When I watched this film six years ago I gave it five stars. Watching it again
today, it's difficult to understand why. It's true that it has a lot in its
favour. Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh are two outstanding actors. The film
contains many spectacular fight scenes, more than
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
itself. And yet something is missing, something that's only apparent when
watching the two films back to back. "Sword of Destiny" (I prefer to shorten
the title) lacks the spiritual depth of the original.
"Sword of Destiny" takes place 18 years after the events of the first film.
Shu Lien has lived as a recluse since the death of Li Mu Bai. Now she returns
to Peking to see the legendary jade sword that used to belong to Li Mu Bai. It
was in the house of Sir Te, who has recently died. Now a bandit called Hades
Dai wants the sword for himself. He sends Wei Fang, his adopted son, to steal
the sword. Wei Fang is captured in a fight with Shu Lien, so he sends a larger
force to free him and take the sword.
Five warriors unite to defend Te's house. The leader is Silent Wolf, Shu
Lien's former fiancé, who she thought was dead. He reveals that he faked his
death because he knew Shu Lien loved Li Mu Bai, and he wanted them to be
together. That didn't work out, as we know from
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
Shu Lien has a student, a young woman called Snow Vase. She's the daughter of
Hades Dai, but her mother switched her with Wei Fang after her birth, because
she wanted to give Hades a son. All her life Snow Vase has been searching for
her half-brother (or whatever the relationship is called), not knowing his
name, but she can recognise him by a birth mark.
I wouldn't say this is a bad film, but it's not a masterpiece like "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Curiously, it's a fake Chinese film. It looks Chinese,
but it was filmed in English. With the exception of Michelle Yeoh and Donnie
Yen all of the main actors are Americans or Australians of Chinese descent.
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