You have been cheated... not by this film.

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2001)

First I would like to say that I am glad so many European and American movie-goers liked this film so much. I like it too, but I may not praise it as much as many of the reviewers did here. As a viewer with Chinese background, I find the film enjoyable, but not so perfect. Ang Lee tried very hard to stun the audience with traditional Chinese martial arts choreography, as well as the emotional dilemma of people living in the traditional Chinese society, but seems you just can't squeeze everything in to less than two hours. Also, since I watched the movie in Chinese, the flaw in Chow and Yeo's presentation (their native tongue is Cantonese but in the movie they have to discuss deep martial arts philosophy in Mandarin) becomes unbearable. There is also some problem with the special effect-I have no problem with people flying, but at least let them fly more decently-not like puppets hanging in wire. However, setting these thing aside, I would say I like it very much. When I watch a movie, I look at the sincerity of the movie maker. A movie without sincerity is crap, like when you use millions of dollars, tons of water and thousands of death, not to express, but to impress, to achieve the purpose of manipulating audience's emotion. In CTHD, I saw a director sincerely and eagerly wishes to express his dream, his anxiety, his emotion, and above all, the beauty and dilemma of his culture, in a way both eastern an western people can understand. Whether he can achieve that is another matter. For me, sincerity counts.

Next, I would like to tell the audience in US and European cinema market, it is high time for you to realise you have been cheated by Hollywood-style commercialised crap for too long... and the cinema lines in your country keep feeding you these crap because they believe nothing else would make you happier. It feels rude to say that, but after comparing the overwhelming reaction it produced in US and the so-so box office in Singapore, Hong Kong and other Asia regions that's what I can think of. In that sense I'd like to thank Lee Ang for working so hard to give you guys a new variety of food. In recent years, many Chinese movies has made their way to the western world, however either they end up being award-winning "art" piece without appearance in the main-line cinemas, or they are just action-flicks with little presence of the word "Chinese". So in order to let you guys have a taste of what I have been enjoying for so long, Lee Ang has to first demonstrate his directing ability in English, and then he is granted a chance to introduce you what "Chinese" is about, and he did it damn well.
Now, for those who think the movie is too much of a hype, I guess there are two cases. First, Chinese martial arts fantasy with people flying around is just not your dish, and if so, I think there is nothing wrong with that. In the second case, you are not totally impressed by this combination of fighting, music, choreography, beautiful scenery of China, and therefore noticed, and are unhappy with the flaw in plot, character, morale, whatsoever, then I congratulate you. That means your sense of taste has not been blinded by this exotic Asian dish. Maybe you have seen something like that before, like the "Once upon a time in China" series which stretched the martial arts choreography to the maximum, or "A better tomorrow" that talks about love, hatred, deceit and heroism, or the hidden and twisted emotion in "farewell to my concubine", "raise the red lantern" and "in the mood for love", and if you strip off all the stuff that is new to most of the US and European viewers, your feeling toward the movie would become similar to mine.
Anyway, all I want to say is, this is a good movie, and I hope it opens your eyes. And I would be truly happy, only several years later, when the audience realise there are so many other excellent movies in the world they could have missed if CTHD never entered the US and European market.
I give the film itself 7 out of 10, but I will give its mere existence 10 out of 10