Direction, Cinematography yes! Plot & character development, no.

Rating: 5/10 (11 January 2001)

I suppose that many people in the West are awed by "Crouching" and hidden animals... but in Hong Kong, every other month there is another period piece with characters who can run over hedges, and glide through the air, and do other mystical things. The fact is too few understand anything of Taoism, but so many love to throw in the mystical Taoist crap, (similar to the recent interest in Wicca and the glut of teen-age witch programs on the WB network in the US...)
It is too bad, because I like Chow Yuen Fat, and Ang Lee films. I really wanted to like this one, too. In fact, each of the actors acted their hearts out, and the sets and scenery and backdrops were epic. But the story hardly moved me. I would have to be a pre-teen or teen-aged boy to go for the 'mystical sword, must return it to rightful owner, and avenge master' fare.
Hong Kong is the third largest producer of films in the World. They have made so many films like this for both TV and cinema... Oddly the two good guys (Michelle Yeo and Chow Yuen Fat) are Hong Kong stars, with Cantonese as their native language, but yet they do this film in Mandarin. Most Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong don't speak Mandarin... so, their Mandarin might be hard on the ears of some of the Mandarin viewers... But this is not the films flaw. The flaw is that the plot is mediocre and the character development is weak... making the actors have to overcome this roadblock in order to be compelling... Unfortunately, this film is shallow. I advise viewers to watch "King of Masks" instead. That is much better Chinese cinema. If I want to see Chow Yuen Fat avenge someone in an action picture, I'll pull out my old copy of "A Better Tomorrow." Or if you're looking for an action packed period piece requiring the suspension of disbelief see "A Chinese Ghost Story".