I've just finished watching "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny", which was an intensely frustrating experience - some elements of the film were genuinely great (including, in particular, the final battle), but many just sucked. The resulting mixture of awesome and awful made for a film I really don't know what to make of.
This is, basically, a much-delayed sequel to the original CT:HD, starring the always-great Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yu. It basically takes all the trappings of the first film, but then wraps them in a Hollywood sensibility of how films are supposed to go, which meant that the whole thing was intensely predictable - there is the evil bad guy raising an army, there is a magic sword, there are fueds and vendettas. There is even, somehow, an echo of Rey and Kylo Ren which is quite uncanny. And then, of course, there's the mega-happy ending, quite at odds with the melancholy of the original film.
I really can't recommend this film. And yet, I really enjoyed large parts of it. It's just... odd.
#14: "The Gates of Athens", by Conn Iggulden
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