After 15 years, we finally got a little more Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon today as Netflix uploads the trailer for Yuen Woo-ping’s sequel to the 2000 Oscar-winning wuxia classic. And it looks absolutely gorgeous, with spectacular photography and some stunning fight choreography. However, unlike the film from which it was spawned, it appears to be an action movie set against a mythic narrative as opposed to a mythic narrative featuring some really cool action. Which, if it is the case, is fine. It’ll just further establish Ang Lee’s dreamlike and poetic original as a cinematic anomaly. This is just a trailer, though, so it’s too early to know if this will be able to summon up its predecessor’s singular tone or not.
Regardless, there’s a lot to take in here. Yuen—who served as martial arts choreographer for the original—has devised some truly epic battles. Those figures fighting their way down a tower as it collapses might as well be gods, and, while the heavy use of CGI seems pretty evident, it all seems to be in the service of grandeur. If nothing else, it’s great to see Michelle Yeoh stepping back into the shoes of Yu Shu Lien.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (originally subtitled The Green Legend) will be released simultaneously on Netflix and in select IMAX theaters on February 26.