Some of you may remember 15 years ago, when 2000 was the year of the dragon, as this was the year that the Taiwanese-Hong Kong-American-Chinese co-production Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was in the theaters. Directed by acclaimed director Ang Lee, the film received critical praise and almost won the best picture overall at the Oscars and went away with Best Foreign Film. It has been a long time, but there will be a sequel with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, and this is what is known about its release date and other news from this long-awaited sequel.
According to Nerdist, the film will have Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as Yu Shu Lien, and she will be caught up in the drama of war in late 18th century China. Joining her is Donnie Yen, another famed martial-arts veteran actor, playing Silent Wolf. The trailer shows the two of them flailing and fighting through a lot of foes. There is a trailer below so you can see the action, and it has an odd use "Bad Moon Rising" from Creedence Clearwater Revival.
It makes sense that most of the characters from the first film will not be coming back, as many of them met their fate with Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) dying and Jen Yu (Ziyi Zhang) jumping off of a cliff, seemingly never to return. What seems to be back is the sword from the first film, which was a MacGuffin device that looks to be the Sword of Destiny in the sequel. The film's IMDB page describes the plot of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (also known as the subtitle The Green Legend) as "A story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword and one last opportunity at redemption."
One of the reasons why the first Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon film is remembered so well is it featured the fighting choreography of Yuen Woo Ping. This man from Guangzhou, China was a significant influence on Hong Kong action cinema, bringing in an age of gravity-defying fighting that is visible in such films like of Jackie Chan like Snake in Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master. He also had a hand in the action of The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill, Volume 1, Kung Fu Hustle, and The Forbidden Kingdom. He is the appropriate director for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2.
For those that might believe that 15 years is too late for a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it should be known that the film is actually a sequel itself. There was a wuxia novelist known as Wang Dulu that wrote the Crane Iron Series before 1949, and the fourth book in the series was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The sequel to the film is based on the fifth book in the Crane Iron Pentalogy known as Iron Knight, Silver Vase.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny will be in select IMAX theaters and on Netflix on February 26th, 2016.
