Not Ang Lee's best.

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2001)

Please, don't get me wrong. I love Ang Lee. I have not yet seen a film from Lee that I didn't like, and this is no exception. Still, I don't find this the best of those I've seen by far.
Chalk it up to cultural distance if you like, but this film seemed a bit trite to me. The archetypes seemed too basic.
I love Chinese action films, and this wasn't one. This was a drawn out love story with a subtext of action. The uninitiated might believe that this represents Chinese Action well. To them, I'd reccomend the John Wu film, "Hard Boiled."
Meanwhile, the character story was too drawn out. The singular jump to the past was confusing because of its length combined with its singularity.

If I had to guess, I'd say this is a classical Chinese story set to film. This is China's "Braveheart." Therefor, without the cultural investment, we are left somewhat dry.
All this said, the film is universally enjoyable. What it lacks in action, it makes up in emotion, and vice versa. It's an emminently watchable film. It's just not a classic. At least not to my ignorant American eyes.