Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger: Viewer Comments

Despite the lame, derivative title, this movie has little in common with Crouching Tiger, but I think it's a lot of fun on its own merits---a great throwback to early 90's kung fu movies. It's a very serious story, with almost no comedy, and there's some great outdoor cinematography as the story is set almost completely in the desert. It's genuinely awesome to see Sammo Hung and Cheng Pei Pei back in action in a period kung fu piece almost 30 years after they began. Although there is some wirework, it's mostly straight, old-fashioned martial arts. Also, there's very little undercranking---Sammo is slowing down a bit, but rather than ridiculously speed up the film, they just left it as-is----that's fine with me, as it reminded me more of an old-school movie. This movie doesn't compare to Hero or Crouching Tiger, as it's got a much lower budget, some soap opera melodrama, and a cheap-sounding synthesizer score. But,I do think this is a really fun, popcorn-munching old-fashioned kung fu movie with a LOT of great fight scenes, and two legends of the genre up on the screen one more time.