China Daily Global Edition (USA)
High expectations
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel is coming soon
In the history of Chinese cinema, no movie other than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has captured so much attention from North America, a market that Chinese filmmakers often dream about capturing.
Being the first Chinese-language movie to win at the Oscars, it set the tone for future martial arts movies, and made Ang Lee’s directorial masterpiece a model both in terms of art and commerce.
This makes it easy to understand why Yuen Woo-ping, the director of the sequel titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, is often asked if he worries about being compared with Lee.
“No, I’ve never felt stressed. When you think too much you are unable to make a good film,” says the 69-year-old Hong Kong-based filmmaker, in an interview with China Daily.
The new movie, adapted from the fifth and final book of wuxia novelist Wang Dulu’s Crane Iron series (Lee adapted the fourth book), will hit Chinese mainland theaters in the 3-D format on Feb 19.
Alongside the Mandarin version, an English version will be simultaneously released on streaming site Netflix and in some cinemas in North America.
Using the romantic bond of the first film, the sequel rewrites a key plot of the original story — protagonist swordswoman Yu Xiulian’s fiance, who was supposed to have died in the first movie protecting her true love, Li Mubai, is revived, and the new plot revolves around fidelity, revenge and conspiracy.
While a franchise’s market potential typically hinges on the same stars appearing in new films, the sequel has only Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as Yu.
However, kung fu superstar Donnie Yen, playing the fiance, adds weight to the cast.
But die-hard fans could be disappointed to see that Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are absent in the new film.
But for Yuen, the big challenge revolves more around making the West understand Asian sensitivities and philosophy in a typical Chinese jianghu, or the martial world.
Despite Lee’s 2000 movie gaining widespread popularity in the West, a series of ambitious martial arts tentpoles, such as Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002) and Chen Kaige’s The Promise (2005), failed to match Lee’s success.
Some critics say that one of the main reasons for the poor response to those films is that Western audiences could not understand the intricacies of the Chinese martial arts world.
So, the domestic industry now has a lot of hope pinned on Yuen’s movie.
But given the slump seen in wuxia movies in the recent years, can the new Crouching Tiger film revive the flagging fortunes of the genre that helped introduce Chinese cinema to the world?
The start was not so promising.
When American scriptwriter John Fusco finished his first version, Yuen was not satisfied with the storyline featuring a good-versus-evil stereotype.
Interestingly, Fusco is known in Hollywood for his knowledge of Chinese history and culture.
He wrote two seasons of the hit TV series Marco Polo, based on the legendary Italian’s journeys from Europe to China between 1271 and 1295.
But Yuen saw Fusco’s first version as “a Western cowboy action thriller” set against the backdrop of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Yuen, who has been involved with the Chinese martial arts genre for around 40 years, says: “China’s fictional wuxia world is like a gigantic vat of dye, which turns good into evil and vice versa, swaying heroes between right and wrong.”
The script was revised 10 times over six years, but Yuen did not give his nod until a Chinese screenwriter updated it.
Many Lee fans say they still remember the fighting scenes from the first movie.
A fight on an icy lake highlighted in the stills of the new movie perhaps offers a picture of things to come.
Yuen, also the action director for the first movie, says that nearly 85 percent of the fighting scenes in the new film are “genuine”.
While many recent martial arts films have mainly used computer-generated imagery, Yeoh tells China Daily that Yuen will take viewers into the real world of the swordsman.
“They (viewers) will feel they are part of the movie, and also feel the fears of the characters,” she says.
No, I’ve never felt stressed. When you think too much you are unable to make a good film.”
Yuen Woo-ping,, director