Ang Lee Movies: 12 Greatest Films Ranked Worst to Best

12. HULK (2003)

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Screenplay by James Schamus, Michael France, and John Turman, story by Schamus, based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Starring Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte.

Lee dipped his toes into superhero filmmaking with this talky, interminable Marvel adaptation. In telling the origin story of Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), a genetics researcher who turns big and green whenever he’s angry, the director puts a lot more emphasis on human relationships than the average comic book movie (especially when it comes to the fraught relationship between Banner and his father, played by Nick Nolte). Unfortunately, though, the Hulk doesn’t do a lot of smashing, making for an overlong and rather dull blockbuster.
11. TAKING WOODSTOCK (2009)

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Screenplay by James Schamus, based on the memoir by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte. Starring Demetri Martin, Dan Fogler, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Imelda Staunton, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber.

“Taking Woodstock” is so thin and empty it could almost float away with a light breeze. It’s 1969 and Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) has to return home to help his parents (Henry Goodman and Imelda Stanton) run their failing Catskills motel. Hoping to drum up business, he invites a bunch of hippies to hold a concert when their permit is pulled in a neighboring town, inadvertently setting up the generation-defining Woodstock music festival. Though pleasing enough, the film fails to capture the grit, dirt, and fun of the moment, making for a fine but forgettable outing.
10. BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK (2016)

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Screenplay by Jean-Christophe Castelli, based on the novel by Ben Fountain. Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Makenzie Leigh, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, Joe Alwyn.

This adaptation of Ben Fountain’s bestseller buckles under the weight of its technical innovations. Shot in high-definition 3D at a frame-rate of 120 per second, the film comes dangerously close to crossing into uncanny valley territory. That would be all well and good if its story about a 19-year-old Iraq veteran (Joe Alwyn) brought home for a victory tour after a dubious mission could support the massive production. Sadly, the screenplay fails to live up to Lee’s many lofty intentions, making this neither a thoughtful examination of war nor a cinematic game-changer.
9. RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (1999)

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Screenplay by James Schamus, based on the book ‘Woe to Live On” by Daniel Woodrell. Starring Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jewel, Jeffrey Wright, Simon Baker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Caviezel, Thomas Guiry, Tom Wilkinson.

Lee tackled the western genre with this offbeat Civil War epic. Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as best friends Jake and Jack Bull, who join a guerilla-offshoot of the Confederates known as the Bushwhackers after Jack’s father is killed by Union abolitionists. They form an unlikely alliance with Holt (scene-stealer Jeffrey Wright), a former slave fighting for the South. Jake, meanwhile, falls in love with a beautiful war widow (pop star Jewel in her acting debut). Beautifully photographed by Frederick Elmes (who also shot “The Ice Storm” and “Hulk” for the director), “Ride with the Devil” is a gritty, sweeping look at this most bloody of US conflicts.
8. LUST, CAUTION (2007)

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Screenplay by Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus, based on the novella by Eileen Chang. Starry Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Tang Wei, Anupam Kher, Joan Chen, Wang Leehom.

Lee followed up his Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain” with this sexually-explicit spy thriller. Set during WWII, “Lust, Caution” centers on a beautiful young woman (Tang Wei) recruited by a group of Chinese radicals in Shanghai to help assassinate a high-ranking government official (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung) by seducing him. Three years after the plot fails, the two reunite in Hong Kong, leading to some of the steamiest love scenes ever seen in an NC-17 release. Though oddly-structured and a little too leisurely-paced at times, the film is still a provocative and gorgeous study of eroticism. Taiwan submitted it as their official Oscar entry for Foreign Language Film, but the Academy rejected it for not having enough local crew.
7. EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994)

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Written by Ang Lee, James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang. Starring Sihung Lung, Kuei-mei Yang, Chien-lien Wu, Yu-wen Wang, Winston Chao, Ah-Leh Gua, Sylvia Chang.

This charming and delectable drama stars Sihung Lung as Mr. Chu, a master chef who loses his palate when his wife dies. He lives with his three adult daughters (Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-Lien Wu, Kuei-Mei Yang), preparing glorious banquets for them each Sunday. But the three would like to start their own lives away from home. Lee deftly handles the family dynamics while also serving up mouth-watering shots of food (definitely not one to watch on an empty stomach!). This box office smash contended as Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, losing to “Burnt by the Sun.”
6. THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993)

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Written by Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus. Starring Ah-Leh Gua, Sihung Lung, May Chin, Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein.

Lee came to fame with this delightful and surprisingly touching farce. Winston Chao stars as a gay Chinese man living in New York as a successful landlord. When his parents keep asking when he’s going to marry a nice girl, his boyfriend (Mitchell Lichtenstein) suggests he wed one of his tenants (May Chin) in need of a green card to placate them. Problem is, they want to attend the wedding. In this early outing, the director displays his ability to explore cultural issues with empathy and grace. “The Wedding Banquet” reaped an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Language Film, which it lost to “Belle Epoque.”
5. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)

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Screenplay by Emma Thompson, based on the novel by Jane Austin. Starring Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Tom Wilkinson.

When Lee was hired to helm “Sense and Sensibility,” it raised a few eyebrows: after all, aren’t Jane Austin adaptations reserved exclusively for Brits? Yet as his international hits “The Wedding Banquet” and “Eat Drink Man Woman” proved, the Taiwanese-born filmmaker is a good fit for complex familial dramas. Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet star as sisters left poor by the rules of inheritance after their father dies, now forced to find husbands. Thompson won an Oscar for penning the script, and the film contended for six additional prizes, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Thompson), and Best Supporting Actress (Winslet). Despite scoring DGA, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations, Lee was snubbed in Best Director.
4. LIFE OF PI (2012)

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Screenplay by David Magee, based on the novel by Yann Martel. Starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu Hashmi, Adil Hussain, Rafe Spall, Gerard Depardieu.

Lee won his second Oscar as Best Director for this visually stunning, emotionally staggering adventure yarn. Adapted from Yann Martel’s seemingly unfilmable novel, “Life of Pi” stars Suraj Sharma as a devoutly religious teenager whose family is killed in a shipwreck. He finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with the only other survivor: a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The film is usually singled out for its technical aspects: the astonishingly realistic CGI creations, the use of 3D to deepen the frame. But all of this is in service of a story about the wonders of the natural world, and how all God’s creatures must co-exist in harmony. In addition to Lee, the Academy also handed out prizes for its cinematography, score, and visual effects.
3. THE ICE STORM (1997)

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Screenplay by James Schamus, based on the novel by Rick Moody. Starring Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Henry Czerny, Adam Hann-Byrd, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, James Sheridan, Elijah Wood, Sigourney Weaver, Katie Holmes.

In 1973, an ice storm descends upon suburban Connecticut during Thanksgiving. But for the residents of New Canaan, the weather is the least of their troubles. In adapting Rick Moody’s classic novel, Lee examines the cultural, sexual, and political upheaval of the times through the lens of one seriously screwed-up family. James Schamus’ screenplay creates richly complicated characters for its ensemble cast, including Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, and Sigourney Weaver as the parents and Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, and Elijah Wood as the kids. Though ignored by audiences (and the Academy) in its time, “The Ice Storm” has found a second life as a modern day masterpiece, at times haunting and hilarious, tragic and uplifting.
2. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)

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Screenplay by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, Tsai Kuo Jung, based on the novel by Wang Dulu. Starring Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Sihung Lung, Cheng Pei-pei.

At the risk of hyperbole, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is the greatest martial arts movie of all time. Certainly it contains some of the most stunning fight sequences ever (courtesy of “The Matrix” choreographer Yuen Woo Ping), with its actors soaring through the air in gravity-defying feats of spectacle. Set in the 19th century, it centers on a retiring warrior (Chow Yun-fat), his secret lover (Michelle Yeoh), and the young rebel (Zhang Ziyi) who steals a mythical sword from them. The film was a box office smash, racking up four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. Lee looked poised to win his first Oscar for directing after victories at the DGA, Golden Globes, and BAFTA, yet he lost to Steven Soderbergh (“Traffic”).
1. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)

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Screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, based on the short story by Annie Proulx. Starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Randy Quaid, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris.

When it was released in 2005, “Brokeback Mountain” was often referred to as “the gay cowboy movie,” a derisive and vulgar classification that does little to express its awesome power and beauty. In telling the story of Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), two Wyoming sheep herders who fall in love in 1963, Lee crafted one of the great tragic romances, a tale of how society can deny two people the only great desire they’ll ever know. Rodrigo Prieto’s sweeping cinematography gives this intimate narrative the scope and scale of a John Ford epic. The film swept the early precursors and won three Oscars, including Best Director (making Lee the first Asian to receive the prize). Yet it famously lost Best Picture to “Crash,” a wound compounded by the admission of several Academy members who refused to watch it. They should have, because it’s message is one that’s sorely needed.

12. HULK (2003)

11. TAKING WOODSTOCK (2009)

10. BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK (2016)

9. RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (1999)

8. LUST, CAUTION (2007)

7. EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994)

6. THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993)

5. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)

4. LIFE OF PI (2012)

3. THE ICE STORM (1997)

2. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)

1. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)