i just watched it today. have it on a burned mpeg vcd i made, and well it was decent on an apex dvd player. Didnt matter since i ordered the region free dvd since i liked it so much.
Personally it made a lot of sense. At the end i thought she jumped because when they were in the desert Lo said that whoever jumped off the mountain would get their wish or whatever, and well there was a mountain in the scene when she jumped. Anyways, i figured she had such a chaotic life, since she was just running away from everything and fighting everyone that wanted to help her, and when she finally tries to help someone, li mu bai died.
As for the subtitle thing, it wasn't that bad. Especially if you were in a theatre i'd imagine it wouldn't detract at all. That movie "life is beautiful" was pretty good (well i only saw half since it wasnt in theatres where i lived, and my crappy asf copy was giving me a headache). As for the guy who started this post, who described himself is not being able to appreciate this film for because he's a hick in the midwest. Well i'm not saying thats the reason you are unable to appreciate it, but like some of the others you seriously lack the mental capacity or the imagination to have enjoyed the plot of the movie