Good, but not great!

Rating: 1/10 (30 January 2001)

As a chinese and as a big fan of Chow Yun Fat, I am glad to see that CTHD receives all the praises in US. But honestly, I do think this film is overrated.
The scenery is good. The storytelling is good, but not really special. The fighting scenes are great but definitely not the finest in the Chinese film history. If you have seen more HK made martial art films, you won't find the story and fighting scenes too special.
About the flying (of course human being can't fly, but it's in a fantasy Chinese Wuxei world), it's a very common style and technique being used in Chinese martial art films. But Ang Lee just made it seen too easy and it could annoy some people (including Chinese).
I simply think Zhang Ziyi's screen time is too long and at the end I just don't care too much about her character. Ang Lee should have put more screen time on Chow and Yaoh's relationship.
Even though I am a fan of Chow Yun Fat, I am not impressed by his performance in this film. But I do think that he's a very good fit for his role. I am surprised though by Michele Yaoh's performance. She showed that she can really act and kick ass at the same time.
In overall, I think it's a good film, but definitely not a masterpiece! I give it 8/10.