A Chinese Ghost Story II

I'm torn between admiring A Chinese Ghost Story II for its sheer craziness and disliking it for being such an incoherent mess of a sequel to one of my favourite HK movies.

The original A Chinese Ghost Story was the film that showed me there was more to Hong Kong cinema than Jackie Chan, director Siu-Tung Ching brilliantly blending romance, fantasy, comedy and horror; part 2, also directed by Siu-Tung Ching, is non-stop insanity that never achieves the lyrical beauty of its predecessor, but does deliver a giant, toothy monster and a demonic high monk who can transform into a massive golden Buddha and a giant centipede.

Leslie Cheung reprises his role of timid debt collector Ling Choi San, who escapes from jail (having been wrongly arrested as a bandit after escaping from cannibals!); mistakenly stealing the horse of Taoist Chi Chau (Jacky Cheung), the young man seeks shelter in an abandoned villa in the woods. Chi Chau catches up with Ling Choi San, and the pair sort out the misunderstanding. During the night, the men are attacked by rebels posing as ghosts, who mistake Ling Choi San for renowned scholar Elder Chukot Ngo Long (Feng Ku), with whom he shared a cell. Amazingly, one of the rebels, Ching Fung (Joey Wong), is the exact double of ghost Siu Sihn (also Wong) from the first film; Ling Choi San is unsurprisingly smitten and agrees to help rescue her father, who is prisoner of the Imperialists.

Despite the title, there are no real ghosts in this movie, but there's plenty of supernatural silliness as Ling Choi San and his new found friends do battle with evil forces. The film is a smorgasbord of over-the-top special effects filled sequences, most of which make very little sense, but which are undeniably visually impressive. Even the less effective effects - such as the silly demonic monster that continues to menace our heroes despite being cut in half - are entertaining, and there's surely something for everyone to enjoy (I particularly liked the 'sword surfing' scene).

So, not the sequel I was hoping for, but still worth checking out if you like your HK movies to be completely bonkers.

Although a little shorter on plot than the first movie, this one might be a bit funnier. With the welcome additions of Jackie Cheung as a wandering ghost fighting Monk and the lovely Michelle Reis to the cast, the movie has even more Hong Kong star power than the last. Of course the chemistry between Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang is still there, and the film is funny and fast paced. If you liked the first movie, then put this on your must see list.

A Chinese Ghost Story was a visual feast and a great film that combined swordplay with fantasy, romance, drama, comedy and horror and it somehow worked. This sequel follows the same formula, but goes a bit further with the comedy with some of the cheesiest monsters on celluloid (and that is not a bad thing in this instance). A Chinese Ghost Story goes way past eleven and takes the viewer to another world. To say this film is wild is a gross understatement. I do think the 1st installment is a better film that makes more sense, but I did enjoy this sequel with intense visuals and super insane action choreography with Taoist magic and superheroic level swordfighting and Kung Fu. If you drop acid before watching this, it will most likely enhance your viewing experience. Even without the aid of such substances A Chinese Ghost Story 2 is quite the experience and one example of what makes Hong Kong cinema so endearing and unique.

SINNUI YAUMAN II isn't bad at all, but it's disappointing. It isn't as funny, exciting, touching or visually inventive as its predecessor. The device used to reintroduce Joey Wong into the story is just plain wrong; if they didn't want to bring back her original character ( I have to admit they probably couldn't) they should have come up with a new love interest played by a new actress. Limiting Wu Ma to such a brief appearance limits his chemistry with Leslie Cheung, which is one of the things that made the first film such fun, and there's just about no one else here, except Cheung, who has as much charisma. It is a novel way to bring back the two actors, but it's a letdown.

As for Cheung himself, he just isn't as disarming here as in the original; he doesn't fit his character as well. There's also what seems to be some kind of political allegory near the end that doesn't fit the rest of the story - maybe you have to be more familiar than I am with China to appreciate it? Oh, maybe I'm griping too much; it has its good moments (especially a scene concerning a slowly 'thawing' monster)...just not nearly as many as 1987's SINNUI YAUMAN. It waters down the impact of that jewel a bit, and frankly, I wish they'd taken all the good stuff in this film and used it on some entirely different project.

After the resounding success of "A Chinese Ghost Story" a second part had to be made. And what a sequel it is! This time our bumbling tax-collector finds himself in prison, fighting stacks of rubber monsters and befriending a Taoist who likes to travel underground! It's nice to see all the cast back too. This movie is very funny and never takes itself too seriously. For some who didn't quite understand the first movie, this is great to clear up any confusion. For the others, this is lighthearted entertainment.