It's often said that opposites attract, but usually it's just a brief and intense sexual flirtation. The actual marriage of two extremes is fraught with so much peril that it almost never works out in the end.

Unless you're talking about director Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, opening in theatres today.

In this case, a story of love and honour in 19th-century China is melded with eye-popping action-packed fight scenes, resulting in a movie that rises above both the costume drama and kung-fu genres to become something greater than the sum of its parts.

Crouching Tiger's core duo are Hong Kong-to-Hollywood crossover stars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, each seeming much more in their element here than in the recent American fare to which they've lent their skills.

Chow is Li Mu Bai, a legendary warrior hanging up his mystical Green Destiny sword for good after a lifetime of violence. Yeoh, as former comrade-in-arms Yu Shu Lien, agrees to deliver the 400-year-old sword to the Beijing compound of a Chinese nobleman.

There, Yu meets the young aristocrat Jen (Zhang Zi Yi), a luminous beauty who is engaged to be married against her will and admires Yu's freewheeling lifestyle. But there's much more to young Jen than meets the eye.

The first fight scene doesn't happen until 20 minutes into the film, but it's a corker - and a sign of things to come. As Yu faces off against a lithe, black-clad thief who steals the Green Destiny, the two take to the rooftops, literally flying through the air as they clash in combat.

It's followed soon after by a five-way battle which sees Li and friends going up against the mystery thief and Li's old nemesis Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei), whom Li suspects is involved with the theft of the sword.

These fight scenes, and the handful that follow at regular intervals, simply blow away every martial arts flick ever made, showcasing a breathtaking ballet of feet, fists, swords and aerobatics that defies description.

While the fights were choreographed by Yuen Wo-Ping, who also did The Matrix's memorable wire-and-harness-assisted fisticuffs, Crouching Tiger makes Neo and the gang look like kindergarteners playing Ninja Turtles in the schoolyard.

In fact, fans of old-school Chinese wuxia pian epics will recognize Crouching Tiger as a pure distillation of the form, heightened by the kinds of digitally assisted special effects that were impossible in the cinematic days of yore. Especially impressive is the climactic battle between Li and Jen, in which the warriors fly among the slender treetops of a bamboo forest. Unreal.

But equally as important is the story of the people whose lives are affected by and twined around the magic sword, leading to a satisfying journey, both physical and emotional, across areas of China rarely seen on screen.

Director Lee, who has made his mark with films like The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, puts so much into his film that the action is simply icing on the cake.

Chow and Yeoh's characters have an unspoken and unrealized love for one another, and both actors flex their dramatic chops to convince us of this undercurrent. Meanwhile, a 20-minute mid-movie flashback explains Jen's affair with the desert bandit Lo (Chang Chen) and gives us clues to how she became the person she is now.

These love stories, combined with a strong female presence, lush cinematography and cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma, could make Crouching Tiger one of those rare films that truly cuts a swath across all ages, sexes and interests, from the art house crowd to action fans. The only caveat is that it's in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Not so much a movie as a cinematic event, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon begs to be seen, heard and experienced. It's not likely to disappoint.

(This film is rated PG)

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