Finally watched it, one sitting, all 288 minutes.
All I can say is ...
Wow!
If you like massive cinema epics....this puts them all (10 commandments, ben hur, greatest story ever told, whatever) to shame.
I expect that most people don't know who Tony Leung and Takeshi Kanishiro are. But they leave modern Hollywood actors in the dust.
I have no idea what the shortened "American" version looks like, but i tell you. This two-disc DVD will blow you away.
And if you have one of those 50 inch high def TVs....*this* is the movie they're made for.
Wow!
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)