Opportunity Wasted

Rating: 6/10 (24 September 2001)

This could have been one of the best movies, but alas! It is not. It is a visual spectacle that is indeed stunning, and it has martial arts choreography that is beautiful and unique. At least I have never seen anything like that before.
However, one thing without which no movie can even be regarded a good movie, the ability to move audience's heart is COMPLETELY missing. The plot is non-existent, which is contrary to any other movie that is regarded as an epic.
The goal that hero of the movie is fighting for is so pathetically trivial that it means nothing to me whether he succeeds or not. He is NOT fighting for love, for romance, for country, for honor, for family, for good(against evil), but instead he is pursuing a spoiled teenage girl who has come into possession of a "book of martial arts secrets", and has shown some talent. He is willing to give up his life and his heroine's life so this retarded girl will accept his as his teacher.
As I said above, this movie has characters that do not have any higher purpose. An emotionally unstable girl is hardly a worthy cause for a man of hero's capabilities to be wasted.
Ang Lee wasted an opportunity to create one of the greatest Romantic epics. He could have exploited the opportunity for creating a romantic triangle between the two leading women and the hero. Instead he focused solely on the cinematography and martial arts choreography (and did a tremendous job) and created a movie without any objective or purpose. Two many noble characters wasted for NO cause at all. The battle in this movie is not between "Good and Evil", but between "Obsessive (hero) vs retarded (heroine)" (who have NO feeling for each other what so ever).