lee (Director) seems to be so in love with his compositions and conceits that the film slows to a crawl in some sequences. A particular offender in this regard is a seemingly endless diversion in the desert, where the love affair between Lo the bandit and Jen the captured lady begins. Lee exploits the bleak beauty of this setting (shot in the Gobi desert and the Taklamakan Plateau north of Tibet) but eventually loses the viewer in the interminable love scenes.
More successful — indeed, the film’s major draw — are the stunningly executed fight scenes. Crouching Tiger keeps all the details clear, giving full play to these skilled performers’ leaps and thrusts and always interspering high-angle shots for context. Michelle Yeoh executes her typical stunningly economical moves, while Cheng Pei Pei is her opposite, relying more on brute strength and raw power to conquer her enemies. Most impressive is Zhang Ziyi. Her dazzling gymnastics put her immediately in the company of legendary predecessors in the field like Angela Mao Ying.
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