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

Waste of time

So much average

Redundant and unnecessary.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I had no idea what this movie was about when I sat down to watch it on Netflix yesterday. I certainly had not watched its predecessor which, as I discovered afterwards, seems to have received quite high ratings.To me this was a fairly decent movie quite adequate for a little Monday evening TV session. I would probably have been a wee bit disappointed if I had spent money and effort to see it in a movie theater though.I did like the overall story and the cinematography. It did feel quite a bit like a old western in Asian setting. Make the sword a shipment of gold, the setting in the old west, add the hero and the gang of good guys with pistols instead of swords, do not forget the bad guy with his cronies and you have a good old fashioned Western. That is not really bad thing as far as I am concerned. The Asian setting and the Asian honor culture adds a lot of elegance to the movie.The story is plain and simple with few surprises. As tradition dictates there is plenty of Asian martial arts going on. The fights are a little on the slow side and clearly intended for a rather low content rating. You never see anyone get really hurt. Sure people die but the deaths are quite bloodless. Personally I would have preferred a bit more hard hitting action. The fights almost became a bit comical at times.I would say that the characters are okay. Not the best actors I have seen but I found them to be adequate. I did like the good guys. The bad guy could have done with a bit more charisma and the witch or whatever she was supposed to be felt underwhelming and underdeveloped.One thing that annoyed me was this unrealistic flying around by some of the characters. Sure, it looked somewhat cool and very elegant but come on! Suddenly it appeared like the character became weightless and just floated through the air. Not very convincing.On the whole I did enjoy the movie but, as I indicated above, it was not really a wow kind of movie. I have actually added the predecessor to my shopping list since that one got so good reviews. Speaking of reviews, on all the review sites I have looked this movie gets a rating of about 6 out of 10. Of course one site just had to stand out. Rotten Tomates! Their so called "critics" gave it a rotten rating with an abysmal score of 19%. What the f…? I know those self appointed "art" critics are too full of themselves to be taken seriously but that is a new low. Anyway, end of rant!

For the most part I have always been a fan of this genre about old school martial arts. When Ang Lee directed the first film it brought about a new way at looking to new angles during a fight scene. Now since Chow Yun Fat did not star in this second sequel he probably thought of this as nothing more than a reach with the script. It was very loose with primal dialogue, and very monotone actors. Though I am a big fan of both Michelle Yeoh, and Donny Yen. Each are extremely versatile actors when it comes to action. This brought me to the sudden conclusion that Yuen Wo Ping must look at the first film, and deduce what went wrong in this second part of the series. There was hardly any wide angles like Ang used. Too much close contact, which split off of what we saw in the first movie with beautiful ballet fight sequences on or off the ground. There was a lot of acrobatics to be sure but nothing close enough to the original. The story itself was also loose.Not enough interaction with the supporting actors or enough flash backs. Still using the two younger actors was much like this first film except in plot for them. I found it to be closely resembling the first with added pizazz, and it didn't do anything for me. High flying acrobatics was not bad, but pushed to the limits. There was also too much focus on foot work during a fight, which said overcompensation to an action scene. Nobody is interested in foot work, just the impact of two people fighting with grace, and style. As for the music it was stationary. Some drum work mixed in with the orchestra, but it could have used more old world style in a fight scene or rather during a scene switch. With Ang Lee he went everywhere. Deep into the jungles, top of mountains, court yard fights, or river scenes. And he used wide angles to get that just right picture which combined with the rest of the natural elements.All in all, this wasn't a bad film but locations could have been better. I did not like the outside tavern scene. It was too obvious, loosely set up without added decoration to make it look more rustic. To me it looked like someone rented a bunch of plywood, and slapped it together. Not a bad summer filler, for those who like fights this is it. Donnie is at his best when it comes to martial arts. As well as Michelle Yeoh, and Jason Scott Lee. Yet I would have preferred it in authentic Chinese Language from every actor like the first film.

In many ways watching this sequel to the original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is an experience equal to the original, although the story line is not as convincing or compelling as the original. What's to like are the flawed characters still driven by a profound inner goodness or badness made possible by the time and country in which the story is set. The unique oriental capacity to have human beings perform apparently superhuman feats is, at times, overdone and that is the films main flaw when compared to the first film. And perhaps the linking up of all the set pieces lacks the finesse of the original.However, it is very watchable, well acted, beautifully photographed, and memorable from the very beginning when the breathtaking scenery is caught with such rich outlines, camera angles, and clever technology. All the way through are these rich feasts of panoramas painting an atmosphere which is unique to this genre.I have awarded it seven out of ten, but if I had to judge the film on cinematography alone it would be closer to ten.

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.