Really Surprised!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

The sequel to the Hong Kong classic features a returning Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan, as well as returning director Tsui Hark, but the same team can't quite match the dynamism or magic of the original movie. ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II is a sometimes leaden movie, that deals with a fun but seen-it-all-before plot involving lots of East-meets-West culture clashing, except this time from the Chinese point of view.The movie isn't totally bad, indeed there are some splendid action sequences which help to redeem it, but as a whole it feels slightly spoiled by a leaden pacing and a plot which, as is the case with a number of Hong Kong movies saves all the major action for the last half an hour. Things begin with a virtual repeat of the opening of the first movie, as we witness some impressive strongmen who are impervious to bullets, fire and blades. Of course Li must fight these guys in a stunning battle which is expertly choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping, but nevertheless seems shoe-horned onto the rest of the political plot.Production values are fine as is Tsui Hark's assured direction, and there's no faulting the performances or the martial arts moves on show. Particularly good is the returning Rosamund Kwan, who has a more romantic and funny character this time around. Li is an able centrepiece for the action, although some moments are stolen by the brilliant Donnie Yen, whose martial skills are unbeaten. His skill here is with a piece of deadly cloth, and there's plenty of high-spirited pole-fighting too to enjoy. The final neck-slashing climax is wicked, but this still doesn't take away the feeling that this is a virtual reprise of the original movie, lacking its integrity if not the action.

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

Tsui Hark is the Hong Kong version of, well, I don't think he has an American counterpart, though one could possibly link him to George Lucas as both of them seem to have their fingers in every aspect of cinema in their perspective countries. There is hardly a film that Industrial Light and Magic does not do the special effects for, while Tsui Hark simply seems to be involved in so many movies, one would think that he is the Hong Kong film industry.Anyway, this is the second of a series of films set during the decline of the Chinese Empire. The movie stars Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li) who is a kung fu expert that also knows acupuncture. I did not really catch who is was, as that was developed in the first movie, but he seems to be some sort of legendary figure. Sun Yat Sen, one of the major players in the Chinese Revolution, was a character in the film and there were layers of plots here.Basically the empire is disintegrating. The Europeans are taking control and the emperor is loosing power. A sect known as the White Lotus has emerged in reaction to this, claiming that everything European is evil and must be destroyed. They are basically ultra-nationalists. Then there is Sun Yat Sen, the leader of the rebellion, who seems to be locked into the British and the Chinese Imperial Guards are trying to stop him.What we see in this movie is the classic reaction of when East meets West. The Europeans are coming onto the scene with their expansionist desires. Even though they wish to trade with China, it seems more likely that they want to control China. They come in with their sweet talk and their treaties, which the Chinese really don't understand, but accept anyway. The clear difference is seen when the Chinese Guards walk into the British Consulate and the British order them out as it is British territory - this the Chinese do not accept because it is simply a European interpretation of international law. In one essence it exists to create goodwill between the nations, but moreso it seems to be an excuse to exercise their manipulative plans because they can work to undermine the government but be protected because they cannot intrude onto their territory.Another theme is the resistance to change, which is seen through the White Lotus Sect. There are two reasons here, one being the reaction against British incursions into China, and the second being the desire to return to the era when China was a great empire. A time when Europe was a collection of Barbaric tribes fighting each other at the back end of the world - now they are still a collection of barbaric tribes, but their fighting has stretched all over the world.It is an interesting thought to notice how the world is so Eurocentric. International law is very much based on the treaties of the Europeans, and even more so, it exists more because Europeans cannot get along. WWII was more a reaction of what happened in WWI, while the Japanese expansion was simply a reaction to American expansion. The most clear thing to note is that Asia comes from the Ancient Greek geography which is everything east of the Mediterranean. It is not from the inhabitants, but a name that the Europeans slapped onto it.This is a cool movie. It has cool fight scenes and the plot flows well. It also shows how the original mysticism of the Chinese is being replaced with European science. Acupuncture impresses them, but the powerful White Lotus Sect leader is revealed to simply be a guy wearing a metal plate over his chest. The mysticism is being undone and China is becoming a different place. Change is inevitable and there is nothing anybody can do to stop it.