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.

This provided a very enjoyable, lighthearted experience. The new plot (provided by ssj in the subtitles) is thin, but the humor more than makes up for that. As the original was a fantasy-tinged love story, so is ssj's take, though the romance is given less screen time. Not all viewers will understand all the references, but they do not detract from the experience.

Brilliant idea to use subtitles to create a new story. Yes, the story doesn't make fully sense, but it's just fascinating reading about monsters and necromancers... gives it a completely different atmosphere, and sometimes I laughed really hard, and it's not like ssj just inserted some funny lines, he tried to create a new story-line, kudos for that.

As to the videoquality, while it is HD, the small filesize reduces imho the quality.