Two pairs of star-crossed lovers collide in turns of fate, involving a skilled villainess, unmasked feelings, and a sword of destiny.

While it’s technically a martial arts movie, it’s really the emotions that rule characters’ actions, and thus their fists. The film also carries something novel for western eyes: the casual ability of Wudan warriors--masters of martial arts--to fly across the screen winglessly, which is made unremarkable in the context of the film. Any Wudan warrior has these ethereal, precise abilities, so long as they have learned by the code. Though the film is in Mandarin Chinese, it’s easy to follow with the help of subtitles. The acting is subtle, refined, and wholly graceful; as the film opens, renowned warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) and warrior equal Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) have kept in check feelings for one another, after Shu Lien’s betrothed, Mu Bai’s brother-in-arms, was killed.

And the reason Mu Bai has returned to the city is to hang up his sword for good, the supple and powerful 400-year-old Green Destiny. Both Chow and Yeoh’s acting is incredible, as the older, unrequited lovers form a wise and formal pair, while the second pair of lovers, the fierce Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) and desert gypsy Lo “Dark Cloud” (Chang Chen), spark and ignite together. The latter are wild, longing for freedom and adventure, attracted to the other’s reckless beauty and fighting skills. The film champions deep themes--friendship, honor, selfishness, insecurity--and ladles out comprehensive story arcs for each character. The women are as powerful as the men because they’ve trained, and on top of that, given their own personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. For instance, Jen, the formidable warrior who has hidden her skills under the guise of her aristocratic birth, is paired with the personality of a spoiled princess, a gratifyingly original match. One of the film’s funniest scenes feature her beating up every warrior in a small restaurant in an arrogant show of talent. Shu Lien is restrained and wise, but ends up taking loss for a decidedly naïve reason, unable to resolve the inner battle of her feelings before the outer battle catches up with them.

Director Ang Lee, for whom he describes the project was like a dream, remarked that the China depicted has probably never historically existed. Sonically, it’s brilliant--and although the simile is a cliché, each battle is like a dance, a series of fast feet against a hiccuping drum. The film’s title is apt, as the warriors in the film seem to transcend human abilities, verging on the hyper strength of a crouching tiger, waiting to strike, and a dragon, waiting to burst through the air in streaking flames. The film’s soundtrack features a cello that soars through measures composed by Tan Dun and played by Yo-Yo Ma. Personally, I watched the film for the first time a while ago. One image stayed with me throughout the years, and shook me when it came on screen again--as Li Mu Bai and Jen fight for the upper hand as sage master and rash Padawan, their fight takes them into the wild treetops, whose dreamy green branches sway unsure as the battle itself, the warriors almost perfectly matched in abilities. The serene ending that soon follows is only too fitting, as both pairs of lovers are battered. The tiger and dragon can rest.