Film Review: Where's the Tiger? Where's the Dragon?

By Jerome Yuan

Stupid western critics. Ok, let me say this: not bad, actually a pretty enjoyable movie in itself. Despite some flaws here and there, it's worth seeing, even at the psychotic nighttime, could have eaten two meals, price.

Now that I got that out of the way, let me get to the irritating stuff. Western critics are jumping on this movie like it's a gift from god. This is just a messed up case of Asiaphilia. You would think people who review movies for a living would know about the genres they review. The review that really got me was Entertainment Weekly Online commenting on the wire work (reference to Michele Yeoh and Zhang Si Yi's first battle): "You watch, vaulting with them, excited, and when the bout ends... you've burst into applause." OK. I have seen my share of Hong Kong films and then some. I love Yuen Woo Ping's work. His job on "Iron Monkey" was one of the best wirework jobs ever. His fight choreography in "Fist of Legend" is among the best there is. But this? I wasn't clapping, I was laughing (and so was the rest of the audience, who were mostly white by the way) when I saw the flying antics start. Most other Hong Kong films that involve high wirework explain that these are supernatural fighters, and they don't fly, they have superhuman strength or supernatural powers. The wirework in this film was among Woo Ping's weaker efforts. Yet the critics jump all over it like it's amazing, something they've never seen before, and therefore tokenize it.

Entertainment Weekly doesn't stop there: "in this story, especially, Lee also advances a revolutionary agenda of female equality, in a country that traditionally -- officially -- undervalues females." Riiigggghhhtttt. I will agree that Li does a good job of putting women in lead roles, but this movie is not what I would call a feminist movie. Albeit that I am a man, my perspective may be skewed a bit, (I don't like the term feminist either, since it usually denotes white women only), but there are some points to this movie where I have to question that this feminism exists. Yeoh's character is a strong fighter, but also very introvert character in many cases, and in romance matters, follows Fat's lead. The whole section of Zhang Zi Yi's character chasing after a man, for the sake of a comb left me a bit confused as well. The ending was very odd, to say the least, and I won't give it away, but I wonder again at the feminism that is supposed to be "revolutionary". Well, then again, maybe it's just me. (I have an angry reaction when white western critics put their assumptions upon a culture that they degrade regularly.)

The problems are not just stemming from critics lack of knowledge on Hong Kong films, but from Li himself. The movie is a bit more "artsy" than I am used to in an action film. The name of the movie is not referred to and I have no idea as to why it is called such. The only reference in the movie is Zhang Zi Yi's character's name, and Chow Yun Fat using tiger and dragon in the same sentence. This brings up the subtitling issue. I know Mandarin is not Yeoh and Fat's first language, and I got past that and the traditional stiffness of the language found in Chinese period movies. But even with my poor Mandarin skills, I knew that the subtitling was not telling everything that was said. Zhang Zi Yi's name, which is Dragon, and gets translated to "Jen". It seems Li went for efficiency here, rather than emotion. That is odd, considering how much Li went off on long story tangents, putting a romantic spin on the movie. These weren't horrible, but I still found them to be a bit out of place, or at least a bit lengthy.

I am not delivering a diatribe against the movie. Like I said before, it is definitely worth seeing once, maybe even twice if you are really bored (I might do that myself). The fight scenes, despite the lackluster wirework, are quite decent. Chow Yun Fat looks pretty capable with a sword, and Yeoh and Zhang's weapons fight was one of the better choreographed in a while. Zhang Zi Yi, who is a new face to me, was very capable in her role. So go and see it. At the very least, support it since it is one of the biggest releases for an Asian film ever in this country. It is a bit on the artistic side, (and the ending will attest to that), but it is still worth seeing. Just don't go in expecting a Hong Kong film the caliber of "Fist of Legend". If you want to see a non-HK crew make a Hong Kong style action movie, watch "The Matrix".