A Must-see masterpiece..... TWICE

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2001)

Warning: Decipherable spoiler ahead. Also hype-challenged curmudgeons, please stay away...in case your sensibilities may be violated.
Heavenly! Sheer heaven of a movie though heaven is not enough for Li Mu Bai. For him, Heaven Can Wait. With his last breath, he affectionately professed his deep abiding love for Shu Lien rather than used it judiciously to attain transcendence into 'heaven'. His love for her welled up so powerfully after such long cowardly reticence that, almost at 'heaven's door', he heroically expended his death gasp to say how much he loved her, thereby relegating his afterlife to that of an earth-bound but love-filled spirit by his lover's side. Not since 'Love Story' have I witnessed a more poignant and loving cinematic moment. Never mind the sensational balletic fight scenes and the gravity-defying actions; they are merely icing on the cake in this remarkably romantic movie. Trust me ! This is one beautiful, exquisite epic with heart.
My suggestion: See "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" twice to do it justice. Once to read the subtitles so that you comprehend the richly-layered and provoking story. Then, with that out of the way, indulge yourself to a spectacular second viewing in order to be soulfully imbued by the superb acting and evocative nuances of superactors Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh; to be smitten delightfully by the chutzpah and acting abilities of young upstarts, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen; to be arrestingly awe-struck by the fantastic fight choreography of Master Yuen; to be caressed blissfully by the enchanting Tun Dun's musical score sublimely rendered by Yo-Yo Ma; to be exotically fascinated by Peter Pao's captivating and inspiringly lush cinematography, and last but not least, to be sent soaring off Wudan Mountain by what is truly a classic in the making. Perhaps, in the year 2020, CTHD will be touted as a genuine cinematic milestone and you can fondly tell your children or children's children that back in 2000/2001, you have the perfect vision to have already seen it as such. What more can I add ? ( Like I warned, I am testing the sensibilities of the curs. If they read this far, they must be squirming. Too bad !) In short: Truly this is Ang Lee's coup de theatre san hypobole.
Footnote:
Don't be dissuaded from seeing this fantastical movie by the cranky 'small people' who post here, with their sneeringly snobbish 'fear of flying'. I guess they are the kind of deadwood folks who never experience exciting fantastical dreams in their sleep, who never ever believe in Santa Claus and who fail to ever laugh at themselves. Yet, very likely, these killjoys enjoy and are thrilled by tinseltown movies in which Arnold, Bruce or Sylvestor can evade harmlessly from thousands of bullets and bomb blasts; can stay healthy enough to fight on after having been beaten to a bloody pulp; can smash up cars and trucks to smithereens without being disabled in the process; can jump, leap and careen from great heights and perform other superhuman feats and derring-do's in the most outrageous situations while defeating the enemies. I take it that these movie cranks do have suspended disbelief system -- the only problem is that their system is conveniently selective because they are jarred into reality whenever they have to read subtitles and/or on hearing foreign dialogues. If you are one of them, please do yourself a favor, skip this masterpiece and see the "Dude, ...." down the hall, instead.