On its surface Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a simple, and perhaps somewhat silly, martial arts movie, but in truth it is much, much deeper then that telling a multi-faceted story about a complex and fascinating group of characters. Legendary hero, Li Mu Bai uses his mastery of the martial arts and his near magical sword, the Green Destiny, to battle injustice. For years Bai has loved Yu Shu Lien, his equal at the martial arts, and been loved by her in turn, but neither has the courage to speak their hearts and acknowledge their love for one another. Hoping to change this Li Mu Bai decides to retire and tell Lien of his feelings, but before he can do so the Green Destiny is stolen. The search for the Green Destiny and its mysterious thief, who's fighting style matches Bai and Lien's, takes Bai and Lien down a path of romance, humor, vengeance, betrayal and death.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon deserves the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year, but I doubt it will get it; partially because it 's a foreign film with English sub-titles, but even more because of its unconventional nature. Imagine Star Wars with real human emotion. Directed by Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon combines a touching love story with great characterization and humor that ranges from low brow to the subtle, but unfortunately I suspect that all the Oscar judges will see are the martial arts and special effects. The three primary actors, Chow Yung Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zhi, do brilliant work and the fight scenes, choreographed by Yuen Wo-Ping, who also choreographed the fight scenes for The Matrix are equally amazing. It's rare when a film can switch gears from romance to action to humor as effortlessly as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon does, the last film that did it this well was Shakespeare In Love which won the 1999 Oscar for Best Picture. Here's hoping Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gets the same recognition.

Side note: This review was written before the Oscars and, of course, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was beaten for Best Picture by the comparatively inferior, in my opinion anyway, Gladiator. Not surprising, but certainly disappointing.