Zui jia pai dang 2: Da xian shen tong

This was the first Aces Go Places movie I had seen - bought as Mad Mission 2 on VHS. Director Eric Tsang gives a more polished with more structured scenes, bigger stunts, funnier comedy, and nicer cinematography which helps makes part 2 one of my overall favourites.

The opening 20 minutes alone is worth the ticket price...

King Kong (Sam Hui) arrives home to find an 8 foot tall robot - who has built itself Power Rangers style from several separate flying pieces - in his apartment, and trying to kill him. And I mean with rockets, ejecting fists, guns and more!

Once he beats it, King Kong gets into a bit of drawing as if nothing happened - a regular occurrence in his daily life. A knock at the door reveals a woman who is getting chased by some thugs and, after a quick scuffle, she soon tricks Kong into doing a bank robbery with her, then leaves him hanging - a recurring theme with her...

Of course, the police give chase leading to Kong stealing a BMX from a kid and pulling of some pretty cool trick-moves during his getaway. With the cops hot on his heels, his last attempt to ditch them involves jumping from around the 15th story balcony into a passing truck filled with water - before cursing the driver for ruining his attempt at suicide!

And all of that before he goes charging - soaking wet - into the wedding of Karl Maka and Sylvia Chang...

As nutty as that sounds, as I said, this sequel is a lot more polished. It probably took a few tips from the overly successful Sammo Hung film, Winners And Sinners, to ensure for a bigger follow-up. This is strengthened by addition of returning cast members and bit-players, and a villain in the shape of the great Yasuaki Kurata (Shanghai Express; Fist Of Legend). Add to that some nifty action choreography courtesy of the wonderful Lau Kar Wing (The Odd Couple; Legendary Weapons Of Kung Fu), and you're on to a winner.

And then we can't forget the hilarious cameo from prolific director Tsui Hark as a crazy patient posing as an FBI agent. Hark of course, would go on to direct the next chapter of the series. Then there is Filthy Harry - a fantastic Clint Eastwood look-a-like (Black Gloves) out to kill King Kong and Baldy for killing his brother White Gloves in part one. It may not seem logical, but Aces Go Places 2 isn't supposed to be!

With an ending that most certainly confirms its international name of Mad Mission, the two face off against another killer robot - with their own horde of mini-bots, before challenging Filthy Harry in a game of chicken in their James Bond-esque cars, filled with rockets and other weapons, along with 2 mini-motorbikes and a huge jet-pack...

It is so mental and over-the-top, you can't help but enjoy the ride! Overall: A lot of fun and one of the best in the series!!

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+

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.

Of the hundreds of movies I've seen, quite many I watched more than once. But only a handful were so unbelievable that I had to watch them twice in a row. This is one of them.

Yes, it's a silly action comedy, with lots of plot holes and implausibilities. Yes, it's pretty childish. But I have been a child several decades ago, and still I like to watch a children's movie now and then. And I really loved this one. Not to repeat what others wrote: the scene that touched me most was the battle of the robots, where the pet from the metal box was afraid, fought, exploded.. and from its wreck emerged the little samurai army, and ultimately saved the day. A child's dream come true (as true as movies go), with toy-like actors. In a similar vein, the toy motorbikes used to escape from the "racing tank".. or the r/c toy cars in the predecessor.

I hereby suspend my disbelief. These films are just a jolly good show, and make this aged, aged man relive big, joyful boyish fun for some 90 minutes. On some days, this makes my day :D

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.