Xiang Gang qi an 2: Xiong sha

Another crime anthology from Shaw, and a disappointing follow-up to the first. Of the four stories collected here, only the first one's any cop, an arty and ultimately depressing black and white instalment about a mute guy victimised by society. Shades of THE ELEPHANT MAN, and one I found very moving. Next up is the story of a vicious brothel madam which just feels like an excuse for sex and violence. The third is a story about cops, informers and debts, and particularly confusing when it comes to the storytelling. The last is a courtroom drama and one I found quite dull. It's nice to see Shaw trying something different with these films, but this one didn't quite work for me.

Spawned by the success of THE CRIMINALS (see my review on IMDB), CRIMINALS II used the same formula, as it was inspired from three real-life crime stories happened in Hong Kong. 1) THE DEAF-MUTE KILLER sees the late Hon Kwok Choi (SUPERMAN OF KARATE, THE 36th CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN and many others) as a constantly bullied disabled guy wrongly accused of raping a girl. The real culprit harasses him until the poor deaf-mute reacts in a bloody way. Hon Kwok Choi is marvelous and he often played mute or mentally retarded guys in Kung-Fu films, even if this episode has not Kung-Fu. 2) MAMA SAN is a pimp-story starred by Kang Kai aka Hong Hoi (TOUGH DUEL, WANG YU KING OF THE BOXERS) as a street-guy. 3) THE INFORMER is a gambler-story starred by Shut Chung Tien (TRIANGULAR DUEL; THE TONGFATHER) in the role of the police-inspector. Old character actor Fung Ging Man (who acted in more than 500 HK movies!!!) is a gambler. Actor Wang Hsie plays the prosecutor in the court segments. The best episode is the first one. This anthology was directed by Hua Shan (KUNG-FU ZOMBIE), Horror helmer Kuei Chi Hung (BOXER'S OMEN, PAYMENT IN BLOOD) and Sun Chung (THE AVENGING EAGLE). Even if as not as good as the first CRIMINALS, this sequel is a slightly above-average result for local Crime genre .