I saw 
‘Hero’ (mentioned before) and was impressed. It’s not as much a martial arts feature special, but mostly a visual spectacle. And an amazing use of colours in the scenes and scenery. Stunning.
The movie was nominated for an Oscar (‘Foreign Feature filn’) in 2002, which (alas) went to a German movie. Back in Europe, I remember seeing a couple of other Yimou movies, (notably ‘Raise the Red Lantarn’) in small movie theatres. It’s a nice surprise to see a movie of him making it to a DVD aisle in a local Sobeys store.