A lot sure has changed since the year 2000, when the Chinese masterpiece, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released. Ang Lee’s (Life of Pi) monumental meditation on the martial arts genre was a phenomenal success grossing over $200 million dollars worldwide, while winning four Academy Awards including Best Foreign Film.
Sixteen years later, the entire model of the filmmaking business has begun to shift and there are more avenues for movie distribution than ever before. None bigger than Netflix, who seem to be able to do no wrong in recent years. Whether its fulfilling the dream of Marvel fanboys everywhere with their Daredevil series, crafting political drama with House of Cards, or getting award wins for Beasts of No Nation, they have crafted a growing reputation based on quality entertainment.
Next week Netflix will exclusively release the sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. Michelle Yeoh is the only primary cast or crew member that is returning from the original, which should be a cause for concern. However, there are some able and legendary actors that have been cast to fill the void, left by the Chow Yun-Fat and Zhang Ziyi. Jason Scott Lee joins the cast as the villainous Hades Dai and Donnie Yen also co-stars as Silent Wolf. Yen has been on a tear recently with his upcoming sequel Ip Man 3 and will make his name in the states with this year’s Star Wars: Rogue One.
Director Ang Lee did not come back for the sequel, he was replaced by legendary director and martial arts coordinator Yuen Woo-Ping. Woo-Ping has directed classics such as Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master and has provided the fight choreography for action classics, like Kill Bill and The Matrix. When it comes to staging a kung-fu fight, there is literally no one better or more qualified. What is unseen is if the sequel will have the same high level of heartfelt drama and exceptional acting as the original, which will be hard to top. We will find out next week. Enjoy the trailer.
Official 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.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny will be available on Netflix on February 26th, 2016.
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Source: Slashfilm