Once Upon a Time in China II (1993)

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.

Review: I didn't think that this movie was in the same class as the first movie. I missed his trusty sidekicks and the script lacked wit and entertainment. The helper that he has in this movie was a bit poor and the action scenes wasn't as great as the first movie. As for the storyline, Dr. Wong is now helping the foreigners against some radical mercenaries who want rid of them. The radicals also have the help from the police who come toe to toe with Jet Li and his companions. The storyline didn't really grip me and the showdown at the end was quite disappointing. On the plus side, there isn't any fighting on strings or flying in the air so the action scenes looked real. The thing that really let the movie down was the poor storyline and the dull characters. I just hope that the 3rd one is better. Disappointing!Round-Up: This is the problem with making sequels! If you give your all in the first movie, you really find it hard to replicate that success. That's exactly what has happened with this film. There was so much going on in the first movie but in this film there just seemed like there was something missing. Maybe it's because I watched part one and two, back to back. Anyway, although I found the movie disappointing, it's still a watchable movie which is better than some martial are movies I have seen recently.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$30.4millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a doctor who is trying to save the foreigners from radical mercenaries. 4/10

There are some snobs who commiserate a few Asian directors (such as Yimou Zhang and Ang Lee) for making lively fun movies (like Ying Xiong ;Wo Hu Cang long)and not boring , tedious,insipid,"serious",monotonous ones.These critics suppose,I don't know why,that the Asian directors are forced by "the system" to make such "commercial" movies,instead of doing the banal and academic ones.(The same critics,having no sense of real fun,were those who,in another age,reprimanded Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, Scott, Dickens, Stevenson,AC Doyle,HG Wells,for writing lively novels and for not being Flaubert,Zola,etc.).Among the funniest scenes in Wong Fei Hung Ji Yi: Naam Yi Dong Ji Keung are:(1)the neuroanatomy/medicine/acupuncture lesson,interrupted by a ferocious attack;(2)the dog meat dinner;(3)the great beginning,with the train travel;(4)the exposure of the nationalist sect's leader.I liked the comments of Jellygoose;Fox in Socks from Staffordshire;Cheahcw from Arlington;Callanvass from Victoria b.c Canada;MikeA from Isle of Man;squelcho;miguelsanchez69 from NYC.

Of the three original films by Tsui Hark concerning Wong Fei Hung, this is certainly the best. The construction is tighter than Once Upon a Time in China I, and, although the third film is my personal favorite, this second film does not lapse into martial-arts-film-genre cliché as does the third.Of course that means that, in order to transcend its genre, paradoxically the fights of the second film have to be razor sharp - and they are. The fight scenes in this film were the best up until its time. The final duel between Jet Li and Donnie Yen is staggering, all the more so for being crafted as to appear utterly realistic. Dam', that wet rope flying at the camera scared the bejeezus out of me! But since the film presents kung fu so convincingly, for that very reason we can take it in stride, as just another element in the film's complex interweaving of traditional culture and modern politics. The film is really about the birth of a new nation, which has yet to be invented - the Republic of China, represented by its highly respected progenitor, Dr. Sun Yet Sen, the only revolutionary figure admired equally by Nationalists and Communists alike. And it should be noted here that Sun Yet Sen strongly believed that the only way the Chinese could rid themselves of Manchurian dictatorship was by adopting the Modernist culture of the West that the Manchurian's utterly loathed and feared.That, too, is paradoxical. To regain a traditional (pre-Manchurian) Chinese identity meant for Sun Yet sen adoption of a post-Manchurian Modernity - which, unfortunately, as all now know, looks an awful lot like the US. Which is perhaps why the originally intended climax of this series of films was to be Once Upon a Time in China and America (a plan disrupted by personal disagreements between Jet Li and Tsui Hark).Well, in any event - does the viewer have to know all this to enjoy the film? No; the film is constructed to work on its own as a glance back at an historic moment of decision which could only be completed in another decade. Thus its sense of incompleteness and hanging threads is actually part of the very fabric of the story.By the way - hopefully you will watch this film a second time - please note how much Tsui Hark accomplishes on what must have been a comparatively small budget! I mean, he's only got a couple back lot sound-stages, but he manages to reconstruct an entire world of 19th century China for us - that's really quite amazing!