Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)

The Age of Commercialism

Brilliant and touching

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

This is a story about the Iron Way protecting the "Green Sword of Destiny" from the evil Hades Dai who has the Dragon Sword. In order to protect the sword the owners hire five fighters or so who have Uma Thurman skills so they can defeat a small army. Some have "light body skill" which I guess is the technical term for wearing a wire that pulls you up into the air. There is a story of an old renewed love and of a young love. There is plenty of fighting, minimal blood, and American style humor.The film is in English, no dubbing. The plot was Chinese, American style. If you are a martial arts purist, this isn't your film as gravity is a law easily broken. The drama is so-so. The cinematography was good. The main characters were a bit bland, while the minor ones took on personality. Themes of honor and redemption. No swearing, sex, or nudity. Woman is nude from back in low light with some minor side breast shadows.

Some people said to not compare this one to the first one. But how can you not when the film is carrying on the same title as the first one? When "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" first came out at the time, it was known as a artistic kung-fu movie. With a well told story and some breathtaking cinematography and well executed action sequence. This sequel strays away from that and tries to go in a more "300" like direction. Sure, some kung-fu movies focus more on the action sequences with the story being there for the set up of those fights. But it's still a disappointing movie to sit through. The story is very forgettable with there being zero emotion although it tries to bring out some emotions from the audiences. It's just a irritating and annoying movie to sit through, because most of the characters are not likable and because you just don't care at all about the cause and effect. With a title like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", I thought they would have more resources. But there really isn't much and the whole experience just came off lackluster. I will say some of the fight choreography is great, despite it having a lot of CGI integrated into it. While other fight scenes just comes off cheesy and by the numbers. And when it tries to show a in-depth or artistic imagery it just felt like a cheap cardboard cutout. It's like they just focused on making few good fight choreography and was just lazy when it came to the story and the artistic visuals. I will say if this is a movie you see through Netflix, it's a alright watch. But besides that this isn't a movie I would really recommend to others. But I will say it's a alright watched, it's quite forced but it's alright. Although it's quite forgettable.5.5/10

Your humble reviewer believes that the destiny of certain very special sequels is not merely to entertain, not merely to make money, but to strike a chord within the viewer that makes you realize how much you enjoyed the original and want to see it again.So it was that at the halfway point of this movie I decided to go to the Amazon site and order the original CTHD. Only with the perspective of this lop-sided followup can the beauty, the genius, of the original be appreciated.That said, a lot of top talent try very hard to salvage this title but aside from some amazing fight scenes -- scenes which by themselves are almost worth the price of the ticket -- it just keeps letting you down.Yen's performance here made me appreciate his restraint in the 3 Ip Man movies even more. And watching the increasingly heavy Jason Scott Lee reminded me that when he first debuted on the scene, he played a very svelte Bruce Lee. And any film with Michelle Yeoh is always worth a look.Have a glance here, but cherish the original.

I had enjoyed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) for its traditional Wushu style infused with poetic drama and elegant sword fighting – to our western eyes, the flying and soaring might look silly and obviously showing the ropes (as in harness cables), though the creative use of beautiful landscapes, costumes and feudal settings makes for an always inviting immersion. This following take has two major flaws in naming itself a sequel; the choice of going with an English-spoken version will open up better internationally, but it significantly detracts from the carefully crafted scenarios, culture and period – I only seek original versions with subs, so this was disappointing. Secondly, it simply aims to be more of a generic action and dagger flick with roughly cut dynamics, despite interesting characters and fighting scenes, like the original one on an iced lake. For me it reaches the sufficiency for the production value, but I'd have expected much more and much better.