Review of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016) by Ian G — 03 Mar 2016

It's always pretty tricky reawakening any kind of film for a follow up whether it is a stand alone project or film franchise, and Crouching Tiger is no exception to this especially since it is such a self contained and great as a stand along project.

Sword of Destiny, even though it has some solid nature insert shots and the choreography is still decent, the overall familiarity of the genre now as opposed to back in 2000 makes it feel as if everyone involved is going through the motions as opposed to it being a completely new take on the story or something to invest in.

Also the fact it seems to scream a bit that they grabbed a Donnie Yen picture and inserted Michelle Yeou's character and her sword into the proceedings for a chance to cash in on the legacy of the first films success, and also chance enough to make it even more "accessible", right down to a potential cardinal sin of making a foreign film which only added to the mystique English speaking which kind of throws a little of the continuity out of whack.

There are always much worse projects that come out at some point over the course of the year that I am sure will make Crouching Tiger 2 just disposable all the same, but just at the same time especially since it has been 16 years since the original one can only wonder why?