CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY Gets An International Trailer
Lee B. Golden III
The most recent Netflix trailer for director Yuen Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny, drew a number of reactions mixing postive with some that were negative, if not critical in some capacity. That said, there are a few points worth throwing out regarding this new follow-up based on Wang Dulu’s Iron/Crane Pentalogy, and with respect to all the things that made Ang Lee’s 2000 predecessor, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the classic that it is today.
If you’ve seen the first trailer then you might have an idea on where some of those points lie – be it some of the bad CGI and choice of song to the fact that the film is entirely in English whereas the first film is in Mandarin. It’s all worth discussing for the sake of better filmmaking, but for all intents and purposes, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny appears to be nothing short of a fun feature-length bit of nostalgia highlighting a reunion by the three people who helped bring Yuen’s 1993 classic, Wing Chun, to life – the other two being Donnie Yen and actress Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as swordswoman Yu Shu-Lien.
SYNOPSIS:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny tells an epic story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword and one last opportunity at redemption, set against breathtaking action in an epic martial arts battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of the Martial World.
Directed by the renowned martial arts choreographer (The Matrix Trilogy and Kill Bill 1& 2) and director (Tai Chi Master) Yuen Wo-Ping, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Lady) as Yu Shu-Lien and Donnie Yen (Ip Man 1&2, Monkey King 3D) as Silent Wolf.
Based on the acclaimed novel, Iron Knight, Silver Vase, by Wang Dulu (book 5 in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy) and written by John Fusco (Marco Polo) the new film is produced by Harvey Weinstein (Academy Award winner – The King’s Speech, The Artist) and Peter Berg (Emmy Award winner – Friday Night Lights; Lone Survivor, Hancock) and Sarah Aubrey (Friday Night Lights; Lone Survivor, Hancock) and executive produced by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, The Imitation Game), Ralph Winter (X-Men franchise), Anthony Wong and Bey Logan (The Medallion).
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny also stars Harry Shum Jr (Glee, Revenge of the Green Dragons), Jason Scott Lee (Seventh Son, Hawaii Five-O), Roger Yuan (Bulletproof Monk), Eugenia Yuan (Revenge of the Green Dragons) and newcomer Natasha Liu Bordizzo.
Keep all this in mind while a new trailer for its China release is now circulating online. There’s plenty of new footage with a smidget of Chinese dubbing, and it delivers a less-edgier tone than that of the Netflix trailer, putting a little more emphasis on its overall aesthetic without overselling itself.
