Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) on Netflix
Li Mu Bai, a Wudang swordsman, asks Yu Shu Lien to deliver his sword Green Destiny to Sir Te. A masked thief steals it. Jen, a governor's daughter, faces an arranged marriage.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.8/10297,396 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1778, Li Mu Bai is a renowned Wudang swordsman who decides to retire from fighting. He asks his friend Yu Shu Lien, who heads a private security company, to take his fabled jian sword, Green Destiny, to Sir Te, a benefactor in Beijing. The two have loved each other for years, but they keep silent out of loyalty to Meng Sizhao, Shu Lien's late fiancé. Mu Bai also still seeks to avenge his teacher, killed by Jade Fox. At Sir Te's estate Shu Lien meets Jen, the daughter of Governor Yu, a young woman about to be married. One night a masked thief steals the sword, and Shu Lien chases the thief across the grounds and rooftops.
Cast
- Yan Haias Madame Yu
- Jin Ting Zhangas De Lu
- Rui Yangas Maid
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ang Lee's original choice to play Li Mu Bai was Jet Li, who turned the role down to keep a promise to take time off from acting and care for his partner, Nina Li, while she was pregnant.
- Ang Lee said the film's stunt work was mostly performed by the actors themselves, and that computers were used only to remove the safety wires that held them aloft: "That's really them in the trees."
- The four leads spoke Standard Chinese in widely different accents: Chow Yun-fat Cantonese, Michelle Yeoh Malaysian (she learned her lines phonetically) and Chang Chen Taiwanese; only Zhang Ziyi had the Mandarin accent Ang Lee wanted, and Chow once had to do 28 takes because of the language.
- The film's success boosted the popularity of Chinese wuxia films in the West, where they had been little known, and led to Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers being marketed towards Western audiences.
- The pterosaur genus Kryptodrakon and the ceratopsian genus Yinlong are both named in allusion to the film, their names meaning "hidden dragon" in Greek and Chinese respectively.
- In casting the film, Ang Lee's first choice for the role of Jen was the actress Shu Qi, but she turned the role down.
- The music for the whole film was produced in only two weeks, and the next year it was adapted into a cello concerto called simply "Crouching Tiger".
