Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
November 4th, 2016
When CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON hit theaters in 2000, I was surprised by how much attention it received, both from critics and fans alike. Prior to 2000, I was a fan of Asian martial arts cinema and was well versed in the wire-fu craze, even if I wasn’t a big fan. So although I thought Crouching Tiger was a nice story, I didn’t see anything new and pretty much dismissed the film. I hadn’t revisited it until now and although I still think the film is overrated, I have a better appreciation for the efficiency in which director Ang Lee told the story and the elegance in the filmmaking.
Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) is a master warrior that has decided to give up his warrior lifestyle in order to be with Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh). But when his sword is stolen, he encounters a new foe in the very talented Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) and an old foe in Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei). This puts Li into two battles, the first to avenge the death of his master by killing Jade Fox and the second to help Jen and convince her to become his pupil.
When talking about CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, the first thing most people point to is how beautiful the film is and that really is the film’s biggest selling point. The action sequences are filmed with an elegance that’s usually lost in traditional martial-arts movies and Ang Lee chooses his settings as the stars of the scene just as much as the actors doing the moves. As beautiful as the scenes were, I have a bigger appreciation for the seamlessness in which the action scenes take place. Ang Lee is telling a story and the martial-arts enhance the story and make sense in the context of the situation. Too many times a wire-fu movie will just try to band-aid a story around a few action scenes, but it’s clear Lee put the focus on the story.
One complaint I have with the story is the inclusion of the Jen and Lo romance. Their romance necessitated an overly long backstory between them, which took the audience out of the moment, just as things were getting going. If the romance had been a bigger part of the story or had any impact on the motivations of Jen, I would have been okay with it, but instead it felt like she wanted Lo around even less than I did. The point of the story was more about her maturation as a Wudan warrior and as a person and I didn’t feel Lo had any impact on either of those developments.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a nice introduction to people that aren’t familiar with Asian cinema and offers plenty of exciting martial-arts sequences and beautiful scenery to keep even the most well-versed cinephile happy. It’s not one of my favorites and I think there are better films out there that have done similar things, but CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON has its place and is a nice effort from Ang Lee.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: For the longest time, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was the only 4K title available on Netflix, which is what I’ll always remember about it. But the 4K UHD version of the film is definitely an upgrade over Netflix and is an impressive all around release. From the opening scene of Li Mu Bai walking into the village, you can see much more depth than on the Blu-ray version. Then you get the scenes in the desert, where a lot of focus is put on the landscapes and you can see the HDR kicking in and giving you rich colors that you probably hadn’t noticed before. The famous treetop sword fight is a mixed bag in terms of video quality because as the camera pans away, the detail vanishes and it almost looks blurry, but when you get a close-up (especially at the end when they’re both balancing on the same branch), the video is crystal clear. Nitpicking aside, this is a fantastic looking 4K disc and a must for fans of the film.
Audio: The Dolby Atmos track should please consumers, but I never think of Crouching Tiger as being an audio driven film. The track is nice, but the video quality is what’s going to win you over.
There are no 4K exclusive features included on the 4K disc, but it does include a copy of the Blu-ray.
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