There are definitely scenes and fights which are fantastical, but they lack that magic realism. Even when places were fantastical and fights were impossible-like the Bamboo Forest fight-the Ang Lee film made it feel like something that was actually taking place. While the original Crouching Tiger unquestionably had characters performing impossible feats, they tended to look real. The references only serve to make it feel as though one is watching a lesser film. The fights are not as good, the story is not as good, the wonder of it all is missing. Unfortunately, each and every time the new movie does this, it finds itself wanting. Sword of Destiny quite purposefully mirrors and references the original film both in terms of the plot and some of the fights. Then, as there has to be a younger couple with sexual tension, there's Snow Vase (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) who has a mixed up history with Wei Fang. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) isn't around this time to be a love interest for Shu Lien so the sequel retcons her history a little, inserting Silent Wolf as a second past love. It just all ends up feeling a little silly. Secrets from the past are revealed, and many a fight takes place. So, we find the good guys, led by Shu Lien and Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen) battling the forces of darkness. This is ludicrous as surely Hades Dai is aware that once the first attack has failed Shu Lien is going to go out and get herself a larger band of soldiers to protect the Green Destiny. Later in the film, Hades Dai is forced to send more people after the sword but, inexplicably, still doesn't go with a massive all out assault. Why the Blind Enchantress (Eugenia Yuan) who seems to have all the answers Hades Dai needs (and is generally great fun in in the film) doesn't see this is unclear. A little bit of patience and Shu Lien would have left, leaving the sword an easy target. The logic here isn't horrific, after all, a single thief was able to steal the sword in the first film, but the timing is ludicrous as Hades Dai and his gang know that Shu Lien is in Peking with the Green Destiny. Rather than launching a traditional assault to get the Green Destiny, Dai is convinced to just send one guy, Wei Fang (Harry Shum, Jr.), to slip into Sir Te's house and retrieve it. Hades Dai has been around for a long time, seems to be doing quite well, and need not really exert any pressure to get this sword what with his current level of success, but such is his hubris. Naturally, this "everybody" includes the bad guys, led by the evil Hades Dai (Jason Scott Lee), who wants the sword as legend has it that no one who has carried the sword into a fight has ever lost. For a sword that is thought to be lost, everyone seems to know exactly where it is. The biggest of these issues surround the Green Destiny itself. Much of what takes place in this belated sequel happens for reasons that aren't wholly clear. Or, perhaps she is returning to Peking to protect the Green Destiny from evil, or perhaps both. Sir Te from the original film has just died and Shu Lien has opted to return to Peking to pay her respects. As Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role) explains in a voiceover, the Green Destiny has been thought lost but is simply hidden in Peking. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny is directed by Yuen Woo-Ping and picks up 18 years after the original ended.
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