Number 401 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ang Lee's 2000 wuxia film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.'
Set in Qing Dynasty China, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) is a renowned swordsman who owns the legendary 'Green Destiny' sword. One of his closest friends Yu Shu Lien(Michelle Yeoh) is a similarly talented warrior who is tasked with delivering the sword to Li's benefactor Sir Te. But the sword is stolen in the night by a masked thief. Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu work to recover the sword while working through their previously unrealised feelings for each other.
I found 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' to be a confused film uncertain of its own identity. At times, it seemed like it wanted to be a classic wuxia film with physics-breaking, brilliantly-choregraphed martial art sequences. But at others it tried to be a Western love story focussing on Mu-Bai and Shu-Lien. Shu-Lien was previously engaged to Mu-Bai's friend Meng Sizhao before his untimely death. Out of respect, the two hide their feelings for one another.
This film was made specifically for a Western audience, so perhaps that was the reason for the cloying love story that was never ever fully realised. If it had been made with an Eastern audience in mind, then I think this love story could have been better portrayed. Instead, we were left with great martial art sequences punctuated with verbose, hammy dialogue. I watched this film with subtitles, so I can't even say this was a bad translations, as Ang Lee oversaw the subtitling himself, as he wanted to get the most accurate interpretation possible.
Also, the identity of the masked thief was obvious from the start. If you didn't figure it out in the first five minutes, I won't spoil it here, but that definitely hurt the dramatic tension.
Reportedly, Ang Lee described the film as Sense & Sensibility with martial arts. He also directed this film, which may explain why I wasn't a fan of either.
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