Good film - but doesn't set new standards

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2001)

To my experience there is a simple but quite reliable rule, when a new film surprisingly gets many enthusiastic, but even more moderate and almost no totally bad reviews. And the rule is: trust the moderate ones ... - which applies very well to CTHD.
The problem with the film is, that it's reputation of being awesome and extraordinary isn't due to it's genuine qualities (neither from the viewpoint of filmmaking, nor considering the plot or acting or fighting) but mostly stems from a) the current 'Zeitgeist' (meaning: the time was just ripe for it, since Martial Arts finally is losing it's ghetto smell in Hollywood), b) the important Ang-Lee-being-the-director art bonus and c) the obvious fact, that the greatest part of the audience (in western culture) hasn't got any material to compare it with.
CTHD is a good film and I really enjoyed watching it (and, like many other reviewers here was very annoyed when certain nitwits among the audience started to giggle about the flying sequences). But it definitely is no _great_ film, since it doesn't deliver something new or unseen (like, e.g. 'The Matrix' did), and also doesn't show something old and familiar from a totally new and original point of view. It simply was made in the good tradition of the King Hu / Hsu Feng films - but unfortunately without setting new standards. So I fear my Top Ten list of classical Martial Arts art movies is still being leaded by Hu's 'A Touch of Zen' (from 1969 !).