A Chinese Ghost Story II

Not entirely sane mixture of martial arts, supernatural tomfoolery, adventure epic, picaresque, Eastern philosophy and religion, and monster movie; featuring cowardly, yet devilishly handsome scholar-heroes, potty priests with magical nous, fearsome, yet cute, highkicking heroines, fat evil fake Buddhas, mendacious high priests, lumbering trolls, hairy gurus and noble warriors. You can choose either THE PHANTOM MENACE and George Lucas, who stole many of these elements to create an enervating sticky gloop that goes on way too long; or this, directed at a breathless pace, full of fun, joy, energy, terror, invention and wonder (and socio-historical critique) which ends far too soon.

I'm torn between admiring A Chinese Ghost Story II for its sheer craziness and disliking it for being such an incoherent mess of a sequel to one of my favourite HK movies.

The original A Chinese Ghost Story was the film that showed me there was more to Hong Kong cinema than Jackie Chan, director Siu-Tung Ching brilliantly blending romance, fantasy, comedy and horror; part 2, also directed by Siu-Tung Ching, is non-stop insanity that never achieves the lyrical beauty of its predecessor, but does deliver a giant, toothy monster and a demonic high monk who can transform into a massive golden Buddha and a giant centipede.

Leslie Cheung reprises his role of timid debt collector Ling Choi San, who escapes from jail (having been wrongly arrested as a bandit after escaping from cannibals!); mistakenly stealing the horse of Taoist Chi Chau (Jacky Cheung), the young man seeks shelter in an abandoned villa in the woods. Chi Chau catches up with Ling Choi San, and the pair sort out the misunderstanding. During the night, the men are attacked by rebels posing as ghosts, who mistake Ling Choi San for renowned scholar Elder Chukot Ngo Long (Feng Ku), with whom he shared a cell. Amazingly, one of the rebels, Ching Fung (Joey Wong), is the exact double of ghost Siu Sihn (also Wong) from the first film; Ling Choi San is unsurprisingly smitten and agrees to help rescue her father, who is prisoner of the Imperialists.

Despite the title, there are no real ghosts in this movie, but there's plenty of supernatural silliness as Ling Choi San and his new found friends do battle with evil forces. The film is a smorgasbord of over-the-top special effects filled sequences, most of which make very little sense, but which are undeniably visually impressive. Even the less effective effects - such as the silly demonic monster that continues to menace our heroes despite being cut in half - are entertaining, and there's surely something for everyone to enjoy (I particularly liked the 'sword surfing' scene).

So, not the sequel I was hoping for, but still worth checking out if you like your HK movies to be completely bonkers.

This is the first sequel of the iconic and fantastic Hong Kong ghost fantasy, A Chinese Ghost Story. This time, humble tax collector Ling Choi Sin (Leslie Cheung) meets rebel sisters Windy (Joey Wang) and Moon (Michelle Reis) after his escape from prison. He gets himself stumbled onto a plot where the rebels' father Lord Fu (Siu-Ming Lau) was framed for a crime. While waiting at a villa to rescue Fu from the convoy, the rebels encounter an awakened demon.

Like its prequel, this movie is fast-paced and full of action scenes and surprises, which gives the plot momentum and suspense. There is a good balance of drama and romance, as the character of Windy reminded Ling Choi Sin of his beloved tragic ghost, Lip Siu Sin, from the first movie - bridging a touching connection between the two stories.

This film also has a beautiful music score composed by James Wong and Romeo Diaz and crazy special/visual effects of the magic spells seen in the film you would have to suspend your imagination to believe. Though very wild, the magic somehow works very well and fits in this story. Lastly, the acting was great, provided by a cast of very memorable characters.

While this film does not surpass the original Chinese Ghost Story in story and quality, this movie is still entertaining and fun and certainly one of the better sequels to come out of Hong Kong.

Grade B+

A Chinese Ghost Story was a visual feast and a great film that combined swordplay with fantasy, romance, drama, comedy and horror and it somehow worked. This sequel follows the same formula, but goes a bit further with the comedy with some of the cheesiest monsters on celluloid (and that is not a bad thing in this instance). A Chinese Ghost Story goes way past eleven and takes the viewer to another world. To say this film is wild is a gross understatement. I do think the 1st installment is a better film that makes more sense, but I did enjoy this sequel with intense visuals and super insane action choreography with Taoist magic and superheroic level swordfighting and Kung Fu. If you drop acid before watching this, it will most likely enhance your viewing experience. Even without the aid of such substances A Chinese Ghost Story 2 is quite the experience and one example of what makes Hong Kong cinema so endearing and unique.

Although I hadn't seen the first movie, the recap at the beginning brings you up to speed very quickly. The movie itself while not hilarious, cheered me up and made me laugh in a few parts, mainly when the monk, Autumn, was on screen.

There's a lot of likable things about the movie, namely: love interests, thieves that appear out of nowhere (in the plot, not out of thin air), fight scenes with demons and a funny "freezing" spell, redemption of the "bad" guy, and most importantly (since more recent Asian movies seem to forget about them) a happy ending.

Overall, if you want a funny movie that you can just relax while watching it (no serious people), give it a go.