Once Upon A Time In China II (Subtitled and Dubbed) (Wide Screen) (DVD)

...the most part, sequels suck. Once film production companies see that they're onto a winner, convention dictates that they must attempt to milk the metaphorical money cow for all that it's worth until the audience loses interest and moves on.

For all intents and purposes, Once Upon A Time In China 2 (OUATIC2) bears all the hallmarks of such a sequel, for reasons which I will explain below. The original movie was a huge success for ...
...after all.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2 - DVD

PICTURE: 5/5

The DVD of OUATIC2 from the excellent Hong Kong Legends (HKL) label is more than worthy of the film itself. Just don't expect it to stand up to the latest Hollywood DVD releases with pristine image transfer. Remember, the original prints of many HK movies have been stored in neglectful conditions resulting in picture deterioration of the source ... more

The principle of diminishing returns is something which will no doubt to be familiar to most movie fans... as well as anyone who's actually seen Blair Witch 2. The sad truth is that for the most part, sequels suck. Once film production companies see that they're onto a winner, convention dictates that they must attempt to milk the metaphorical money cow for all that it's worth until the audience loses interest and moves on.

For all intents and purposes, Once Upon A Time In China 2 (OUATIC2) bears all the hallmarks of such a sequel, for reasons which I will explain below. The original movie was a huge success for all involved, propelling Jet Li from his young prodigy image into super-stardom status, as well as grossing $30 million in the Hong Kong box office and picking up nearly every HK cinema award imagineable. It would therefore come as no surprise that barely a year later, a sequel would be released.

This movie had great potential for major disappointment. After all, the HK movie industry is notorious for churning out movies in quantity rather than quality. Don't get me wrong, there are MANY great movies to have come from HK.. but for every great movie, there are probably 20 terrible ones too. But if there was anyone made for the job.. then it's Tsui Hark. For those not well versed in HK cinema, Tsui Hark is the man behind a disturbingly large number of the aforementioned 1 in 20 great movies. As well as directing, co-writing and producing the OUATIC series, he has also been responsible for such HK classics like "Iron Monkey", the "Chinese Ghost Story" series and "The Killer" to name but a few.

Earlier, I said that OUATIC2 bears all the hallmarks of a typical formulaic sequel.. and in a lot of ways this is true. Tsui Hark, known for his extravagant production values (by HK standards anyway), is quite clearly operating under the notion that BIGGER = BETTER. However, while this has been the failing of many a shallow sequel, in this case I feel obligated at this point to say.. the boy done good! Everything that's great about the 1st movie has not been forgotten. What made OUATIC such an ideal movie for a sequel is largely due to great characterisations which provide a more than solid foundation for which to progress both story and action in a meaningful manner.

OUATIC2 continues to explore the conflict experienced by the Chinese people during the late 19th century, who resented the oppression which occurred not only from the foreign Imperialists such as the British & Americans, but also through the rule of the Manchu. Ok, brief history lesson here folks... while most people would consider China to consist of 1 'race' of people, there are in fact 50 or so distinguishable 'races' within the Chinese people, Han being the predominant (making up over 90%). The Manchu on the other hand, were a nomadic people who - like the Mongols - managed to rule China despite being in great minority. However, unlike the Mongols who knew mainly how to fight, the Manchu cleverly managed to rule China for centuries, despite resentment by the Han people. It is against this background of divide and discontent to which OUATIC2 is set.

The movie begins with a powerful scene introducing us to the White Lotus Cult, who can only be described as a Chinese Ku Klux Klan of sorts. The resentment towards foreign oppression magnified support for such groups at the time, who practiced "mystical" martial arts and deemed all things foreign as evil. Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li), Leung Foon (Max Mok replacing Yuen Biao) and 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan)arrive in Canton (an area particularly affected by xenophobic sentiments at the time) to attend a medical convention, only to find themselves in the middle of the divide between the foreigners, the White Lotus Cult and the local Manchu government. Wong Fei Hung soon finds himself in the thick of things, fighting to defend 13th Aunt from the White Lotus Cult who target her for her western clothes and "evil" camera. To complicate things further, he befriends Sun Yat Sen - a fellow doctor who came to Fei Hung's aid during the medical convention. Unknown to Fei Hung, Sun Yat Sen is being hunted by the Manchu who have caught wind of a forthcoming rebellion organised by him. Sun Yat Sen was a real life character who came to be known as "father of the Republic", a revolutionary who struggled for 20 years to bring about a democratic China. The fate of future democracy in China now depends on Wong Fei Hung as he must also fight to protect Dr. Sun and prevent a book containing the names of those sympathetic to the Revolution from falling into the hands of the Manchu Government.

As with the 1st movie, OUATIC2 has strong merits outside of its martial arts categorisation and there is plenty to recommend with regards to its story and character development. The budding romance that was established between Fei Hung and 13th Aunt in the 1st movie, is further developed and is a good example of the great characterisation that occurs in these movies. Just to clear any confusion, this is not an incestuous relationship! Chinese family relations are highly complex and 13th Aunt is actually a very distant non-blood relative. But the interesting premise this provides is that in Wong Fei Hung we have a man who is so impressive with his imposing physical abilities and high social status. In combat, he appears invincible. Yet his lack of confidence around 13th Aunt and his struggle to come to terms with his affection towards her stemming from his traditionalist Confucian values help to show us his true vulnerability and add an air of humanity to the character.

All this aside, at the end of the day this IS a martial arts movie and I know that the majority of people will be watching it primarily to see Jet Li show off the skills that have made him famous. In my OUATIC review, I urged the less demanding viewer not to be deterred by talk of history and the same applies here. If "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a Chinese period drama that also had great martial arts sequences, then OUATIC2 should be described as a martial arts movie with great Chinese period elements. The good news is that besides the complex plot, politics and protagonists, OUATIC2 doesn't just meet expectation in the action stakes.. this film really did raise the bar on action cinema. The legendary Yuen Wo Ping returns to provide us with some of the most relentless and breathtaking fight choreography you're ever likely to see.. ever. Throughout the course of the movie, we are treated to Jet Li taking on hundreds of White Lotus Cult Members and eventually, the Cult leader Kung (played by Xin Xin Xiong). The scale of this scene would be elaborate enough to serve as the climax and conclusion to most martial arts movies. Except this one. The best martial arts moments in this movie come from the confrontations between Fei Hung and General Lan (Donnie Yen), a Manchu official seeking to foil Sun Yat Sen's plans for revolution. Midway through the movie, in a mouth-watering taster of what is to come, Jet and Donnie circle, spin, twirl, jump and smash their way around in a brilliant staff duel. General Lan also gives us a glimpse of his innovative ability to turn a piece of cloth into a deadly weapon. As if this is not enough, the stakes are raised for Jet v Donnie Round 2: this time with each yielding 2 staffs, one in each hand. But no, we're not finished yet! There's still time for a 3rd round where Lan uses his "cloth staff" technique against Fei Hung in a relentless and explosive finale to the movie. However, I must warn you all that watching this movie might impair your enjoyment of watching action movie fight scenes in the future... quite simply, you will not see ANYTHING else like this in Hollywood. Even in HK cinema, this has to rate as one of the top confrontations ever captured on film.

Tsui Hark's OUATIC2 is a remarkable movie and in my opinion a prime example of how a sequel can be done right. After watching this movie, you might begin to wonder if maybe bigger can also be better after all.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2 - DVD

PICTURE: 5/5

The DVD of OUATIC2 from the excellent Hong Kong Legends (HKL) label is more than worthy of the film itself. Just don't expect it to stand up to the latest Hollywood DVD releases with pristine image transfer. Remember, the original prints of many HK movies have been stored in neglectful conditions resulting in picture deterioration of the source material. Considering the film is almost 15 years old, the picture quality is excellent and is pretty much as good as its possible to get and my rating reflects this. HKL can be credited for doing a great restoration job.

AUDIO: 5/5

The DVD has the option of either the original Cantonese language track (with or without english subtitles) or the English dubbed track. I always find this option comforting, since I can't stand dubbed movies of any kind! The sound quality itself is pretty good and sharp although as I've mentioned before with HK movies, it wasn't shot in sync-sound. For those with superior sound systems, there is also a Dolby Digital 5.1 option. However, as is the case with a lot HK movies, the original wasn't shot in 5.1 so the surround mix was newly created for DVD by tinkering with the original standard stereo track. As a result, there is not a lot in the way of surround effects being used, although this does not effect the quality of it as such. Again, I think it's only fair that my rating should relative only to comparable HK movies.

EXTRAS: 3/5

Generally, you can't expect to get too many extras from HK movies, especially ones made anything over 5-10 years ago. The DVD extras on this disc aren't too prolific but are about as much as can be expected. Always a highlight of HKL releases is the feature commentary from the infinitely knowledgeable Hong Kong cinema expert, Bey Logan, which is almost the only thing on here that elevates the rating to a 3. As usual, Logan's commentary is enjoyable and VERY thoroughly researched. Probably the next best thing is the interview with Donnie Yen which was conducted specifically for this release. The Jet Li interview turns out just to be a press appearance he made during a tour of the UK to promote the release of "Romeo Must Die", so its not really too exciting. Besides that, we have the standard trailers, a boring picture gallery and a Jet Li Biography. This biography is very extensive and contains all there is to know about his movie career. It consists of scrolling text, accompanied by an American voice-over guy, who gets a rather irritating after a couple of minutes, which is unfortunate since the biography lasts over half an hour! Also contained on this disc are promotional trailers for a whole range of other movies on the HKL label. The lack of compelling features should not prevent any potential buyers because this is without a doubt the definitive version of the movie that you'll find anywhere.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2 TRIVIA:

This movie entered the record books as the 100th movie about Wong Fei Hung (the longest running series of movies in history)

Xin Xin Xiong (or in Cantonese, the infinitely more pronouncable Hung Yan Yan) who plays Kung, the White Lotus Cult leader actually appears in all 6 of Tsui Hark's OUATIC movies! He is often used as Jet Li's double. When Jet broke his ankle during the 1st OUATIC, they had to use Xiong for much of the amazing final ladder fight between Fei Hung and Master Yim, as well as the scene where Fei Hung twirls a flaming tree branch to block an incoming blanket of fire arrows. He would feature yet again in OUATIC 3, 4, 5 & 6 as the character Clubfoot (the literal translation of his chinese character name would actually be "strange foot seven".. don't ask!)

Donnie Yen is perhaps not so famous considering his obvious physical talents. He had previously spent a lot of time off-screen assisting the great Yuen Wo Ping as a choreographer, but made his debut in the 1984 movie "Drunken Tai Chi" (directed by Wo Ping). Interestingly, he has actually played Wong Fei Hung's father, Wong Kei Ying in the kung fu classic "Iron Monkey" (also directed by Yuen Wo Ping!). He has recently found limited success in Hollywood after lending his choreography talents to Wesley Snipes' "Blade 2" (he also had a minor role). He has also faced off with Jackie Chan in the recent action comedy "Shanghai Knights".

The breathtaking final fight between Jet Li and Donnie Yen left kung fu fans waiting with baited breath for the next time they might be able to catch a glimpse of the pair going toe-to-toe again. It would take another 10 years for this dream to come true when the the pair clashed once more in Zhang Yimou's 2002 epic "Hero".

According to Donnie Yen, for the double staff duel between him and Jet, there were 2 different sets of props: one pair was hollow (therefore lighter and easier to yield) whereas the other was solid. Donnie waited to see which one Jet would pick first - he chose the lighter ones.

The mandarin version of the Wong Fei Hung theme song is sung by Jackie Chan! 

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