Zui jia pai dang 2: Da xian shen tong

April 2021

Aces go places 2, just slightly better than the 1st film for me, Karl Maka, Sam Hui and Sylvia Chang, return along with more comedy and more gadgets and plenty of car stunts too.

Throw in more comedy and even more gadgets, more great stuff to be had here.

Watch, enjoy and now go and watch number 3.

10 out of 10.

Mad Mission 2: Aces Go Places is another slice of silly action/comedy from director Eric Tsang, which sees Sam Hui reprising his role as a high-tech thief who uses James Bond style gadgets to outwit his enemies. Also returning for this second outing of zany 'fun' are Karl Maka and Sylvia Chang as police officers who once again get involved in the action.

Following directly on from Mad Mission, this sequel sees our heroes in all sorts of bother as a US gang attempts to take revenge for the death of villain White Glove. A local gang offers to protect them, but only for a hefty cut of the diamonds which were stolen in the original film.

I found the first Mad Mission to be fairly disappointing, due to its poor slapstick comedy, rather mundane stunt-work and slapdash script (the best parts of which were lifted from the British film 'Ooh... You Are Awful' starring comedian Dick Emery); however, Part 2 works marginally better thanks to more outrageous action, better (and more dangerous looking) stunt-work, and some truly daft moments that have to be seen to be believed.

Take, for example, the early scene in which Sam Hui does battle with a huge robot, which is so ludicrous (the machine is extremely clunky and poorly designed) that it's almost impossible not to enjoy. Another similar moment towards the end of the film, in which our heroes unleash their own army of tiny robots, is even more ridiculous.

And then there is Filthy Harry, the assassin hired by the US to retrieve the diamonds: a cigar chewing, stetson wearing Clint Eastwood lookalike whose entrance is accompanied by the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! As you can probably tell, this isn't high art and it certainly won't be to everyone's taste (I struggle with the films at times—especially when Karl Maka goes into OTT slapstick mode, complete with comedy mugging and silly walks), but if you like your films chaotic and as dumb as hell, then there just might be something in Mad Mission 2 to take your fancy.

The first sequel to Hong Kong's Aces Go Places, it is a story about European assassin Black Gloves (Joe Dimmick), who is seeking to avenge his brother White Gloves' death against reformed criminal King Kong (Samuel Hui) and Detective Albert "Baldy" Au (Karl Maka). While trying to evade Black Gloves, the duo are framed for robberies by the Hong Kong Mafia, who have their own plans against King Kong and Baldy.

Like the previous movie, the plot is fast-paced and full of adventure. However, the story has more corny jokes and silly action in it, from King Kong suffering the consequences from inadvertently crashing Baldy and Supt. Ho's (Sylvia Chang) wedding to the random appearances of the mental impatient who thinks he is an FBI agent (Hark Tsui). The romantic subplot between King Kong and Juju (Ting-Huan Wang) was also silly; there is virtually no chemistry between the two.

Though the silly and wild action is in abundance, the highlight of the movie is probably the duel of the robots (between the bad guy's towering machine hunk and King Kong's group of miniature flying toy robots). They make you feel you are watching a Transformer's movie, but the special effects were actually pretty good as they used real machinery versus CGI and, while the action is over-the-top, the robot sequences are pretty fun to watch.

Sam Hui and Karl Maka (in his thick Taishan-ese accent) continue to make a hilarious duo and had great on-screen chemistry. And, Sylvia Chang continues to add on the humor with her fiery portrayal of Supt. Ho.

Overall, the movie does not surpass the original but it's worth a watch at least once.

Grade C+

Take the three best things about the original "Mad Mission" / "Aces Go Places" (the catchy music score, the breathtaking, risky stunts, and Sylvia Chang's magnificent legs), add some innovative car chases (including one where a car gets literally sliced in half but keeps on running), some cool transformer robot battles, a brief dose of martial arts (including two female fighters who appear out of nowhere and disappear into the same place), a character called "Filthy Harry" played by an actor who does a very funny and very accurate Clint Eastwood imitation ("Have I seen you before?"...."Yeah, in HELL!"), and a recurring cameo by Tsui Hark as a mental hospital escapee, and you get "Mad Mission 2". This movie plays as if it was made by 10-year-old boys: the story is sloppy and empty of content (in fact, neither the opening credits nor IMDb even list a screenwriter!), but you can't deny the wild, wacky imagination on display. (**1/2)

King Kong and Albert "Baldie" Au gets in trouble again, this time the mafia wants to avenge the death of White Glove. To do so they hire an assassin who has seen a couple of Clint Eastwood movies to many.

The movie is filled with great action sequences and lots and lots of humor. As usual in the aces series there are plenty of crazy stunts and weird stuff.

Much better than the first one.