I prefer jackie chang myself. But I also think this movie may have been lost in translation (I speak mandarin) and alot of the dialogue did not get translated too well.
Ang Lee, like me, probably grew up with B Kung fu movies as a staple of our growing, teenage lives. He was paying homage to the extreme unreality of most of these movies (I remember one where two chinese guys fought off a horde of Japanese bad guys with blades, knives, etc. with just chopsticks...no kidding.) At the same time, despite their hokiness, the chinese are in love with martyrdom. Extreme sacrifices and tragedy still punctate most every older kung fu movie. Bruce Lee started to change that a little, and Jackie Chang threw off that yolk completely.
Ang Lee is very non-traditional Chinese in that he is broaches subjects that are distasteful to my native culture....homosexuality ( The Wedding) and feminism. I saw this movie as a way to showcase feminism in a very traditional setting of kung fu style backdrop......both women could hate, fight, sacrafice, and love with the best of men and both female protaganists saw life as more than getting married...that is a big, big no no. It showed the noble capabilities as well as perverse fallabilities of both men and women.
Keep in mind, as someone who has grown up with many Asian movies, this movie was astounding in that women kung fu fighters played such a central role, rather than a side kick for a main male protaganist. This is not a drastic concept for western movies, but this was the first movie of this type that actually succeeded in selling this concept to traditional Asians.
I actually disliked the movie the first time around. Then I saw it the second time around and loved it.
You so suck....lol..and so does this movie.
