Back in 2000, visionary director Ang Lee releases one of his most significant cinematic accomplishments, Crouching Tiger. Hidden Dragon. A martial-arts drama starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh as a pair of warriors on the search for an ancient and powerful sword known as The Green Destiny. All the while trying to cope with their own suppressed feelings for each other. It is regarded as one of the best martial-arts films ever made. It earned Ang Lee his first Oscar nomination for Best Director and won for Best Cinematography (rightfully so I might add). It demonstrated a beautiful balance between martial-arts action and character-driven storytelling, the likes of which has rarely been successfully replicated. It stands as one of my favorite films of the genre.
It's Netflix original sequel released back in 2016, on the other hand, is laughably terrible.
This has no right to bear the name of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, mainly because aside from featuring one of the original characters and pieces of the music, it is a vastly different movie. It feels just like yet another "In-Name-Only" film where it has just enough familiar elements to bank on fan's goodwill. Only to pull the rug out from underneath you with substanceless cliche-ridden schlock, and not even the enjoyable "so bad it's fun" variety. It may very well be the worst attempt at a sequel I have ever seen.
Taking place nearly twenty years after the events of the first film, the story follows Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) performing her duty as the guardian of The Green Destiny Sword. Things get more challenging as a vicious warlord named Hades Dai (Jason Scott Lee) has plans to steal the sword and use its power to further his devastating rule. In a ploy to fight back, Yu sends out a call for fellow warriors to join the battle in defense of the sword. One fighter named Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen), who happens to be an old flame of Yu's, turns up to join the fight. Now, to protect their future, they must first confront their past.
Now, this may seem like an okay plot for a sequel to one of the greatest martial-arts films ever made. That is until I mention that this sequel also has a myriad of subplots that do nothing but muddy the waters and utterly destroy and genuine connection to the first film. For starters, one of the antagonists is a blind witch who possesses supernatural abilities that were never even mentioned in the first film. While there was a fictional technique of martial arts in the first film (which allowed for flying effects coining the term "Wire-Fu"), it was never attributed to magic or any other supernatural source. Next, there is another subplot centering around one of the warlord's soldiers, forming an out-or-nowhere relationship with a mysterious woman who is somehow connected to his past. It feels contrived, has no genuine spark, and feels as though it's only there to rehash the love story of the first film. Finally, rather than try to make a story equally as compelling or unique as the first film, this sequel quickly turns into a sloppy rehash of The Seven Samurai but with walking avatars of Kung-Fu movie cliches. The drunk, the brawler, the dart-thrower, the handsome lance-wielder, and the older Monk who can take on an entire room with only his finger. This is an okay idea and can be done well, but you have likely seen it done better somewhere else.
Oddly enough, the part of this film I found to be the most hilariously mishandled was the sword. In the first film, The Green Destiny is an elegant and uber sword that puts all other weapons to shame. Featuring a gorgeously designed Jade hilt, Dragon etchings all along the blade, and tassels at the end of the handle. It is one of the most beautiful film props ever made and one of my personal favorites. I mention this because I don't know what sword is in the Netflix original sequel, but it's not The Green Destiny. The sword in this movie looks absolutely nothing like the original. If anything, it seems more like a plastic toy from Target. Not to mention, for a film that has the swords name in the title, it barely has any screentime. For 90% of the movie's runtime, the sword is kept locked away in a box with, at most, less than five minutes actual screentime. This is not how you treat film prop royalty.
The majority of the cast is unbearable. Most of the time, everyone is trying too hard to emote like teenagers attempting Daytime Soap Opera Shakespeare. The only two people who make this trash bearable are Michelle Yeho and Donnie Yen. Not only are they actually acting, but they also have some genuine chemistry despite the weak material they had to work with. Also, while most of the fight scenes are bland, the two of them have some of the better moments to show off their skills. Donnie Yen especially had plenty of opportunities to showcase how much of a genuine bad-ass he is. Not at all surprising coming from the guy who was arguably the best part of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The cinematography is not terrible but too garish for me personally. Photographed by Newton Thomas Sigel, the images beautiful enough during daytime scenes, but suffer immeasurably in night time sequences. Scenes taking place at night are flooded with overly cranked blues and reds that don't match the more natural(ish) color style seen in the daytime moments. Not to mention the red lighting seems to envelop all the character's skin tones causing everyone to look like they're on fire. I could not figure out if this was due to the photography itself or my televisions setting. Frankly, I think that the former is most likely to blame.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Destiny is not only disappointing, but it is also lame. It fails to understand what made the first film so memorable, it offers nothing new to the table, and if wastes the time and talent of two genuinely great performers. Whatever they paid Michelle Yeoh to be in this film, it wasn't enough! Do yourself a favor and skip this one. If you have not yet seen the first film, I encourage you to do so. Also, don't forget to check out Michelle Yeoh's more recent film, Crazy Rich Asians.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.
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