Once Upon a Time in China II (1993)

Admirable film.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Once Upon A Time there was a place called China II. It was filled with fierce warriors, magical wizards, dragons, and hobbits. Yes, this is the sequel to Once Upon A Time In China III, and also the prequel to Part I. It isn't as good as the predecessor, but it's better than Part I. Our hero Jet Lee returns, and this time HE'S PERSONAL! Living the peacable life for a few weeks (or a fortnight if you like) he travels with his girlfriend Uncle Eleven by plane to Japan for a medical seminar on medicine. Yes, the plot is a lot like Fear And Lovely In Las Vegas but we'll excuse that (as well as the obvious physical similarities between Lee and Deppp). The peace doesn't last long of course (it is a murial arts film after all!) and the lecture is infiltrated by the bastardly Brown Daisy Clan. They are ninjas or samurais or something, but one thing is for sure- they kick shins! Another thing is for sure that they are hard but Lee is harder and decides to take them all on.This is the one where Lee takes on Donnie Osmond on the scaffolding of a building, up ladders, across wooden planks, and through cement mixers- it is usually not unregarded as one of the greatest if not worst fights of all times! It is very excitement with all sorts of kicks and punches and jumpings. When I watch I want to jump into the TV and join in. 'HEE YA!' I fly kick off the wall and knock some bad guy into the hay. Yeah! I love kicking things, it makes me feel super. As Bruce Lee once said, 'Kicking things that don't kick back is better- they don't kick back.' My brother Andy and me used to watch films like this, and then when our parents went out we would pretend we were ninjas and fight too. We would take off of our shoes, but leave on on our socks and fight. He was much smaller than me so I always won, though sometimes he would kick me in the gunnels. Sometimes we would swing at the same time and kick each others feet, that was really sore! It all ended though when the car came up the drive and we had to put all the cushions back on the seats. If mum saw there was a mess, she would turn into a ninja and beat us both, and we would end up in bed without any supper. Sometimes that chump from down the road, Brendan would come and annoy us when we were outside, so we would show off of our Kung Fu skills on him so he cried.This film has many amazement moments and could only have been bettered if Bruce Lee had been in it. One other small problem is the obvious budget cuts. Halfway through the film you can tell that the bad guys are just cardboard cut outs, most noticeably when Lee puts his foot through one guy's chest, gets stuck, and spends the next five minutes fighting with a supposed dead bad guy wrapped round his ankle. This wasn't as bad as the first film where they still used actors, although there only were 4 so when Lee beat up and killed someone, they would get up, sneak round the side of the camera and fight him again. You can also clearly tell that when they run out of cardboard they throw paper mache dummy bad guys into the mix- there is obviously a grip or best boy or producer off screen throwing them into the scene beside the camera. This lends an odd tone to the film. Of course as we all know the last 15 minutes of the film are copied exactly from the first film because of the budget- annoying yes because we never find out what really happens, but good because those 15 minutes from the first were the best from that film apart from the first 90! Best Scene: Lee kicking all the dummies that are being chucked into the room as real bad guys. The funniest part comes when someone grabs the director and throws him in and Lee kicks him in the throat. Ha Ha. The director never spoke again.

Once again I always appreciate highly martial arts movie of Chinese origin. They are so unique and so eye-catching, you wouldn't even drop your eyes for a moment to miss a glimpse of every exhilarating action scenes. Once again Jet Li proves his somewhat innate talent in portraying a real Kung Fu master, whose almost invincible at every angle you see. This sequel to the first Once upon a time in China movie attracts once again all action movie addicts especially of Chinese martial arts genre. Undeniably Chinese movies concerning martial arts action offer the best of them all, unlike nowadays some movies gets tired in furnishing the best product of their movie career. Foremost, even though the story is a bit eccentrically confusing the substance reminds us to look for something else noteworthy. Glad I have it in cheap original copy, watch it I promise you'll never be disappointed.And oh, this is the first movie where I saw Donnie Yen played his character.

This is as good as a sequel can get, fantastic stuff and almost as good as the 1st, if that's possible!. All the characters were fantastic again, and the fight choreography was simply incredible, plus i really dug the awesome character development again. The Story is is really awesome, and the fight scenes really blew me out of my seat, and the setting was really awesome, plus the finale is simply amazing!. It started off pretty slowly,but it was never boring, and The opening was very funny, plus Jet Li was simply amazing in this!. i really loved the added humor in this, as it had me chuckling, and while the story is not quite as powerful, it still packs quite a wallop and there are lots of great emotional moments, plus Jet and Rosamund Kwan had great chemistry once again!. This is as good as a sequel can get, fantastic stuff and almost as good as the 1st, and i say it's a must see at all costs!. The Direction is fantastic!. Hark Tsui does a fantastic job here, with some incredible camera work, amazing shots during the fight scenes, great angles, and lots of other amazing shots, plus he kept the film at an incredibly fast pace!. There is a bit of blood and violence. We get gory arrow hits,bloody corpses,knife in the leg, impaling in the neck, and lots of other gory impaling's. The Acting is excellent!. jet Li is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he is extremely likable, excellent in the acting department, had very good chemistry with Rosamund Kwan, kicked that ass, and added some great humor as well! (Jet Rules!). Rosamund Kwan is great here as the Aunt once again, although she has a lot less to do, she still was great. Xin Xin Xiongis great here and was pretty menacing. Siu Chung Mok is great as Foon and was very funny.Donnie Yen is AMAZING as General Lan, he was extremely menacing, is a brilliant martial artist, and had one of the best fight scenes ever with Jet! (Donnie Rules!). Ka-Kui Ho is good as Mak and added class Rest of the cast, are great. Overall a must see at all costs!. ***** out of 5

I am a fan of the original OATIC. The fantastic martial arts scenes and the interwoven storylines contained in the original really impressed me. Having liked the first so much I rushed out and bought my copy of part 2. Being a huge fan of Yuen Wo Ping and Donnie Yen, I figured I couldn't be dissapointed. I was wrong. The direction is poor. No, scratch that. The direction is AWFUL. The character's motivations are left a mystery. What does Fei Hong join the revolutionaries? Is it because Sun Yan Set translated english for him? That's the only reason I can think of. In the first film, Foon is kind of a tragic figure that alot of the dramatic elements were based around. Why is he reduced to being comic relief in this one? Lastly, I'm very dissapointed in the fight scenes. This is probably the worst choreographed Hong Kong film Yuen Woo Ping has ever been a part of. The fight between Wong and Kung is dare I say it, BAD. Also the fights between Donnie Yen and Jet Li (two of my favorite martial arts film stars) leave ALOT to be desired. Overall, it's a bad movie. It won't even satisfy a late-night kung-fu craving. If you need some kung-fu stick with "Iron Monkey", "Fist of Legend" or "Tai Chi Master". All of those show off the tru talents of Yuen Woo Ping and star either Jet Li or Donnie Yen.