Going Medieval: 25 films to watch while waiting for Game of Thrones season 8

17) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon arrived in theaters as an unheralded Mandarin-language action film with a $17 million budget and ended up becoming a worldwide phenomenon, grossing $213.5 million and garnering 10 Academy Award nominations. (It won four: Best Cinematography, Score, Art Direction and foreign Language Film.) Directed by Ang Lee (who went on to direct movies as diverse as Hulk and Brokeback Mountain), the movie is headlined by Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh.

A retired martial arts master gives his 400-year-old sword, the famous ‘Green Destiny,’ to another martial arts wizard (also the woman he secretly loves) to deliver for him. When the sword is stolen by a young Chinese warrior, the great fighting masters hurl into action in an epic tale of romance, adventure, betrayal and redemption.

Everything happens on a grand scale in this movie, including the mind-blowing action sequences cooked up by Yuen Woo Ping, who also choreographed the special effects and action sequences in The Matrix (1999). The positive reviews are legion, including Richard Corliss of TIME, who says Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became “exactly what Lee hoped to create–a blending of Eastern physical dexterity and Western intensity of performance. High art meets high spirits on the trampoline of an elaborate plot. Crouching Tiger is contemplative, and it kicks ass. Or put it this way: it’s a powerful film and a terrific movie.”

Rotten Tomatoes also adores Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with a reviewer score of 97% and an audience score of 86%. If you have yet to adore it, watch it. If you already adore it, watch it again.