Once Upon A Time in China II (1992)

(Once Upon A Time in China DVD Collection)

Review by Chris Tsui

August 9, 2004

The Movie

Less then a whole year since Once Upon A Time in China wowed audiences in 1991, its sequel arrived. Missing big stars Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung and Ken Cheng in the movie made people think it would be pared down with the original. But the film turned out to be as good as its predecessor and received rave reviews.

Once Upon A Time in China II continues our favorite kung fu master Wong Fei-hung's (Jet Li) adventures when he arrives in Canton with his beautiful 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan) and disciple Leung Foon (Max Mok) for a medical convention. At this time, an evil religion called "White Lotus", led by a madman (Xiong Xin Xin), is telling people everywhere to attack foreign ambassies and destroy foreign products. During the crisis, Wong befriends Dr. Sun Yat-sen (Zhang Tie Lin) and Luk Ho-tung (John Chiang), who wants to start a revolution. Meanwhile, Wong finds out that it is actually evil government official Lan (Donnie Yen) who is controlling the White Lotus Religion from behind, in order to fight against the Revolutionists...

Thanks to action choreography from Yuen Wo Ping (who did the same job for 1999's The Matrix), this sequel's battle scenes outdoes the original, which Yuen's brother did the choreography. The ending kick-ass battle scene between Jet Li and Donnie Yen is not to be missed.

Only Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan remain from the original cast, with the exception of Yan Yee Kwan (who played Yim Chun-tung in the first), who makes a cameo appearance as another character, Donnie Yen's commander. Max Mok replaces Yuen Biao as Leung Foon, and although his action scenes are less than Yuen, he plays the character livelier and funnier than him. John Chiang and Zhang Tie Lin do an OK jobs as respectively the revolutionists Luk Ho-tung and Sun Yat-sen, who actually shouldn't be in the movie, because they live in different times than Wong Fei-hung. Donnie Yen is superb as the wicked official too, but it is definitely a loss without Jacky Cheung's award-nominated role as Buck Tooth So.

Overall, I think the film does not disappoint, delivering another exciting and action-packed Wong Fei-hung movie. It pares up with its predecessor, a thing which the following Wong Fei-hung films fail to do.

CHRIS' EVALUATION

Another action-packed movie, this sequel does not disappoint.

The DVD

Picture: A- / Audio: B (Dolby Digital), B+ (DTS), B- (Stereo)/ Bonus: B-

The first three OUATIC films have been released in a deluxe DVD box set. The box is a cardboard case wrapped with cloth, and the movies have been treated with digitally remastered picture and sound and a bunch of special features.

Once Upon A Time in China II is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1; the picture has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The DVD is single-sided, dual-layered. This presentation of OUATIC2 improves from the first film in both picture and audio.

Sharpness was brilliant. Only very mild softness occured. Colors were vivid and matched the environment and mood. Extremely little dust and speckles appeared during the film, only except for parts of the title credits, which used old material from the original film. Overall, this is an excellent presentation.

A total of 4 soundtracks appear here, like the first film. Three of them are Cantonese in Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS and the original theatrical 2.0 stereo; and the other one is Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1. Both the Dolby Digital soundtracks were quite good, with crisp and clear dialogue, unlike the first film's "mono-sounding" dialogue, and fairly good sound effects. But it is the DTS soundtrack which shines. Besides very good dialogue, the sound effects were excellent during the action scenes. Believe me, you won't think you're watching a 12-year-old movie with this terrific soundtrack.

Bonus features are very scarce here, and each disc has the same kind of features. First up are New and Original Movie Trailers. We find the original 1992 theatrical movie trailer of the film and a newly made trailer.

Then there are some Photo Stills taken from the film itself, which can be viewed normally or viewed via slideshow.

Last of the features is Part II of a decent documentary called "Legend of Huang Fei Hong" (Part I and III are included in the other two discs in the set). The documentary explores the life of the real Wong Fei-hung, and talks about his childhood, martial arts, disciples, love life etc. There are interviews Wong Fei-hung experts and disciples of Wong's disciples. This is a pretty well-made documentary that totally runs for around 45 minutes.

Note that there are some Previews for the other two films in the set. Actually, these previews are actually the "new trailers" for the films, and are present in all three discs.

Once Upon A Time in China II is the only sequel of the series that is as good as the first one. This DVD presents terrific picture and a great soundtrack. It's definitely worth-buying.

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