It is! I too was impressed with everything you just mentioned.

I'm about to rewatch this amazing movie. It was my introduction to Asian cinema and it kick started a lowkey obsession. This is a film that's artistic while at the same time being thoroughly entertaining; the pacing is slow and deliberate but it never loses its grip on suspense and action. I mean wow... It's an "action" flick that intersperses poetic scenes of autumn leaves, or raindrops, or an old man playing the zither, and these things actually quicken the pace and add to the suspense.

Best fight scene ever, right here... Lake fight

I'm probably biased since this was my first, but years later I still rank this as the best modern (post 2000) Chinese film I've seen. (Though there are many close seconds)