Roger Moore started his
review by saying, “Years have passed and the love triangle at the heart of
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is long gone. But the fights are even more
amusingly spectacular and the visuals — every frame a painting — are as
sumptuous as ever in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Sword of Destiny,”
the sequel to the surprising 2000 Oscar winning hit.”
Director Ang Lee does
not have his name in here, but actor turned stunt choreographer and director
Yuen Woo-Ping keeps this kind of tired sequel flowing and moving, with the help
of a willing and able (to fly) cast.
“The Sword of Destiny”
has Yu Shu Lien, reprised by Michelle Yeoh, over 50 and out of the noble
but deadly love triangle that caused her actions nearly two decades ago. She
has decided to help protect this magically-gifted green sword from falling into
the wrong hands.
That would be the West
Lotus gang of Hades Dai, played by a balder, bulkier and dubbed Jason Scott
Lee.
Yu Shu Lien is one of
the last followers of “The Iron Way,” and she is tasked with not only
protecting the sword, but with taking in a student – the agile and pale martial
arts mistress Snow Vase, played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo. They capture one of
Hades Dai’s masked villains, played by Harry Shum Jr., and bide their time.
Because there will be help.
Moore said, “It’s led by Yu Shu Lien’s long lost lover, now traveling the land
in a wide-brimmed hat like some lone gunman of the Old West.” He is “Silent
Wolf,” and the great martial artist Donnie Yen revives himself to play him.
Yuen Woo-Ping gives Yen
a grand entrance, and jumps into one fight after another, helped by a newly
formed gang of younger fighters such as “Silver Dart Shi” (Juju Chan) and
Turtle Ma (Darryl Quon) and Flying Blade (Chris Pang), each with a certain
skill.
Moore continued, “Yeoh
and Yen wear a wonderful world weariness. The new players, stuck with switched
baby stories, hidden birthmarks and such, are left high and dry.”
Because the story of
this sequel is just plain silly up to the point of bland. Moore said, “We sit
through the usual montage of inscrutable training rituals (“A predictable
attack has a predictable outcome.”) and brace ourselves for the blood that will
be shed as the field is winnowed down for one final clash between the best of
the best and the best of the worst.”
Moore continued, “The
plot’s a yawner even if the action isn’t, all of it basically a set-up for a
younger generation of wire-savvy young performers to move center stage in this
not-really-a-saga. The world this is set in — super-saturated colors, pristine
sets — feels surreal, less lived in than the best Jet Li/Jackie Chan/Donnie Yen
kung for pictures.”
Still, if the only
martial arts movies you’re watching are “Crouching Tiger” movies, it’s good to
know that they’re keeping up with the type of action, even if they’re not
actually creating it.
Overall, this is a
decent sequel. The reason why is because there is more dialogue in this movie
and not enough action. However, when the action does occur, it’s really exciting.
Another drawback is that unlike the first movie, this sequel was shot in
English but dubbed in Mandarin. I don’t understand why that was, but that was
really distracting. However, if you have a NetFlix account, go ahead and watch
this movie if you saw the first movie. It wouldn’t hurt, so the choice is
yours.
Stay tuned this Friday for
the continuation of “Jackie Chan Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment