Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

This film is definitely not a classic martial arts film. It's more of a love story, but still has quite a few action fight scenes. The story is a bit hard to follow. And the fact that it is in Chinese and the dialogue must be read doesn't make the film easier to understand. The basic storyline is about a girl who wishes she were something else other than herself. She is a governor's daughter who wants to be a warrior. She was trained in the fighting style of the Wudan, as the film calls it, by a murdering woman who stole the secrets from a legendary Wudan warrior after killing him with poison. The young girl, Jen, is being forced into an arranged marriage and, of course, is in love with someone else. She ends up running away and to escape the life she left behind becomes a warrior by stealing a sword and picking fights with men in taverns. This being my first time seeing the film, I found it hard to understand. Perhaps a second viewing would bring more of the story together and make it more enjoyable. The film is quite different from any martial arts film I've seen. One large difference I noted was that the supposed hero of the film dies. It also focuses more on the love of two warriors, and how their love could never be rather than the fighting and winning (though there is enough of that to not disappoint). The strangest thing about the film is the character's abilities to fly based on their training in the Wudan. At some points it seems as though they are flying, though it could just be that they move so effortlessly, jumping and climbing, that it appears as though they are flying. Either way it was kind of strange. It is a film worth watching.