Once Upon a Time in China II (1993)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This martial arts film is especially well-known for the legendary last fight scene between Jet Li and Donnie Yen, two of the all-time greatest martial artists, at an alley. The fight is both intense and speedy, and Li and Yen uses whatever weapons they can find, including ropes and wooden splinters, to fight each other.

The exposition or inciting incident felt to me like the beginning of FROM Russia WITH LOVE. I was filled with excitement to once again be entering the world of Wong Fei-Hung in this return to his adventures. I was more than ready to pick up where last we left our hero. But this time there are protests in the streets as Wong Fei-Hung travels to a seminar on medicine with Aunt 13 and the White Lotus Sect prepares under the mantle of religious ceremony to expel all Western influence from the provinces of China.There is even more substance with regard to thematic content as children become involved in this explosive mix of cultural upheaval and political intrigue. At the seminar on medicine, there is a scene where the merits of Western and Eastern medicine are clearly demonstrated in a lecture given on the central nervous system. This scene alone is worth the price of admission as it continues to develop the theme of East-West confluence in a meaningful way.This thematic thread once again runs throughout the narrative with touches of light humor and more serious overtones that inevitably lead to the baroque martial artistry of action choreographer Yuen Woo Ping. Donnie Yen makes his appearance in this film as military officer Nap-Lan Yun-Seut, and the combat scenes between him and Li represent the height of visual interest as they both brilliantly display their martial arts prowess. The supporting characters are even more fully realized than before and we are securely in the second part of a sequel that promises in its own way to rival and perhaps surpass the renown of Sergio Leone's The Man With No Name Trilogy.There are scenes with children here that give the story more poignancy. This is paralleled and inter-woven with ceremonies where gods are entreated and appealed to strenuously for supernatural support. When Wong Fei-Hung enters the Temple of the White Lotus Cult in order to finally confront its leader High Priest Kau-Kung as played by Hung Yan-yan, we actually get a taste of meditation about the nature of divine power mixed in with martial acrobatics. There is even a passing indirect reference to Myamoto Musashi's quote about how we must not rely on the gods. Even the saga of Christ is viewed from the Eastern perspective of the hero and this adds to the richness of the narrative in a brief, incidental way.When Wong Fei-Hung finally draws the curtain back on Kau-Kung's religious antics and trickery, there is wailing and grieving galore among the followers of the White Lotus Cult. Even Wong Fei-Hung finds his friends causing death and one in particular finding for his toils martyrdom. The stakes are even higher this time for those who seek the light of knowledge as they are pitted against those who wish to enshroud themselves in the warm embrace of mysticism and blind faith. How will our hero prevail in an atmosphere where there are no easy answers and the force of pain and death makes its own argument?

Maybe I don't understand anything in kung fu movies, but this one doesn't look good to me.To begin with, it makes a clownish impression. The Chinese men are flying and delivering very unrealistic moves. The "furniture fight" makes me laugh. They make a pile of tables, shout some stupid rhymes, make childish gestures, Wong makes a ridiculous "helicopter" kick (in the first film Wong also made a helicopter kick but it did not look this funny), etc.Then some scenes are exaggerated (take for instance the one on the train when Luke (?) can't decide which hand is his or another one with Wong) and look pathetic. The result is that I start feeling sorry for the actors.That's about all as to negative sides of the movie. All the rest is fine. The original film was fine from start to finish. The humour was not over the top. The fights were colossal but never laughable. And the jokes were funny but never pathetic.Why it has the same rating on IMDb as the original film and why they say that it has the most memorable fight scenes in Jet Lee's career are two mysteries to me.It is a much weaker attempt than the original movie: 6 out of 10 (it has its moments and the final fight is still memorable). Thanks for attention.

This sequel to the 1991 martial arts epic Once Upon A Time In China starts promisingly enough, with the introduction of the xenophobic White Lotus Cult, a group of over-zealous Chinese nationalists who are out to destroy anyone or anything foreign.Spurred on by their seemingly indestructible leader (he is impervious to fire and swords and can take a swift kick to the knackers without breaking a sweat), these loonies even attack children, just for learning another language! Fortunately, martial arts expert Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li), along with companions Foon (Siu Chung Mok) and Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan), are there to protect the innocent.After being rather disappointed with the first movie, I was hoping that Part 2 would deliver the goods—particularly as it also stars one of my favourite martial arts actors, Donnie Yen. However, despite the talented cast and promising set-up, director Tsui Hark once again delivers an overlong film which disappoints due to a lack of decent action and far too much chit-chat.In two hours, there are only a couple of decent fight scenes, both of them between Yen and Li; the remainder of the action is largely forgettable, including some pretty poor use of wire-work courtesy of industry legend Yuen Woo Ping.This is generally considered to be one of the best in the series. If this is the case, I'm not sure how many more I want to see. I give OUATIC2 5.5/10, rounded up to 6/10 for IMDb.