Once Upon A Time In China II VCD

So begins Once Upon a Time in China 2, Tsui Hark's dark continuation of the Wong Fei-hung legend. Far from home, Wong Fei-hung (Jet Li), servant Leung Foon (Max Mok, replacing Yuen Biao), and Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) travel to Canton to attend a medical conference. When they arrive, Canton is a city on fire. Red Guard-like White Lotus Cultists run rampant, destroying all signs of Westernization. The local Governor (Donnie Yen) is trying to smoke out two revolutionaries in the midst of all this chaos: the very real Sun Yat-sen, and his right-hand man, Luke. Wong Fei-hung and company find themselves trapped in the claustrophobic city, cut off from home by the winds of political change.

The whole film takes place over 48 hours, and Tsui Hark attacks his material like nothing on earth can stop him, packing every frame with nightmarish imagery. As Chinese turns against Chinese, and Canton capsizes under the weight of superstition and fear, good men like Wong Fei-hung and Sun Yat-sen can only watch from the sidelines in horror. All the pieces of the series we've come to expect are in place: the two-pronged plot, the rousing theme song (yes, that is Jackie Chan singing it), Leung Foon's puppy love for Aunt Yee, and Wong Fei-hung's fierce devotion to her. But this time around things have a darker bent. The movie ends on an optimistic note, but the body count is high, and the future is still uncertain.

Max Mok does a credible job replacing Yuen Biao, but he's overshadowed by the other two additions to the cast. Donnie Yen projects a quietly decaying dignity as Governor Lan, and his martial arts skills are as sharp as ever. But the showstopper is the wonderfully lopsided Xiong Xin-xin (Jet Li's stunt double) as the despotic Priest Kung. Ferocious to the point of rabidity, he’s the kind of villian who leads a cult as easily as some of us chew gum.

By Grady Hendrix