This is the only movie I've seen so far this year, more of a comment that I have less time for movies rather than a reflection of the quality of movies out there. So far, "Wo hu zang long" is doing remarkably well considering it's a foreign film, and it's a certain lock for a couple of foreign film awards at the Academy Awards. This is a martial arts film first, with two romantic threads, but mostly a lot of fight scenes.

We have Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat Chow) who are two veteran warriors. Li is a master swordsman who wants to retire and spend the rest of his life in peace. Shu Lien owns an armed courier business inherited from her father, she is also a fighter of some renown. Li asks Shu Lien to take his fabled Green Dragon Sword (or whatever it's called) to Sir Te for safekeeping. There is a bunch of tension in the scene and you know there's something up with these two, though it's a bit more complicated as you'll find out later in the movie.

Anyway, at Sir Te's, Shu Lien meets another group of guests, Governor Yu with his wife and daughter, Jen (Zhang Ziyi). Jen is to be married to some powerful nobleman and she romanticizes the swordsman's life, so she quickly befriends Shu Lien. (Jen wants to make Shu Lien her "sister", leading to lines of sisterly advice: "if you think of me as your sister, then as a sister I advise you to do this").

Alas, a thief strikes that very night and steals the Green Dragon Sword (made of an ultralight and flexible alloy, thus explaining the way it waves around like a cheap prop). It's the Jade Fox! Shu Lien doesn't catch the Jade Fox, who escapes into the night. Meanwhile Li Mu Bai arrives the next day and becomes involved because the Jade Fox killed his master and he swore revenge on her. The last of the four main characters is Lo (Cheng Chang), a bandit leader who fell in love with Jen and followed her to the big city to declare his love. He's sort of in the background a bit and we don't find out who he is until later, at which point the movie spends 15 minutes going over how the two young lovers met and fell in love.

This movie is very much styled after the old oriental martial arts action films with the out of sync dialogue and funny names ("Green Tiger Claw move" or the "Bracers of Everlasting Purity"). I wouldn't view it in the same vein as current Hong Kong action films like the films of John Woo or Jackie Chan. "Crouching Tiger" definitely pokes fun at its genre at times and the action scenes and dialogue are a bit over the top, even for the genre.

"Crouching Tiger" improves upon the genre with great cinematography. Lush landscapes, mountains, trees, and desert are abundant. There is one scene where we see Li Mu Bai's alma mater sitting on the side of Wutan Mountain. It's an old and beautiful building with steps going literally up the mountain to it. The stunts are smoother and more fantastic than the old films. Lots of rather obvious wire fighting -- they definitely didn't try to make it look like these are supernatural fighters. A lot of comedy that made people laugh, a relatively plain plot but with a couple of good twists, and a romantic undercurrent that adds dimension to the characters.

If you loved the old martial arts movies, you'll love this movie. If John Woo or Jackie Chan are your idols, this movie's style will be a turn-off. See it for the action scenes, to see Michelle Yeoh at her best (granted, I haven't seen too many of her movies), and to see a fine foreign film with good production quality. There are no drawbacks. It's not the greatest movie ever, but it's a fine way to spend a couple of hours.