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 goodsparticularly 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.
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 goodsparticularly 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.