A lot of reviews have been rating this movie quite low. It seems most people are disappointed that it is not the first movie. There are a lot of differences with this sequel, mainly being the overall tone and look of the film.
The original is always heralded as a classic, martial arts movie fans will know that these types of films were a common genre in the past. None of them were as well produced as Crounching Tiger, other than possibly Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of time (1994 ).
Although filmed in English, this feels much more like a traditional Hongkong martial arts film from the 70's or 80's. The romantic aspects of the original have been tone down, and the pulpy adventure aspects have been pushed to the front. This is not a bad thing, as the film has a number of excellent fight scenes throughout excellently.
On the direction front, yuen wo ping is no Anglee, but that isn't really a problem due to the type of film that this version of Crouching Tiger is, being a pulpy action adventure. The location have also been commented on, as the movie has been shot in New Zealand and not China. I actually liked this aspect as it gave the movie a different look than usual.
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