(120 mins. Rated PG-13)
This subtitled masterpiece tells the story of a sword that represents a lot of power to a lot of people in the Ching Dynasty. Michelle Yeoh portrays the beautiful and most renowned China warrior who is sent on a mission to deliver the sword to Sir Te. No sooner it is delivered, it becomes shoplifted by various karate-kicking warriors every night. There’s one scene where Sir Te comically opens the sword case to find it empty, then commenting, “What’s going on. One minute it’s here, one minute it’s gone.” When Yeoh’s mission turns into capturing Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) a beautiful, frustrated, rebellious teen destined to marry a bureaucrat, all hell breaks loose. Don’t let the style and grace of these “Sense and Sensibility” poised women fool you (director Ang Lee of the Jane Austen classic). At the beat of a drum, they turn into kick-ass women any other woman would want with them on the E train of a midnight Manhattan subway. However, these skilled girlies aren’t all chops and kicks. They have lovers on the side. For the graceful and sophisticated Yeoh, it’s her deceased lover’s brother, Li Mu Bai. For the young and spirited Jen Yu, it’s Lo “Dark Cloud” the hunky Chang Chen as the two first meet in a dessert where Yu chases him with a whip on a speeding horse, (for a form of foreplay) all because he stole her hair comb. The smooth camera work is incredible as the martial art experts literally float over treetops like Peter Pan, with sharp swords and bad attitudes, delivering a drama with comic undertones.
