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.

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.

Drugs, orcs, goblins and dragons oh my!

Super fun edit! I should have known, ssj is hilarious on the regular in the forums and his style of humor really shines through here. The jokes slow down a bit in the second half but it remains funny (and it's because of more great action scenes, so no harm, no foul). Some personal highlights for me are: part with a sword that's a second dick to you, Beijing's Top Chef, snorted brain magic, don't hurt my hair!, super similar really, the preciousss will summon skyrocks down on your ass, plump-ass rump, wrong movie, disturbing my bottom will only lead to sorrow and prepare me a dragon egg smoothie. The new story is pretty out there but funny, which is really all that matters.

Bonus: the subtitled interview is hilarious, as well!

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.

This is a slightly-modified version of the review by which I approved this edit.

It has been a pleasure to watch and review ssj's unusual edit of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Video: The video quality of the SD MP4 is acceptable, given the file-size.

Audio: The quality of the stereo audio was fine. There was one slightly rough transition, but overall the sound was good.

Editing: While the actual editing was minimal – the changes are largely a result of the completely-rewritten subtitles – the cuts that there were made were done well. An inherent problem with comedy edits is the fact that they can seem to run out of steam if they go on too long, so I was pleased with the ninety-minute running time, which is about right. Nonetheless, I did feel that some of the fight scenes, especially those near the end, might have been shortened, because in my opinion they did not add much to the new storyline and felt a little too much like watching the original again, so it would have been nice to see a little more ambitious editing here.


Presentation: There is basic cover and disc art, created by the faneditor. Well done!
Extras: An amusing featurette and trailer are included in the download.
Entertainment: A new wacky plot is implemented competently, driven by clear, well-written subtitles that obviously took a great deal of work. The subtitles range being from absolutely hilarious to slightly crass, but never fail to entertain. A notable achievement of the edit is that the editor managed to sustain his creative rewriting of the subtitles throughout several long scenes with extended dialogue, and avoided the temptation to make numerous cuts. This stops the edit from feeling choppy in the way that other comedy edits often do.

Overall: 8 out of 10

This very promising firstling comes highly recommended.