Please don't spend money on this.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

So, Netflix take on the sequel to Ang Lee's original 2000 spectacle which gladly reached a much wider, international audience for a martial art movie. It continues of the sword and fantasy during the Qing dynasty being central to Michelle Yeoh's Yu Shu Lien and this time, Donnie Yen playing the complicated romantic interest. He's not replacing Yun-Fat Chow's Li Mu Bai, of course not, but is simply another character thrown into the fray. The actually phrase "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was first coined by the Chinese poet, Yu Xin, and is sometimes use to refer to the real life military strategist and philosopher, Zhuge Liang or sometimes known as Kongming, the same guy who invented the fashionable lanterns that people release into the sky. Being symbolic of a true master in hiding, possibly waiting. Almost like Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. But I'm not entirely sure who it's referring to in the film. The legendary Woo Ping Yuen, director of many Kung fu classics such as The Drunken Master and fight choreographer for The Matrix returns to direct this sequel. I say return as he was, of course, the fight choreographer for Ang Lee's previous film, The fighting is exceptionally creative, fantastic and plentiful but that shouldn't be too surprising with Woo Ping at the helm. The wire work is unfortunately too obvious, some of the fighting being comical but pays homage to the classic Kung Fu's of old and on the whole, beautifully executed and captured. Michelle Yeoh returns and as always, does impressively well considering she is not trained in the martial arts. Hong Kong superstar Donnie Yen does what he does best and is in no means a disappointment to watch him in action playing Silent Wolf. (Makes you think of Chuck Norris yes?) But it was great to see Jason Scott Lee, though much older than Disney's Mowgli and the Bruce Lee he played in Dragon. Shigeru Umebayashi does a grand score, respecting traditional music of the orient and creating a strong sense of mysticism and fantasy. Something to be noted about this film is the spoken language. Being filmed in English because surprisingly, Ang Lee's film insulted much of the mandarin speaking world, convincing the studios to choose an English dialogue so not to repeat the same mistake. Only three of the four key characters in Ang Lee's film actually spoke fluent mandarin. Whilst it's a good film, it has loss the majestic gracefulness the first film had, a certain elegance and finesse, but as a stand alone martial art picture, it's good enough and very enjoyable. Running Time: 7 The Cast: 8 Performance: 7 Direction: 7 Story: 6 Script: 6 Creativity: 8 Soundtrack: 7 Job Description: 5 The Extra Bonus Points: 061% 6/10

I went into "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" (SoD) with a mix of expectations. I remember loving "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (CTHD) went I saw it. How would this sequel match up? Actually, really well.To begin, let's remove some false assumptions. Many are upset about the film being in English, unlike the original which was in Mandarin. But there are reasons for this that extend far beyond "Americanizing." In CTHD, some of the stars were not native Mandarin speakers and their accents were heavy. This led to ridicule in China. I believe that the English language filming is an attempt to correct that. Better to have a good foreign language dub than actors who struggle on film, in my opinion.Furthermore, some have said that the fighting wasn't as good. One review I read said that the heroes had become super-heroes. I disagree. There is actually much less wuxia flying and more straight-forward combat. Is it stylized? Certainly. That's part of the genre. But it seems more grounded to me, than super-heroic. CTHD had some excellent fight scenes! But the star wasn't a trained martial artist and his moves looked clunky at times. Not so here. Donnie Yen is in top form and delivers a solid performance. It is especially satisfying to see him alongside Michelle Yeoh (the only carry over actor from CTHD). They fight and act well together.But, SoD is more than fighting. The narrative is key here. In fact, the story for SoD is, in some ways, superior than CTHD. The story and character arcs build on what went before, so we find out more about the previous characters. Furthermore, some of the new characters have deeper connections and more layered stories.The biggest difference between SoD and CTHD is the cinematography. At the risk of the oversimplification, CTHD seemed more artsy. That doesn't means SoD looks bad. It's just a different, more modern style. There are some breathtaking landscape shots that give the story scope! The film could also have been a little longer. There are some minor characters that I wish we would have been able to see more of before the end.The direction, acting, fighting, and soundtrack all work well together, giving us a great film. For me, "Sword of Destiny" is an excellent follow up to the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Greetings from Lithuania."Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" (2016) is a guilty pleasure. It's predictable and kinda cheese flick, but i enjoyed much more then i taught i would - just don't compare it with the first one, it lacks the magic of the original or any deep. Nevertheless as a 1h 40 min escapism flick it does it's job well enough to recommend it. There are some pretty weak stuff, like some flashbacks to characters at the end who have died - that didn't work, or romance which is a more like "meet-cute" then real thing (nothing so deep and poetry like it was in the first one - not for a mile). But this movie is excellently paced, i wasn't bored for a second, characters are more or less two dimensional but well drawn so you can separate one from another - and Natasha Liu Bordizzo (aka Snow Vase) is very gorgeous young woman - that was her first role ever - not that's a plus for a movie itself - just saying...Overall, "Sword of Destiny" is totally different movie then first one. It lacks any poetry, it is a very straightforward and kinda predictable flick, but very enjoyable one for a one evening.

Some people said to not compare this one to the first one. But how can you not when the film is carrying on the same title as the first one? When "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" first came out at the time, it was known as a artistic kung-fu movie. With a well told story and some breathtaking cinematography and well executed action sequence. This sequel strays away from that and tries to go in a more "300" like direction. Sure, some kung-fu movies focus more on the action sequences with the story being there for the set up of those fights. But it's still a disappointing movie to sit through. The story is very forgettable with there being zero emotion although it tries to bring out some emotions from the audiences. It's just a irritating and annoying movie to sit through, because most of the characters are not likable and because you just don't care at all about the cause and effect. With a title like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", I thought they would have more resources. But there really isn't much and the whole experience just came off lackluster. I will say some of the fight choreography is great, despite it having a lot of CGI integrated into it. While other fight scenes just comes off cheesy and by the numbers. And when it tries to show a in-depth or artistic imagery it just felt like a cheap cardboard cutout. It's like they just focused on making few good fight choreography and was just lazy when it came to the story and the artistic visuals. I will say if this is a movie you see through Netflix, it's a alright watch. But besides that this isn't a movie I would really recommend to others. But I will say it's a alright watched, it's quite forced but it's alright. Although it's quite forgettable.5.5/10