Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny

Grade : B- Year : 2016 Director : Woo-Ping Yuen Running Time : 1hr 36min Genre : , , ,
Movie review score
B-

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny,” the 16-years-late sequel to Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning martial arts epic, is the sort of film that should be required viewing on as big a screen as possible, and indeed, that was the hope Harvey Weinstein, the producer of this sequel, had in mind in announcing an IMAX release in addition to it’s debut on Netflix. And yet, the only place most Americans will be able to watch this film is on the streaming service after exhibitors cried foul on the duel streaming/theatrical release. Not only is that bad for the film, but it’s bad for the industry, because sooner or later, exhibitors are going to find themselves needing to accept that they are not necessarily the popular way of viewing movies for everyone, and by refusing to show films like “Sword of Destiny” on the big-screen, they are further alienating an already skeptical audience who would rather avoid the high prices they charge for tickets and concessions, and stay at home and watch movies.

Now that that editorial is out of the way, time to discuss the film itself. Watching Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” again before “Sword of Destiny,” I found it to be a beautiful, perfect viewing experience, a wonderful piece of literate storytelling and filmmaking magic on par with “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings.” It was the masterpiece I, and others, remembered from it’s 2000 release. Unfortunately, that magic is gone from “Sword of Destiny.” It continues it’s predecessor’s sense of wonder from a visual standpoint, with director Woo-Ping Yuen (the action choreographer on not just Lee’s film but “The Matrix” trilogy), production designer Grant Major (a “Lord of the Rings” veteran) and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel (“X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Drive”) creating dazzling sights that would be more than worthy of the IMAX experience Weinstein hoped for, but the screenplay by John Fusco, adapting the fifth novel in Du Lu Wang’s series, Iron Knight, Silver Vase, lacks the emotional core that brought Lee’s film to unforgettable life. It doesn’t help, either, that Yuen, for all his gifts as an action filmmaker, cannot illicit the sort of depth from his actors Lee, a two-time Oscar winner, is capable of, even though he inherits the Michelle Yeoh from the first film.

It has been 18 years since the events of the first film, and Yu Shu Lein (Yeoh’s character) has been away from martial arts ever since the love of her life (Chow Yun Fat’s Li Mu Bai) died while trying to defend the Green Destiny, a legendary sword he had kept for many years that he intended to give as a gift to an old friend, Sir Te, before it was stolen, causing Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lein to fight, side-by-side, to protect it. Now, Sir Te has died, and Shu has returned from her self-exile to pay her respects to his son. Once again, however, she finds herself playing an important role in protecting the Green Destiny, which was returned to Sir Te at the end of the first film, when a warlord, Hades Dai, sets his sights on the sword himself in hoping to rule over the lands in 19th Century China now that Sir Te has passed. (His son, not a bad person at all, has not garnered the support his father had.) The first person Hades Dai sends, Wai Feng (Harry Shum Jr.), also attacked Shu on the way to the city, and now is imprisoned, though quite taken by Snow Vase (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), the young warrior who caught him trying to steal the sword late at night. There is more to Wai Feng and Snow Vase’s characters than just a potential romantic connection, though, and watching their personal histories intersect feels more than just “let’s have a secondary love story like the first one did,” especially given the passion and grace Bordizzo radiates in the role. (Say what you will about the film as a whole, but I must given credit for “Sword of Destiny” for continuing the first film’s legacy of compelling female characters.) Shu and Snow Vase will not be able to protect the sword on their own, though, and Shu reaches out to her fellow Iron Way warriors for help. That includes Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen), who was engaged to be married to Shu at one point, and was thought dead. Li’s death in the first film hangs over them both as they reconnect while trying to defend the sword.

Just reading that last paragraph, it’s impossible not to feel like “Swords of Destiny” is more like a carbon copy of the first film rather than the mythic continuation of the first story it pretends to be; that isn’t helped by the fact that Zhang Ziyi’s Jen, the most compelling character from the first one, and last seen taking a leap of faith into the unknown, has not returned, with Snow Vase seemingly like her replacement in the story rather than a natural part of the narrative. Don’t get me wrong, Yeoh does not disappoint in her return to the character of Shu, and she is the big thing that keeps “Swords of Destiny” moving as a story, but there feels like a lack of continuity between the universe’s of both films that is all the more felt because she is the only carry-over from one film to the next. And the relationship she is to have with Donnie Yen’s Silent Wolf lacks the necessary weight to make their backstory as deeply felt as Shu and Li’s was in the first film. Ultimately, the blame must be put on Yuen and Fusco, who feel more interested in delivering the same level of martial arts excitement the first one had rather than the powerful emotional story Lee’s film was. And as a martial arts spectacle, “Swords of Destiny” delivers, but there’s the deep-rooted fire within the characters, and the outward circumstances that made it impossible to let come to the surface, that’s missing that would truly make it as special as it’s great predecessor was.

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