| Major Cast | |
|---|---|
| Yun-Fat Chow | as Master Li Mu Bai |
| Michelle Yeoh | as Yu Shu Lien |
| Zhang Ziyi | as Jen Yu |
| Chen Chang | as Luo Xiao Hu / "Dark Cloud" |
| Sihung Lung | as Sir Te |
| Cheng Pei-Pei | as Jade Fox |
| Fa Zeng Li | as Governor Yu |
| Xian Gao | as Bo |
| Yan Hai | as Madame Yu |
| De Ming Wang | as Police Inspector Tsai / Prefect Cai Qiu |
| Li Li | as May |
| Su Ying Huang | as Auntie Wu |
| Jin Ting Zhang | as De Lu |
| Rui Yang | as Maid |
| Kai Li | as Gou Jun Pei |
| MPAA Rating: | PG-13 |
| Production Companies: | * Asia Union Film & Entertainment Ltd. * China Film Co-Production Corp. * Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia * EDKO Films * Good Machine International * Sony Pictures Classics * United China Vision * Zoom Hunt International Productions Company Ltd. |
| Distributors (USA): | * Sony Pictures Classics * Columbia TriStar Home Video * Fox Network * Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
| Release Date (US): | 1/12/2001 |
| Running Time: | 120 minutes |
| Domestic Box Office: | $128,067,808 (7/27/2001) |
| Foreign Box Office: | $? |
| Production Budget: | $17,000,000 (Est.) |
Master Li Mu Bai delivers the sword Green Destiny to Sir Te as a gift. However, during the night, the sword is stolen by the young Jen Yu, whose youth belies her skill in martial arts. Though pursued across the rooftops by Yu Shu Lien, she escapes the palace.
Later she is captured from a caravan in the north by Dark Cloud, a notorious brigand also skilled in the martial arts. Eventually they fall in love.
Meanwhile Jade Fox, a former student of Master Li who stole from him, is on the run from him and also plotting revenge for being made an outlaw. She too is a formidable fighter, and also able to wield magic. With it she dominates for a time the impulsive Jen Yu.
In the climactic scene, Jade Fox squares off against Master Li and manages to strike him with a poison dart. Jen Yu knows of an antidote to the poison, and is sent to get it. Will she be able to procure it in time?
I was disappointed in the abrupt ending of this film as it was originally shot. Yu Shu Lien confers with Sir Te, who consoles her over the lost of Master Li Mu Bai. Then there's a hard cut to about 5 seconds of her on a horse riding through a forest. THE END.
However, the version on DVD has a decent ending. The rest of the film gave me little to complain about. The scene where Jen Yu, posing as a boastful young man, makes good on her boast by beating up a crowd of men in a tavern, was perhaps a bit overdone. But the plot is coherent, the acting is competent, and the cinematography is grand.
My Rating:
10 out of 10
Capsule review: Stunningly inventive scenes of combat highlight but do not overwhelm this beautifully filmed and well-acted story of love and sacrifice.
| IMDB Rating: 7.9 | Raters: 231,210 |
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