I suppose the first question that comes
to mind is did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) really need a sequel
any more than say Lawrence of Arabia or Casablanca or Citizen Kane. It was
in my mind a near perfect rendering of the world of jianghu (rivers and lakes)
- the wandering swordsperson with a strong code of ethics. That film was
beautifully shot, artistic like a King Hu film, great memorable characters,
a formidable line-up of actors, a story of heft and depth and an emotional
punch in the gut. It was a worldwide phenomenon. Any one who had the audacity
to make a sequel was stepping into a mine field of expectations and stored
memories.
Yet the original film was part of a larger
story from Chinese author Wang Dulu, who wrote a series of novels collectively
known as the Crane-Iron books of which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was
one - and I expect this was another. So in that sense a sequel is a fairly
legitimate undergoing - perhaps it would be great to have the entire series
made. This film clearly did not have anything close to the impact of the
first film. I admit to not even have heard of it till I was looking through
the filmography a short while ago of Vietnamese actress Veronica Ngo (Furie)
and I noticed this film listed. I assumed it was some cheap title ripoff
like Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger was, but it is the real thing - produced
by Netflix and Harvey Weinstein of all people. It had a budget bigger than
the first one but you would never guess - showing I suppose that $20,000,000
isn't what it used to be (CTHD had a budget of $17M). They brought in Yuen
Woo-ping to direct it and a few big stars to appear in it.
Most importantly, Michelle Yeoh as her
same character Yu Shu-lien - older but still of great sword skills. They
pair her off with Donnie Yen who I think legally has to appear in every wuxia
film made outside of China and most in. Here is where it gets kind of interesting
- he plays Meng Sizhao or by the name all the cool kids know him as Silent
Wolf. Silent the way we wish Donnie always was. Now if you don't recollect
the name Meng Sizhao, well neither did I - but in the first film he is dead
and because he was a good friend of Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) and had been
engaged to Yu Shu-lien (Michelle) - the two of them could never breach their
unspoken love for one another. Well guess what? He wasn't dead all this time!
Almost died - but then went into seclusion for years! She is not pleased
to find this out. So do you have that straight? He is back and just in time!
Some other talent brought on board - they
clearly could not bring back Cheng Pei-pei as Jade Fox but they do bring
back her daughter - I mean her real life daughter Eugenia Yuan as an evil
blind sorceress, Veronica Ngo of course who brought me here as a very deadly
swordswoman in the service of Jason Scott Lee, who plays the main villain
here. There are also a few younger actors - in particular Natasha Liu Bordizzo
(from Australia) as Snow Vase and Harry Shum Jr. (Crazy Rich Asians) as Wei
Fang. And music by Shigeru Umebayashi (In the Mood for Love, House of Flying
Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower) who knows his way around composing for
a wuxia film.
So a ton of talent but it never quite clicks
- it feels too quick and yet too talkie and dour at the same time. Part of
the reason may be that it is in English which makes the effort feel shallow
- in Mandarin I expect it would have taken on more resonance. The relationships
between Michelle and Donnie and between Shum Jr and Natasha had the makings
of a romantic barn burner but it is closer to burnt toast. And though the
relationships are complicated with a long history to both - the plot could
have been written on a bathroom wall. The Sword called Green Destiny that
had belonged to Li Mu Bai (Chow) in the first film is now residing in a temple
in plain sight - and when Yu Shien-lien sees this she tells the abbot this
has to be put in a safe place. Too late though as the gang headed by Hades
(Jason Scott Lee) is coming to get it as it will of course make him all-powerful.
Silent Wolf in the meantime shows up with five very cool fighters to defend
the Sword. Oh so you are alive? How about that. And showing up also is Snow
Vase who tries to steal the sword but after failing sticks around for the
fun. And revenge of course.
There is an action scene right at the beginning
as Michelle fends off a group of killers and then a ton at the end. In between
not so much. It is basic sword and wire fu - lots of flying and high jumping
- too much really - but still some of the choreography is excellent - in
particular a fight on the ice. I mean is it Yuen Woo-ping who has been doing
this stuff for 40 years. Yuen Woo-ping is a legendary action choreography
but as a director the action is always what stands out in his films - rarely
the story and that is the issue here. Better an Ang Lee type of director
who then leaves the choreography to someone like Yuen. All that said, I enjoyed
this more than the critics who seem to have taken to it like an octopus sandwich
with mayo. I think part of the issue was that it is hard to watch this and
not in the back of your mind be comparing it to the first film. If that is
the case, this film will come up short but I will take it over films like
Jade Dynasty in a heartbeat. It is always a pleasure seeing Michelle Yeoh
- she brings weight to every role and seeing her team up with Donnie Yen
reminded me how long they have been with us - their first collaborations
were back in 1993 with Butterfly Sword and 1994 with Wing Chun - two films
admittedly better than this one but here they still are 25 years later still
flying, still wielding a sword and still killing the bad guys. I will take
that any time.
