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Special Features
Interview: A Conversation with Michele Yeoh
Making of: Unleashing the Dragon
Commentary with Ang Lee and James Schamus
Unleashing the Dragon: The Making of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Photo Montage
A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh
Commentary with Cinematographer Peter Pau
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The filming required an immense effort from all involved. Chow and Yeoh had to learn to speak Mandarin, which Lee insisted on using instead of Cantonese to achieve a more classic, lyrical feel. The astonishing battles between Jen (Zhang) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) on the rooftops and Jen and Li Mu Bai (Chow) atop the branches of bamboo trees required weeks of excruciating wire and harness work (which in turn required meticulous "digital wire removal"). But the result is a seamless blend of action, romance, and social commentary in a populist film that, like its young star Zhang, soars with balletic grace and dignity. --Eugene Wei
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Customer Reviews
Example: The scene where Jen meets and fights with Li Mu Bai for the first time. Jen executes a move that astonishes Mu Bai, who exclaims "Jade Fox can't be your master. Where did you learn the 'Xuan Piu' move?". Jen's response in the DVD: "I'm just playing around". The blu-ray: "Piece of cake." Now which reply by Jen seems more realistic for that time period, in that part of the world? It seems more likely that Jen would say she's just playing around, or improvising. There are two English translations on Blu ray, and they give the same translation, so there's no hunting for the "better" version on Blu-ray.
Throughout the Blu ray, there are many differences in translation compared to the dvd to make one wonder: which version is more correct, given that something is always "lost in translation" from one language to another? These are glaring differences. What's on the Blu-ray is very different from the DVD, and just feels wrong. Anyone else notice this?
This U.S. DVD release of New Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is essentially a condensed Reader's Digest version of the television mini-series that aired in China shortly after the Ang Lee movie came out.
The original series, like alot of Chinese mini-series, tended to explore many aspects of Chinese culture that would be unfathomable to Western tastes. Much of that is cut out.
This series plays out more like a soap opera with continuing plot lines from episode to episode.
It's too bad that Tai Seng edited alot of the story out as some folks may want to see the complete uncut series. But in the interest of Western audiences, it was pared down to a more managable 4 hour show. This DVD release would probably not have sold very well if it was released in the U.S. in its complete uncut edition with more discs and a higher price.
VCDs of the original uncut series are available in China and in Chinese video rental shops but there are no English subtitles or English dubbing.
But what about the DVD? Well sadly it is the most dismal piece of work to come from Sony DVD center this year. Sony was on a streak of superb discs recently but this hack job put an end to that.
The DVD was clearly rushed to market. The transfer is not very clean at all. The MPEG2 artifacts are terrible. Those of us who are fortunate to have a widescreen TV are going to be the most unfortunate this time. The Native widescreen presentation is oh so dismal of an experience! The colors are clean but the pixel jaggies does enough damage to distract the viewer.
The Audio tracks are not at all well managed. There is no reason what so ever to waste valuable data bandwidth to do a Dolby pro-logic track. I love the fact that the disc comes with both Mandarin & English 5.1 Dolby Digital but the bass is so weak. The audio was not at all enhanced. The commentary track is nothing new, it's above average.
The Extras are well... lacking, the making of documentary is pure PR fluff sadly, and the trailers are not even the original ones that Sony was using to advertise the film. The photomontage is mediocre at best.
So why all these complaints? Sony has a masterpiece on their hands and it's pretty clear they did not give it the proper treatment. In a market place where we will have "Patch Adams: Ultimate Edition", and Bring it on: Super Special Extra Spectacular Widescreen Edition, one would assume the big guys at Sony will release a DVD of monumental standards of their big film of 2000. But NO!
So what they miss? First of all the Video was mediocre and should be redone. The Audio needs a lot of work; they should be enhanced to take advantage of all the speakers. A DTS track is perfect for this film I would say. How about a Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat & Ang Lee commentary track? Most of all a Score Only track would be prudent since the film won best score at the academy awards. I am sure there are deleted scenes they could have put on the disc. How about some real making of docs, discussing the stunt work, the novels, or even the production in a larger scale. There are a wealth of pictures on this film, why not include them in user control slide shows? What happened to the music videos?
Sony rushed this disc to the market to capitalize on the films fame. The product is average at best. This film deserves a superior DVD job. Come on Sony, stop giving us special editions of Center Stage and give us a true Collector's Special Edition of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon! (Like Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on River Kwai, Men In Black, and so on... Hint Hint! )
