Setting in motion the "martial art-house" trend among big-budget mainland Chinese productions, Ang Lee imbues 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' with an essential quality which most of its successors lack: sincerity. It's the heart of this film, most prominently in the unrequited love of the two leads (played by Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh) that compliments the exquisite costumes, stunning cinematography, beautiful locations and, of course, the balletic fight choreography (by Yuen Woo-Ping).

Where 'House Of Flying Daggers' and 'Hero' become swamped by the sheer artifice of the production, striking though both films are in different ways, with characters little more than cyphers, 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is most effective because the audience cares so deeply about the characters. Chow Yun-Fat brings real depth to a rather tired master-swordsman role while Michelle Yeoh (who had to learn all her lines phonetically as a non-native Mandarin speaker) impresses in an… more »

Setting in motion the "martial art-house" trend among big-budget mainland Chinese productions, Ang Lee imbues 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' with an essential quality which most of its successors lack: sincerity. It's the heart of this film, most prominently in the unrequited love of the two leads (played by Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh) that compliments the exquisite costumes, stunning cinematography, beautiful locations and, of course, the balletic fight choreography (by Yuen Woo-Ping).

Where 'House Of Flying Daggers' and 'Hero' become swamped by the sheer artifice of the production, striking though both films are in different ways, with characters little more than cyphers, 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is most effective because the audience cares so deeply about the characters. Chow Yun-Fat brings real depth to a rather tired master-swordsman role while Michelle Yeoh (who had to learn all her lines phonetically as a non-native Mandarin speaker) impresses in an understated performance as the romantic foil.

Zhang Ziyi, never better than here in her breakout role, addresses the coquettish nature of the recalcitrant youth with real aplomb and it could be argued that she's been playing shades of the same character ever since.

Ang Lee's direction is grandiose despite refreshingly never resorting to guignol, pulling all the components together to a lilting score from Tan Dun.

All in all, highly recommended!