Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny

Director: Yuen Woo-Ping
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 1.0

Uninspired 'sequel' to the original Crouching Tiger made sixteen years ago (!) has Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen) - along with a young woman named Snow Vase (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), who has her own secret back story - fighting to protect a supposedly legendary sword called "Green Destiny" ... if this sounds like the plot to a video game for teenagers, you're not wrong. Yuen, while notable for his stunt coordination, can certainly put together a (CGI-heavy) battle - the one on a frozen lake is particularly crisp - even though his 'story' is a string of clichés and the kind of awful acting/dialogue the Wu-Tang Clan would have sampled for their records; the characters are as thin as the wires attached to them. Is "Netflix Exclusive" just a new way of saying "Direct to Video?" It's starting to appear that way....