Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, David Chiang
Actor and martial arts maestro Jet Li and iconoclastic director Tsui Hark revisit historical China and legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung in the second installment to the wildly popular Once Upon a...( read more
) film series (or better yet, "serials"). The main players include Li as Wong Fei Hung, Rosamund Kwan as his beloved but Westernized Auntie 13, and their clumsy sidekick Foon (Max Mok). China is in a period of political unrest. Dr. Sun Yat Sen is beginning to gain momentum behind his Nationalist party. A Qing minister (played with intensity by skilled fighter Donnie Yen) firmly carries out his job as police enforcer and a crazed cult called the White Lotus Sect has decided to take matters into their own hands by bullying citizens and destroying everything foreign. Wong and his crew find themselves at odds with the minister and the Sect, who have more in common than they initially let on. It all leads to some high-octane action scenes, including an all-out table-stacking and airborne brawl with the Sect (in which Wong uncharacteristically goes a little berserk himself) and a one-on-one matchup between Li and Yen. Tsui juggles the multilayered plot while Li juggles his opponents in a perfectly serviceable epic that is perhaps not as significant as the first Once Upon a Time in China but is solid kung fu nourishment for fans. --Shannon Gee
DVD Release Date: November 17, 1998
Stats: 388 reviews
Taking up where the first part left off, this is effectively more of the same ? which is no bad thing. Li and Rosamund Kwan return, but Yuen Biao elects not to reprise his role of Foon. His replacement Max Mok does a great job in the role.
Most of the wire work action is left fo...( read more)
Continuing the story of Wong Fei Hung, Tsui Hark's Once Upon In China 2 is more of Jet Li's amazing martial arts prowess punctuated by some decidedly suspect historical accuracy. In fact this second installment is so absurdly divorced from reality it makes Braveheart look like a ...( read more)
While some days i can say that the first movie is the best of the series, others i re-watch that Donnie Yen/ Jet Li fight of this one and totally change my mind.
Tsui Hark is a bit of a hack, but he made this and The Blade, compensating all the crap he has done.
the next chapter...
continuation of my most favorite movie..
because of it i adore
martial arts...
A little less enjoyable than the first as it seems the director/writer are grasping a bit more for plotlines. Probably trying to draw in a bigger audience. Li is still awesome but story is tiresome.
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