A beautifully crafted work deserving many Oscars!

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2001)

This was one of those rare sleeper hits that never reached its potential here in the United States. It was released piecemeal to the nation and could've hit #1 on the Top Ten Blockbusters.
The first time I saw it was in Taiwan. It had just premiered there and I was really excited to see it on the second day it opened. However, I could not understand all of the Chinese. So, I just had to see it again here in the States (twice, actually). The language used within the movie is of a more aristocratic nature but still comprehensible to the general Chinese populace of today. With the subtitles here in the States, I sort of felt like I was cheating when I watched the movie .. ;).
Although the movie did not sell well in the Asian sector, the kung fu scenes were choreographed a la "MATRIX" style. This type of fighting is still quite fresh to American eyes, and boy did the audience eat it up. Impossible stunts pulled by the seemingly avian actors wowed its audience as the story took you from cosmopolitan settings in Beijing to the barren deserts of Western China and finally in the evergreen forests of some western Chinese Province.
There is way too much to describe about the artistic values contained in this movie. The only way I can concisely summarize this movie is that it resembles the fluid simplicity of Chinese poetry (Ci Fu). You will not be disappointed by this work by Ang Lee!