Wolff rating: EXCELLENT
Plot summary: Traditional Chinese drama with updated kung fu action; two aging security guards (security for caravans, that is) touch on their old love together, while a young princess longs for freedom.
Biased, pithy comments: So much as been said about this movie, I'm at a loss to say much more. Essentially, Ang Lee has again made a wonderful costume drama, where the costumes are so natural you feel as if Lee found this world and shot it in situ, rather than laboriously constructed it with antiques, gazillions of yards of homespun cloth, and lots of extras. The story is as old as time, but the action feels like a stylized, effortless version of ``The Matrix''. Not to say that this is exactly an action movie; it's more like a Mandarin love story ran into a Hong Kong chop-socky thriller while walking down the street, and together they are much more than the sum of their parts. Chow Yun-Fat and Yeoh are hardened professionals at action movies yet find the right notes of wistfulness, and young Zhang fills her role as the ``Little Dragon'' as the perfect foil. Definitely good cinema. See this.
Other Notes: Yes, they really got the real actors to spend a few weeks in bamboo trees for that fight. Am I the only one who thought that the balcony railing in the bar was doomed to collapse at some point from the moment I saw it? My favorite character is the captain of the guard, the poor sod.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chen Chang, Sihung Lung.
Directed by: Ang Lee