Entertaining, not perfect

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2001)

I was originally from China, so I could listen to the dialogue instead of reading subtitles, and I found Chow and Yoeh's chinese are surprisingly good, considering Yoeh doesn't read/speak Chinese (any dialect) at all. Maybe I was not hurried to read subtitle and have some time to feel unsatisfied.
Yes, the action seq. is fantastic (maybe too much wire, that depends on your taste). The scenery and music are outstanding, but something is wrong with the rhythm. From action to story telling sequence makes you feel you just drove from airport runway to a dirt road at 100 m/hr. The non-action scenes are too streched without much happening.
Since this film is so over-hyped as art film and action combined, I can not help but feeling dissapointed. It's not "Sense and Sensibility". Maybe it's just bad enough to be nominated an Oscar.
P.S. I saw it in San Jose, CA. Tampa ppl has to wait a few more weeks.