All I could say was "Wow"

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2001)

From the opening scene you can tell that the sets, cinematography, lighting, etc. are going to be stunning. I can't imagine seeing this picture on video on the small screen. If you don't think you can handle the subtitles don't worry. After the first few moments I didn't even notice they were speaking Chinese (or whatever). I can't believe I just saw a movie with martial arts that wasn't stupid! And not one bit of overacting!
True, you can consider it "slow moving" as someone has said, but the story line (a love story and more) is broken up with incredible martial arts fight scenes. When I first saw them skip-flying over the rooftops I thought for a second it was kind of silly, but quickly I was silently saying "wow" to myself over and over. It puts "The Matrix" to shame in that respect.
It's not a martial arts film, so if that's what you want then it's not for you. You might get bored waiting between the rest of the film for those scenes. It is a movie worthy of an Oscar because, besides it's incredible production values, the story line includes the grand themes that make up a great film, namely love, honor, loyalty, hate, revenge, and betrayal.