Such a poor storyline

Rating: 5/10 (30 April 2001)

CTHD is the most overrated film I've seen so far.
The story is very uneven, there scarcely is any character development. It has some obvious inserts to please Western taste, which only makes it more unbalanced. Its only good feature is a dignified exit.
Just one example of inconsistency. (** minor spoiler) If a woman can become competent enough in martial arts to kill the headmaster of an all-male warrior school after stealing the sacred book of that order (even not having read it in full), I am inclined to think it serves them right( **). Chow is absolutely pathetic playing a kind of a benign martial arts grand master, benign to the point where he starts resembling Robin Williams (yuck!).
Seems to me that it is no more than an average fighting movie. The fighting scenes are good when they're not flying, which they do all the time. Overall, if you're not interested in kung fu, there's not to see in this film (and maybe even if you are as well, as follows from some posts here).
One pleasant thing is photography though, which is on somewhat higher level than you'd expect from such movie.