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Despite what you might be thinking because of its' title, Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger is not a parody or ripoff of the hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (even though Miramax head Harvey Weinstein has tried his damndest to prevent any Western kung fu fans from seeing the picture). It is, however, a solid wuxia movie in its' own right and should please fans of the genre, especially those who have grown tired of the recent trend towards more "computer-fu" in martial arts films. Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger isn't a spectacular movie by any means, but it does deliver a decent story along with some solid action work.

The film starts out with Chang Pei Pei (Jade Fox from CTHD) being attacked by some government troops after her brother-in-law sells her out. One of her children is killed, and, of course, she swears revenge. Flash-forward twenty years, and Chang has finally come close to finding her traitortous kin, but now she has his son to deal with, who will stop at nothing to protect his father.

Like many wuxia movies, the basic plot here is pretty simple, but there are many charecters in the mix (including The Story of Ricky's Fan Siu Wong as Chang's student, Sammo Hung as yet another in-law, and girls-with-guns mainstay Jade Leung as his daughter) and not enough backstory is given to them or their significance in the plot. This kind of thing (where "brother" can mean familial or just friendly ties) is always a bit confusing for Western viewers, and Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger is no different. There were many times where I was scratching my head as to exactly who was who and what they did, and the all-too-usual half-ass subtitles didn't help matters any.

Thankfully, though, as one might expect with a movie featuring Sammo Hung, the action saves the day here. It is pretty heavy on the wire-fu, but it is handled well for the most part, and there is also some hard-hitting, more traditional brawling going on, along with a decent smattering of ultra-violence (flying severed limbs are always a good thing in my book). Some of the computer effects look laughably cheap, but these nasty bits are few and far between, and overall, the action here should satisfy the die-hards out there. Don't let the cheesy title fool you -- Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger is definitely one of the better kung fu movies to come out of Hong Kong over the past year or two.

RATING: 7

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