There's a lot more to the plot, which swirls out like Crouching Tiger to encompass several film genres all at once: comedy with Ku's nagging mother (Chang), mystery with all the strangers in town, horror with the haunted fort where the action takes place, adventure withal the conspiracies and counterplots, romance with Ku obviously smitten by Yang, religious epic with a band of quietly fierce monks, and action with all the gravity-defying fight sequences. All of this is brilliantly directed with gorgeous cinematography that makes the film look like it was made last month, not 35 years ago (although it merely uses editing where Crouching Tiger used digital effects and wire stunts). Even if the story is sometimes hard to follow, and all the fights seem to happen at night, the passion and emotion keep us profoundly involved. The action scenes actually mean something, and there are also extended flashbacks that fill in the story nicely. And even though it's very long, it flies past because we are completely swept away by the beauty of the images and the passion of the characters. A real masterpiece that deserves its place in film history.