Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is still one of the most successful martial arts films ever made, and lives long in the memory of fans of the genre. The Chinese picture was made on a US$17 million budget but went onto gross $213 million worldwide in 2000. The Ang Lee-directed action epic was also nominated for ten Academy Awards and won four. It was somewhat surprising that it took sixteen years for someone to make a sequel of the film that was adapted from Wang Dulu’s Crane-Iron series of novels.
In 2016, it was Netflix that decided to make a new instalment in the film series when the streaming service released Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny directly to the platform. This was based on the book, Iron Knight, Silver Vase, which was the last in Wang’s saga. Despite having the same name as the original, the Netflix production was lacking the same quality. It only featured Michelle Yeoh from the first film and had a mainly new cast headed by Donnie Yen. Lee was replaced in the director’s chair by Yuen Woo-Ping, and Zhang Ziyi said that she would only appear in a sequel if it was alongside the renowned Taiwanese filmmaker.
If Netflix decides to follow up on the Sword of Destiny with another instalment in the series, there is potential to make films based on Wang’s earlier novels. These could act as prequels to the two existing pictures. It does seem as though there is a gap in the market for more martial arts content on Netflix. The genre is highly popular in other aspects of western culture, especially games. Netbet is home to a number of ninja-themed slots, and when players play on the Japanese online casino they are faced with options like Golden Tiger and Dragon Chase Rapid. These themes have also been prevalent in the mobile gaming industry, with titles like Fruit Ninja and Ninja Jump both hugely popular.
The stumbling block for Netflix would be the fact that Sword of Destiny wasn’t well received. If the service was to revisit the franchise, there would almost certainly have to be an overhaul in the writing, directing, and acting departments. Viewers are hungry for martial arts content, but they don’t want it to be substandard. Sword of Destiny only has a score of 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, while the original is rated at 97 percent. Perhaps if Netflix was able to coax Lee back for a third film then some of the original cast members including Chow Yun-fat would be interested in reprising their roles.
Ever since Netflix ventured into making its own films, the titles have been a bit hit or miss. There has been the odd gem, such as Alex Garland’s Annihilation. However, Sword of Destiny would be included in the massive pile of misses. Netflix should attempt to redeem itself by releasing another Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon film. This time, though, it should stay true to the original and include some of the people that made it so successful.
