Luk ding gei II: San lung gaau

I must admit that I had more of an expectation to the 1992 Hong Kong comedy "Royal Tramp 2" (aka "Luk ting kei II: San lung gau"), because part one was definitely an enjoyable movie. And with this being a sequel and having Stephen Chow in the lead, what could go wrong?

Well, I suppose having a rather uninteresting script could go wrong. While I managed to sit through the entire movie here, I must admit that my interest in the movie's storyline and plot was much less stoked than it was for the first movie. "Royal Tramp 2" just didn't have the same appeal, and the comedy aspects that writer and director Jing Wong had in this sequel just didn't pan out quite as well as in the predecessor.

Sure, it was nice to see the cast from the first movie return to reprise their roles in part two, just a real shame that they didn't have much of an interesting or impressive script and storyline to work with. So even with an abundance of familiar names and faces, they could only do so much to salvage the movie and make it watchable. The movie has talents such as Stephen Chow, Brigitte Lin, Chingmy Yau, Sandra Kwan Yue Ng and Paul Chun on the cast list, so if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema, then you will definitely see some familiar faces here.

This was by no means among the best of Stephen Chow movies, and I doubt that I will ever be returning to watch "Royal Tramp 2" a second time.

My rating of "Royal Tramp 2" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. I wanted to like and enjoy the movie, but the total lack of an interesting script and storyline just botched it for me.

Lone'er strikes back and this time, she's back for revenge on Wilson Bond for ruining her plans during the first movie. Personally, I think that this movie was better, although less funnier, than the first one. With several hot young wives and being the Emperor's right hand man, life seems almost perfect for Wilson until a new enemy emerges from the shadows.

Despite finding the distinctly Asian humour hard to comprehend AND struggling to follow the plot (none of which was helped by my DVD's diabolical sub-titles), I gave the first Royal Tramp a reasonably generous rating of 6/10 thanks to its sheer craziness.

Part II of the Royal Tramp saga is also fairly wacky, but with the plot's complex political wrangling being even more incomprehensible than before (bad subs not helping once again) and the perplexing 'mo lei tau' humour and slapstick even more low-brow, this one is likely to prove something of a chore for those who, like me, aren't schooled in the many nuances and complexities of Chinese culture.

Some bonkers violence (including an exploding horse, multiple decapitations and an impalement on a dragon statue's claw) and quite a bit of fanciful wuxia martial arts (including the Luk Hop fighters, who are controlled like puppets and armed with deadly golden rings) help to break up the tedium, but overall I just didn't find the Royal Tramp experience as entertaining second time around, even with the welcome presence of quite a few very lovely Hong Kong actresses (Chingmy Yau, Brigitte Lin, and Michelle Reis, plus Fennie Yuen and Vivian Chan as the Shang'er twins).

I give this title one star less than I gave to Royal Tramp. This sequence is a funny comedy, non-sense and a bit sexual. Not as much unexpected as the first movie, but still recommend to watch.

The Royal Tramp Volume Two (1992) is the second half of the Wong Jing epic that starred Stephen Chow as Wilson Bond, the intrepid whorehouse employee turned society member. Thanks to the events in the first half of the film, Wilson and his cohorts are on the run. Now a full fledge member of the Heaven and Earth Society and having two wives you would think that life couldn't get any better for Wilson. But with two imperial armies after him you would think that he'd stay in hiding. Now it's a showdown between him and Paul Chu's forces. Who'll win this final battle?

This second half of the ROYAL TRAMP epic also Stars Brigette Lin, Chingmy Yau, Cheung Man, Fennie Yuen, Michelle Reis, Damien Lau and Nat Chan. Directed and written by Wong Jing. Fight direction by Ching Siu-Tung. More funny stuff in this period piece.

Highly recommended.