Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Metascore
93 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Transcends its origins and becomes one of a kind. It's glorious, unashamed escapism and surprisingly touching at the same time.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    Splendid, soaringly ambitious Chinese period fantasy.
    All this critic's reviews
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    100
    Handsome, passionate and fun. It's everything we go to the movies for.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    100
    You have never seen a movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon because there has never been a movie like it.
    All this critic's reviews
  5. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    100
    It is with gravity and levity and incomparable grace that Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- by light years the best movie of 2000.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    100
    The class act of action movies.
  7. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    This is a great movie, but it needs a sales job because it's in Mandarin.
  8. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    100
    Watching it is a nonstop high.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    100
    Rarely has combat been portrayed as beautifully as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Taiwanese director Ang Lee's thoughtful meditation on menace, mortality and the martial arts.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    Soaring and romantic, wild and serene, feminist and gutsy, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the best movies of the year.
  11. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    100
    A spell-binding, engaging and often breathtaking work in which exquisite sets, costumes, photography and music combine with top-notch acting and out-of-this-world fighting scenes.
    All this critic's reviews
  12. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    100
    Ang Lee, a world-class director working at the top of his elegant form, has done something thrilling. For all the leaping action, it's the film's spirit that soars.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    100
    The landscapes are so gorgeous, the philosophy so richly appealing, the narrative so epically sweeping, and the characters so intense.
  14. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Gemma Files
    100
    This is a waking dream of truly operatic dimensions.
  15. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    100
    At once elegant and sublimely silly, contemplative and gung-ho, balletic and bubble-gum, a rousing action film and an epic love story, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one bursting-at-the-seams holiday gift, beautifully wrapped by the ever-surprising Ang Lee.
    All this critic's reviews
  16. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    100
    Crouching Tiger is contemplative, and it kicks ass. Or put it this way: it's a powerful film and a terrific movie.
    All this critic's reviews
  17. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    90
    Has the sprawling canvas of an epic and the emotional heat of classical melodrama.
  18. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    90
    Crouching Tiger's blend of the magical, the mythical and the romantic fills a need in us we might not even realize we had.
  19. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    90
    The picture is more fun than it has a right to be.
  20. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    90
    My first viewing left me dazzled but slightly confused; a second deeply impressed; a third rhapsodic. I wish I hadn't needed to rediagram it in my head to turn it into the masterpiece it so obviously wants to be.
  21. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    90
    Brilliance of the action and effects are supplemented by a consistently superior and resourceful score by Tan Dun.
  22. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    Magnificently nonchalant about its magic.
  23. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    90
    The first Ang Lee film I've seen that I've liked without qualification.
  24. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    89
    A masterful synthesis of generic conventions and creative imagination, a sublime amalgam of some of the best tendencies and talent our times have to offer.
  25. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    A soaring, exhilarating fantasy grounded in earthy emotion, Crouching Tiger more than lives up to the hype.
    All this critic's reviews
  26. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    80
    Whenever Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon resorts to flying fists or soaring sword battles, the Force is definitely with it.
    All this critic's reviews
  27. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    80
    The film satisfies on both visceral and emotional levels.
  28. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    80
    There's so much dreamy beauty in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that it's almost like a narcotic.
  29. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Amy Taubin
    80
    Crouching Tiger's dramatic line is so blurry that the central character is only a bystander to the climactic fight between forces of good and evil.
  30. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    80
    What about Ronny Yu's 1992 masterpiece "The Bride With White Hair," of which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a decent facsimile?
  31. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    The film may be too talky for action-minded viewers and too fantastic for more serious spectators, but it brings appealing twists - including a feminist sensibility - to the venerable martial-arts genre.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 343 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 116
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 116
  3. Negative: 29 out of 116
  1. KevinG.
    3
    Boring! The story was long, drawn out, and had little to no redeeming qualities. The acting was good, though the whole idea of the movie was pushed at its "amazing" effects. I'm sorry, but people jumping around on trees obviously dangling from wires is not my idea of 'good' effects. Forget Crouching Tiger, Get "House of Flying Daggers" or "Hero". They are both 100% better than this.… Full Review »
  2. EssenceOfSugar
    0
    I was in the belief that this movie would turn out amongst the critics as a pile of worthless, tedious crap. I found myself choking on the fact that this actually did well at the box office, and even critics raved about. I've seen a lot better films in my lifetime, and yet this tops off as best compared with films I've seen which ACTUALLY HAVE A PLOT. Darn it, I hoped something interesting would happen when I was watching this, but I couldn't, because I didn't know what the hell was going on. I couldn't exactly make out much apart from some sword, dancing through trees and some random love story, which in itself made no sense. And the ending? The worst ending in the history of the earth, a complete flop - fortunately, at least the other parts of the film were bad so it wasn't let down by the ending, although I wouldn't have minded in myself - it was so boring anyway, I didn't see why we should have turned it off while me and my family we watching before it finished. At least I got to see what sort of MASSIVE FAIL the ending was, to top it all off.… Full Review »
  3. ChristosM
    9
    Saying this is a bad film just because you are bored of reading the subtitles proves how uneducated and childish some people can be.Americans tend not to recognize the fact there is filmmaking happening outside of America and the Uk too. I must admit the origins of the film increase the hype surrounding it but most of all it's a rewarding movie full of high aesthetics,great martial performances and if not good acting,at least perfect photography.It's a piece glistenning with oriental elegance!… Full Review »
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