Devotees of old wuxia movies will particularly delight in the scene where Jen is chased by Li, both gliding along the swishing treetops of a luscious bamboo forest.
Meanwhile, through the film, the ambitious, but out-of-control Jen causes so much trouble for others by violently resisting Li Mubai's offer to be her teacher.
Granted, the tale of the aristocratic Jen (played by Zhang Ziyi), her tangles with martial-arts masters Li Mubai (Chow Yun Fat) and Yu Shulien (Michelle Yeoh, fresh from her recent successful turn as a Bond girl), and her torrid romance with rough-hewn Lo (Chang Chen) is not that gripping.