I managed to catch the Netflix original movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, directed by Woo-Ping Yuen, over the weekend, and for the most part, enjoyed the flick… but… found it lacking in certain ways.
Sword of Destiny, a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is not a bad martial arts-action flick. But a true successor to the original, it is not. This is a problem that all sequels and prequels face. They are cursed with the name of their predecessors. While this great for marketing, it leads to problems in execution. In this case, I naively charged into watching Sword of Destiny with the completely misguided hope that it would be like the first movie. As a result, I left disappointed. This is a shame, because Sword of Destiny has decent acting, great special effects, a somewhat compelling story, and an awesome soundtrack.
Removing all of expectations based on the original 2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sword of Destiny’s two biggest shortfalls are its plot, and its lack of character development. In this film, we follow Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) returning to mourn the death of her father figure, Sir Te. Sir Te was in possession of the legendary Green Destiny, a famous sword. We also learn that a greedy warlord, Hades Dai (Jason Scott Lee), wants to steal the the famous steal. The story is essentially the conflict that ensues with Hades Dai trying to steal the sword and Yu Shu Lien trying to keep it from him. It’s bland and lacks general sense. Sure, the Green Destiny is a well forged killing machine, but that’s it. Plus, if Hades Dai was just planning on conquering the providence anyway, why take the time to steal the sword first? It all seems too dramatic to be believable or practical.
Next, the characters in the movie are interesting, but there’s not enough time spent telling us why. Because he dresses and acts like a villain, we know that Hades Dai is evil. Because Flying Blade (Chris Pang) stands up for the honor of Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen) before a tavern brawl, we know he’s a good guy. It would have been nice to get more background information on these characters. Unfortunately, the backstory that we do see for some of the characters feels rushed and all is all too convenient in pushing the plot along. For example, Snow Vase (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Wei Fang’s (Harry Shum Jr.) intertwined background story served the need to turn the handsome, bad-boy, love interest into a good guy too perfectly to be believable.
All that said, I did enjoy watching Sword of Destiny. It’s exciting and atmospheric and the flying martial art scenes are crisp and exhilarating. Fair warning, the good characters drop like flies. I found myself quite distraught when the first one went. The good guy’s willingness to die for their cause certainly adds tension and melancholy to the film. I know said I wouldn’t compare Sword of Destiny to the first movie again, but one positive parallel is that both films are reflective on the negative impacts of violence in life.
If you’re looking for a a fun martial arts filck, I would recommend Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. If you’re hoping for a cinematic work of art, stick to the original 2000 film. Netflix seems to have yet to hit its stride with original film content, but with movies like Sword of Destiny, its well on its way.
