This is martial arts with heart and soul. I've now seen the film twice and it certainly stands up to a second viewing, where its strengths are even more apparent. In particular, the film-makers' decision to foreground the female characters is unusual in both action movie terms and in relation to Crouching Tiger's source material, the wuxia pian (martial chivalry) fiction. It gives the film both a genre-bending (and gender-bending) dimension that engages the intellect with its feminist thrust and an emotional complexity, relatively speaking, that one normally has to look hard to find in your average action flick. The action sequences and stunt work really are everything you have by now heard they are; the set-piece where Jen shows off her Wudan skills in a travellers tavern, and her confrontation with Li in the forest towards the end being particular high points.

But contrary to what much hysterical reaction to the film would have you believe Crouching Tiger is not flawless. For what is basically the story of two romances with lots of brilliant violence into the bargain, heavy weather is made of the plot. It isn't complicated exactly - rather that the exposition itself is muddled, rather surprisingly considering that Lee has proven himself to have a light touch with such incident-heavy material as Sense and Sensibility (1995). No doubt the hints of political chicanery and references to the social order of (albeit a fantastical) 19th century China are meant to resonate with devotees of wuxia pian, but they interrupt the flow of the first half badly. Indeed, this is one of the few films where doing a bit of homework beforehand by reading some of the better journalism on the movie might enhance, rather than spoil, your viewing. The other major problem is Chow Yun-Fat as Li. It's a largely thankless role, there really just to kick-start the narrative and to represent the existing social order. He has only a relatively minor role in the action sequences, during which he acquits himself creditably considering he has never before worked in martial arts cinema. But surrounded by three powerful female characters, the youngest of which, Jen, emerges as the effective lead of the movie, Yun-Fat cuts a morose and rather peevish figure, like a parent collecting a tipsy teenager from a house party. It's entirely possible, of course, that the phenomenally popular actor brings an iconic stature to this part for Asian audiences that is missing to these western eyes. But too often the movie's pulse slows when he is onscreen, his supposed restraint all the more torpid against Michelle Yeoh's tremendous portrayal of repressed desire.

None of which should put you off if you have yet to see it. It is certainly recommended and stands out amongst the dross so prevalent at the moment. What is becoming clear, however, is that regardless of the intrinsic merit of Crouching Tiger, its long-term importance may be as a benchmark for foreign language cinema trying to break out of the London ghetto. The box-office for its opening weekend in the UK was the largest ever for a foreign film and it is the first non-European foreign language movie to get a national UK release. It may be wishful thinking to hope this might be the start of trend, but money talks and the early signs are that Crouching Tiger will deservedly become a crossover hit.

Reviewed by John Atkinson