Starring Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Cheng Chen, Lung Sihung and Cheng Pei Pei. Rated M.

Filmed in the orient and in Mandarin (with subtitles), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon has all the authentic feel of a classic martial arts movie.

It has plenty of high-flying kicks and punches and brilliantly choreographed swordplay, but in the heal of the hunt it is essentially an epic love story with two separate yet interwoven tales. On the one hand there is the older, wiser, hopelessly doomed pairing of Li Mu Bai (Chow) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) – warriors, crimefighters and protectors of the people. On the other, the youthful Lo (Cheng) and Jen Yu (Zhang) -- Lo a desert-dwelling bandit and Jen the daughter of an important businessman, who fall in love after the one is robbed by the other and a lengthy pursuit sees them bedding down together. Once the paths of the two pairs cross they are interwoven for ever in a violent ballet that will see one of them dead (see I can build some tension without spoiling the plot).

Set in the orient of old where large-scale camel trains traversed mighty deserts in the name of trade, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon tells a story of two legendary warriors, masters of their martial art, their destinies and with the lives of evil doers at their mercy. It would seem, however, they are not masters of their own hearts.

Love is in the air but the pair never manage to bond. Neither afraid to face powerful enemies nor hunt down dangerous criminals, yet both afraid, ironically, to bare their hearts for fear of hurt.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon tells the story of legendary warrior, Li Mu Bai (Chow), tired of killing, who lays down his sword, Green Destiny, in a vein attempt at retirement.

But fate, in the form of impetuous youth, plays her hand. When the sword is stolen by an agent of an archenemy, Li is force to fight one last time to retrieve his Green Destiny and avenge the murder of his master.

Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) is his undeclared love, equally adept in the ways of the masters and a fitting ally in this final battle between good and evil.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a much-vaunted epic surely destined to be a long-remembered classic and equally sure to soak up many Oscars. Yet I was, sadly, not as impressed as most others profess to have been. I certainly enjoyed the movie and was very entertained. I may even predict that the memory will stay with me for a long time. I can find little of substance to fault in it but still it was little more than a pleasurable way to spend an evening.

The one thing I did dislike, however, was the magical flying sequences much praised in many other quarters. I felt the otherwise fantastic fight sequences were somehow diminished by the truly fanciful over use of the invisible wires. But don’t let me stop you checking it out for yourself.

"Even if I was banished to the darkest place my love for you would never let me be a lonely spirit," says one of the four as a last mortal breath is drawn.