okay
buckle up we're going in to understand the weapons room slash dojo fight in crouching
tiger hidden dragon between Shu Lien and jen Yu we must first understand the driving force
behind most of the events in the film i.e Jen Yu teenage mutant ninja chaos engine
i'm sorry that was a terrible joke but they will not improve you have been warned the two
main emotional plots running through crouching tiger are one will lee mu bai and Shu Lien ever
talk honestly about their feelings and two will jen ever make a non-chaotic life choice spoiler
no no she will not i'm jill bearup i'm an actor combatant which means i pretend to fight people
on stage i like to perform ridiculous experiments in my garden and you are very welcome here the
plot it goeth thusly lee mu bai is a warrior monk type of fellow with a magic sword called the green
destiny he's in love with Shu Lien he gives up his training and his sword because reasons only
to have the sword immediately stolen by Jen Yu an aristocratic teenage girl who is also the
apprentice of jade fox the woman who killed li mu bai's master the movie is largely about one
teenage girl's chaotic life choices and how they lead to really neat martial arts fights
and also there are dorks in love but apparently happy endings are for suckers let's not
go there and there are lots of fights and in many of those fights they laugh at gravity
gravity such is the nature of wuxia and usha is how i'm going to be pronouncing it because
let's be real i'm going to be pronouncing a lot of words at least slightly wrong i'm trying i tend to
like my entertainment more cheerful than crouching tiger hidden dragon so it's not my favorite piece
of media ever but i really do like the fights and i especially like how they integrate them
so well into the story every fight has a purpose and honestly most of those purposes relate to jen
and jen's general lack of purpose and direction jade fox wants jen to become a criminal and
run away with her jen's parents want her to get married to some dude lo wants her to be
with him lee mubai wants her to train at wudan Shu lien wants her to be content in her life
but jen rejects all of these options because she has pure unadulterated chaos and i think the key
to understanding why she's like this is this scene where she talks to jade fox when i realized i
could exceed you you can't imagine how miserably alone i was with nobody to guide me no master i
could turn to yes these clips are from the english dub i had a little bit of trouble with the blue
ray don't at me jen needs guidance and the lack of guidance she had when she as a quite a young girl
started to outclass her teacher frightened her but instead of seeking better teachers she just
turned inward and that arrogance and unwillingness to trust anyone else that resulted has got a bit
self-destructive she hides her martial arts skills from her parents she hides the extent
of those martial arts skills from her teacher she tries to reach out to Shu Lien but things happen
to a certain extent she trusts lo but even that only happened after she beat him up and
stabbed him look i'm all for flirty fights but might that have been an excessively violent bloody
way of beginning a relationship i feel like it it might jen comes across as cold and as very
very arrogant but that's not all there is to her which is what makes her compelling now my
favorite fight is the dojo fight i was sent this fight as a clip a whole lot of times with the
general comment you must watch this it's amazing long before i ever actually watched the whole of
crouching tiger hidden dragon and i did watch it but i had no context and so i thought well
this is very well put together but i'm not sure how i'm supposed to feel especially because my
initial instinct was that maybe i should be on the side of the plucky teenager with the magic sword
who is clearly outclassed i should also point out that most of the clips stop before jen gives Shu
Lien the arm wound but having watched the fight in isolation a couple of times that wasn't the
vibe i got from it and i wasn't sure if i was reading it wrong or if i just didn't have the
context spoiler i needed the context without the context the fight is technically and cinematically
great but there is very little emotional resonance because you don't really know who
you're supposed to be rooting for jen has run away from her own wedding and then attracted a large
amount of attention by beating up a significant number of dudes in a truly epic non-lethal but
significantly property damaging brawl Shu lien and lee mubai have been trying to help jan out
by keeping her boyfriend low safe because he's been sneaking around the city looking for her
but when Shu lien tells jen that they have kept lo safe and he's at wudan mountain and suggests
that maybe she should go back to her parents before making any unalterable life decisions jen
freaks out someone telling her what to do someone making plans instead of just running around like
a headless chicken jen ain't having that you are working together so i'll do what you want
the running theme of course being that jen is absolutely implacably opposed to anyone telling
her what to do ever earlier in the film when he discovers her trying to return the sword which is
actually a very good idea well done jen lee mubai offers her wudan training which she rejects “wudan
is a wh0rehouse” and now she's rejecting help from Shu lien who's never been anything but merciful
to her and Shu lien who has really kind of had enough by this point finally loses her temper
how dare you accuse me of that or li mu bai i knew that you'd stolen the green destiny from the start
and what do i get about your childish disdain Shu lien demands the sword back jen refuses jen jumps
down into a crowd of dudes jen starts to fight with these dudes who have i think dao stuff hook
swords and i think that's called a guando but it's definitely a pull with a sword blade on
the end hooray for pole weapons that was a that was a call back to never mind remember most of
these because they are about to show up again and then the formal fight begins yes we're finally
in the fight aren't you glad Shu lien is mad as heck and not gonna take this anymore jen is the
personification of small but will fight you let's go note please that Shu lien looks first to her
opponent but then to the green destiny sword and jen also looks first to her opponent but then to
the green destiny sword i mean technically that's what we're fighting over here so it makes sense
but also you would be just a novice without it but i'm getting ahead of myself little smile and
then we have two moves of Shu lien proving that she could just kill jen if she wanted to because
jen falls for the feint and then oh watch the face before Shu lien bats her away with the flat of the
blade the opening fight had a pursuit and escape dynamic rather than a duel dynamic but they are
like in that opening fight still unwilling to kill each other in contrast to that night fight though
there's no reason for Shu lien to keep grounding jen she's not trying to stop her from getting away
jen wants to fight she wants to prove herself and prove that she doesn't need Shu lie and doesn't
need anyone's help and that's not quite how it goes so Shu lien straight back on the attack
was that another feint or was that a missing sound effect i'm not entirely sure but anyway
this is the point where we get into it properly we get a very long phrase which goes shu lien on
the offensive driving jen back then jen on the offensive driving shu lien back a more static
section where jen brings in her feet and then shu lien divides her swords and drives the unfortunate
teenager clear across the room which culminates in her trapping green destiny between her blades so
note the mini arc within the context of the fight who's on the offensive should change the width
of the shot changes the number of moves per shot changes all of these things help to keep it moving
but also keep it reasonably clear this section has a fair number of cuts but we still average
about five moves per shot or more which is you know refreshing and when shu lien divides her
dao we get this extended shot from above which is very long and very smooth remembering of course
that one can speed up shots just a tiny bit to make them look even more smooth and flowing
like just a couple of percentage points makes a lot of difference i don't know if they actually
did or not but it's a tool that is available and there's a nice detail with the chipped
scored edges of the dao versus the green destiny which looks old but isn't so much as marked this
will be a recurring theme because then jen does some fancy spinning but not in a controlled way
and lands face down on the floor but she's had enough of this so after another short phrase
it's time for some wire work and as we all know wire work plus green destiny equals broken swords
that being said shu lien doesn't lose her head for an instant parries with the broken swords and then
kicks jen out of the way to give herself some distance and time to grab another weapon which
is a spear and as i mentioned in my size does matter video i have a new and sneaking fondness
for spears so i'm always happy to see him no please how shu lien looks much calmer than jen
basically the whole way through jen isn't just angry she's also afraid but shu lien doesn't let
her emotions influence her to that same extent i mean don't let your emotions show through is
basically shu lien’s entire gig but the fights are relatively speaking an opportunity for the
characters to cut loose and express themselves and even in those situations she still maintains a
fairly high degree of control that is also true of lee mubai come to think of it when we get into the
spear vs Jian fight the pattern is very much the same shu lien on the offensive then jen then shu
lien again but obviously the way you fight with the spear is a little bit different i love the
movement i love how much it wibbles around also shu lien is really going for the head here and jen
is forced to do a lot of ducking which obviously from a cinematic perspective is great because it
looks very dynamic and dangerous and while jen is retreating she's also basically forced to stay in
quite close range because otherwise she wouldn't have a hope of doing any counter-attacking gotta
love that reach advantage i guess in a movie where people literally fly through the air i shouldn't
be annoyed that a spear breaks a table like that but i have questions about the reproducibility of
this stunt i'm just saying i'm sure the spear is very sturdy but that table looks sturdier anyway
once jan finds her feet the green destiny sword makes unsurprisingly short work of the wooden
spear and this phrase concludes with jen throwing the spear point at shu lien we'll come back there
in a second and then we're on to the hook swords it's jen who attacks first in this phrase which
helps to break the established pattern you need to change up the dynamics especially in
such a long fight but again she can't really stand up to someone who is a master of just
apparently all of these weapons look at this woman go shu lien fights with one sword oh wait but now
it's two swords she fights with a spear she fights with hook swords which not only can trap the blade
but can also be turned into one giant swinging kind of chain weapon and that would be terrifying
hook swords are basically like 90 percent edges ah that is just like one extra long spinny bladed
nightmare but once again when jen uses the green destiny to its fullest extent oop no more hook
swords though we do get a callback when shu lien hurls the remainder of the hook swords at jen who
has to do something fancy to get out of the way as opposed to shu lien who just dodged and that's
one of the two things we're hammering home in this fight really jen is very talented but she's also
young and inexperienced and fancy to a degree that looks great on film but is entirely unnecessary
and that's by design because fancy martial arts look cool but also fancy martial arts contrast
really well with shu lien calm practicality i mean no one is going to look at shu lien and
go oh yeah that woman can't fight but her style is very different i mean everyone in the movie
has their own unique style limubai's if you're wondering is just that kind of very efficient
calm float like a butterfly thing jen is flashy sure and she's impressive to watch but i know
where my sympathy is in this scene and it's with shu lien who is absolutely magnetic you've got a
magic sword that can break all weapons all right i'm just gonna keep trying things until i find
something that works and because i'm older and wiser and more experienced i can do that we also
hammer home that they are angry and determined but not lethally so you can see this especially
in the early part of the fight where jen will wait while shu lien is getting herself a new weapon
anyway we have another pattern interrupt with the monk spade which is a moment of pure comedy
which i very much appreciated but there's another purpose for this moment too aha you can see jen
thinking she can't actually use every single weapon in here she's not some invincible sword
goddess i can take her it's at this point that jen moves into attack before shu lien is perfectly
ready for her did the monk spade make her more confident or is she just getting more desperate
the weapon shu lien grabs next is not exactly built for finesse legending weapons anyone
makes sense it'll last longer against the magic sword because it's so much thicker and it's not
a thin wooden stick like the spear is it clearly worries jen and it smashes up a lot of furniture
and while it may be looking beaten up after some time fighting with it you can also tell that jen
is getting tired we have specific close-in shots of how her hands are shaking these two have been
wailing on each other for several minutes with no particular break they're both looking pretty
sweaty as you would so jen fights back against the bludgeoning weapon using a whirly spinny attack
that is quite similar to the one that shu lien used lo these couple of minutes ago and again the
green destiny shears through solid metal hey ho it is at this point that we introduce another pattern
break as shu lien decides to change tack and use her words you would be just a novice without it
don't blame the weapon if you can't beat me jen still arrogant invites her to pick up whatever
weapon she wants and then the music gets real excited about everything as we get a glamour shot
of shu lien’s new sword i think it's called a dai daigen but i really want to call it a broadsword
because she's a never mind i told you the jokes weren't going to improve the music starts to
really get with it as we ramp up the intensity of the phrase everything is on the table in
terms of targets we get some close in shots we get attempted disarms and then green destiny strikes
again but this time shu lien is prepared and the swordblade is at jen's neck and it's over from an
honorable duel perspective anyway again note that jen could be dead right now but she isn't and the
fact that she isn't seems to kind of enrage her there being no honor among spoiled brats jen then
injures shu lien‘s arm and is about to mix it up with her again but is stopped by lee mubai and
then those two get into the bamboo forest which is a scene i find both beautifully shot and kind of
unintentionally comic sometimes at least i assume it's unintentional anyway so ends the scene and
it is excellent in contrast to the first fight between shu lien and jen this one is very grounded
sure there's a little bit of wall running and acrobatics but there's no need to keep jen there
she wants to be there and fight so there's no need for fancy footwork this isn't a pursuit and escape
situation it's a prove yourself situation and what it proves is that jen is a kind of a brat b
not yet worthy of the sword c in desperate need of training and d kind of reluctant to hurt shu lien
and very much unwilling to kill her shu lien shows jen mercy by holding the sword at her neck and not
just cutting her throat and jen even though she's dishonorably continuing the duel after
it is clearly over only cuts shu lien’s arm that could just as easily have been a stab or a cut to
the head jen isn't meant to be an irredeemable baddie and that is one of the reasons why jen
versus everybody in this entire bar is very much a non-lethal fight we're supposed to feel sympathy
for jen but if we're taking sides it's clear that we're supposed to be on team dorks in love the
thing i want to underline in the scene as someone who didn't watch crouching tiger hidden dragon
until relatively recently is how important context and character are when you're talking about movie
violence as a scene by itself it's cool it's interesting it's a lot of weapons in a short
space of time it's two women really going for it in a particular style that sometimes involves wire
work but mostly keeps their feet on the ground as a scene in context it is clear that shu lien
is desperately trying to beat some sense into jen and it's clear that jen is talented but outmatched
and would have been beaten a dozen times over if she weren't using the green destiny sword
she fights to prove herself but all she really proves is that shu lien could teach her a lot
in all areas of her life if jen was willing to let that happen when you know the context shu
lien’s patience and mercy and compassion are all very much on display even as they have this hugely
complex fight where they try very very hard to best each other without context it's cool and it's
funny but with context there's something kind of tragic there and they really underline that in the
next fight when they get into the bamboo forest limubai beats jen nearly effortlessly as a true
student of wudan versus someone who read a scroll once but he freely offered her the knowledge that
he has even after she has injured shu lien which probably quite annoyed him but jen rejects it for
humor in this movie you can't beat the unarmed brawl if creative unarmed fights in mismatched
styles are your thing then the knight fight is the one for you if you like flirty fights these
ones are odd but you know pretty solid but this one is my favorite because of the depth
of the emotional content it is two characters desperately seeking a connection which they
almost get but not quite the fight solidifies the nature of their relationship as someone who
wants to help and someone who refuses to be helped the violence itself is their desperate attempts
to communicate what they need from the other person and it almost works don't you love it