The release of this movie comes more than 15 years after the original, and though it will have more resonance for those who have seen the first, it's intended to stand on its own. One member of the band of heroes is a proud lover of wine (occasionally to excess) the men drink wine together in one scene. A nude woman is glimpsed as she gets into a bath (a view from behind). To counter the violence, the film delivers strong messages about loyalty, courage, a moral high ground, and the power of love. Characters are stabbed, impaled, slashed, kicked, and badly beaten. Directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, the choreographer of the original, the film is less balletic than the first, with scenes of sword fights, knives, and hand-to-hand combat leading to bloody injury and the death of both heroes and villains. Michelle Yeoh is the only returning cast member the "Green Destiny" sword is back to move the story. All in all, this film blends story, well choreographed action, and a stylistic eye to create a mythilogical piece that not only represents the wu xia genre justly by doing it well, but also contributes to raising the quality of filmmaking usually applied in the making of a similar type of film.Parents need to know that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny is a martial arts adventure and love story, a sequel to the wildly popular and admired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon made in 2000. Mainly concentrating on her unwillingness to give in to the ideals of an arranged marriage, the decently written script adds a story of an old warrior trying to retire and a 300+ year old sword. Although both Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeo did have major parts, this movie belongs mostly to Zhang Ziyi who IMHO did an amazing job playing a very complex role (one which required her to represent nobily as a princess, naivness, as well as show inner strength). What about the story? The complexity of the plot is rather sparse, probably reminiscent of epics such as Braveheart or Gladiator, which is by no means a bad thing. If your jaw dropped when you saw Rome and its coliseum in Gladiator, wait until you see ancient Beijing recreated on the screen! Okay, so it's a good looking movie. Wow! The backdrops, establishing shots look absolutely marvelous. The lighting of different landscapes and the exquisitly designed costumes all radiate with stunning colour. Traversing through a myriad of regions spanning the lengh of China (from the deserts to bamboo forests, to mountains high in the clouds), the film soley based on its asthetic properties is nothing short of stunning. Being an epic, one would expect the usual long takes and establishing shots, and boy does it ever look beautiful. Crouching Tiger, on the other hand realizes these issues, and builds these oh-so entertaining action sequences into an epic with typical asian themes such as true love and honour. The movie turns into one long scripted fighting scene with maybe a slight hint of story. However, most of them are so centred on the fighting, that they forget the rest of the elements that are involed. Being of Asian descent, I've seen my share of wu xia genre movies to last me a life time. This year, it would have to be (so far) Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Last year, the highlight of the festival for me was American Beauty. As a film student living in Toronto, I look forward to the Toronto International Film Festival every year.
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