Crouching Dragon—The Tiger Lily Cut

I once started watching the theatrical cut. Apparently, I wasn't in the mood, because I rarely DNF, but I was barely half an hour in before I became bored and intolerant. I've promised my friend I will watch the theatrical cut someday, but occasionally I like to experience a fanedit without context to see how it holds up. Ssj's edit seemed like a good way to experience the choreography and wirework that everybody praises the film for, while also dodging yawns.


QUALITY

Reviews allude to an HD copy, but I found two links that both led to an SD file. For what it is it looks decent. I did not have any issues with noticeable visual compression as others have mentioned.


VISUAL

No issues.


AUDIO

There were two fairly abrupt audio cuts, but otherwise I didn't notice any transitions or changes.


NARRATIVE

As mentioned above, I've not seen the theatrical cut. I think I gathered some vague sense of certain character loyalties based on visual action, but the newly written subtitles did nothing to communicate a coherent plot. I love the audacity of it and I wish more edits tried this kind of thing out, but I don't think ssj's new script really conveys the whimsical world and narrative he appears to be aiming for. I also think some bits of footage here and there to show the presence of something inhuman would help the vibe as well - not even anything complicated. Just show a shot of something in a crowd when a character is walking through a town square, or some goblin in a tavern when we enter an eatery. Heck, if we're right by dragon country, just throw in the sound of something roaring in the distance. Anything to back up the context the subs claim. Anywho, I had little to no clue what was going on, other than some sword being a magic cooking implement that seems to be used more often for killing than anything culinary.


ENJOYMENT

Narrative aside, I did enjoy this. Ssj has a wonderful sense of humour and his creative reworking of dialogue provoked audible merriment. I didn't laugh as often or as hard as I would have liked, but I was never bored. I think sometimes the script leans on the side of random more than genius, but the latter certainly has a presence here. Some have said that there's less room for humour in the 2nd half due to action being at the forefront, and this is true. However, since I was unfamiliar with the material, at these points I was just enjoying experiencing the action for the first time. More humour (if not subbed, then by other means) would have been ideal, but the lack wasn't detrimental. I can imagine how others might find this portion of the edit to be underwhelming if they are already familiar with the theatrical cut.

I loved the idea. It would be great to see more fanedits take the same approach. I had difficulty sometimes with pacing and theme. Long, drawn-out fight scenes don't make much sense to me with talk of orcs, drow, undead in the subtitles. Nevertheless, I still recommend this as a courageous and brilliant fanedit. May imitation be the best flattery ssj receives.

Simply put, the freshest and funniest fanedit idea for quite a while. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a perfect candidate to be drawn a clown nose on, at least for a fan of deadpan humor as myself, as it's a straight-face film that is thematically solid and strikingly beautiful to look at, yet at the same time quite pompous, and over the top as only a wuxia movie can be. With these elements, watching these characters so earnestly spout out the insanities ssj dared to write for them, and recite vulgarity with the same aplomb as it was Shakespeare, is a match made in laughter heaven. Best culinary ganja martial arts action comedy ever.

Video and audio are mostly fine all through, yet I noticed some image artifact/pixellation at moments of heavy movement (watched the HD version), and a couple of hard audio cuts: at 0:04:35 after "Nocturnal birdwatching. What a strange hobby!" and at 0:06:42, where it even seems to go to total silence for a split second. There might be more instances, but I was so inmersed in the whole experience that I even forgot to nitpick.

And now, ssj, I want MORE. I desperately want you to do that certain follow-up that shouldn't be spoken of for now. And for everyone: WATCH THIS EDIT. NOW. And laugh your asses off.

Watched this with my firends last night, and we all loved it. Hysterical!

Pros: I can't remember the last time I've watched a film that made me laugh so hard. Most of the new dialogue is just brilliant; its simply absurd, however the author did a great job of choosing where and when to say what. The subtitles are never too long or too short for the amount of words being spoken. Also, the context of the dialogue is always properly reflected by the characters' facial expressions and behaviors. That being said, the ridiculous dialogue becomes 10x funnier by how naturally the characters appear to be speaking it, with the straightest of faces. I don't think a live-shot English spoken version of this fanedit could ever exist, because I can't imagine anyone actually speaking this dialogue without busting a gut, or bare minimum cracking a smile.

Cons: I didn't find some of the plot/subplots really too entertaining, but they are certainly necessary to at least keep some seriousness alive (which I already said, makes the punchlines hit that much harder). All the talk of the orcs, dragon eggs, wyverns (not the zombie pandas- who doesn't love that?) started to get old for me, but I don't know what could fill that void without accomplishing the greatness reached in this fanedit.

Great work SSJ!