Le Cri de la hyène

This was a somewhat disappointing companion to the original Fearless Hyena made in 1979. There are too many plot lines that finally come together at the end in the movie's only martial arts action. I must say that this half hour scene almost makes up for the rest of the movie, but I find myself demanding more of Jackie Chan. The same characters from the first movie are back, but in a totally unrelated story and in different roles. This is still a good enough movie, but given the quality of its namesake I expected a little more out of it.

I only saw this for my idol Jackie Chan. But even before I decided to rent it I knew it wasn't going to be very good since Jackie plays a villain.

The first thing any viewer would notice is that the cover is very misleading. According to the cover Jackie is star of this movie, even though all he has is a supporting role. In every scene, I found myself trying to catch glimpses of Jackie, but of course he was only a supporting actor.

Now keep in mind, I've seen many of Jackie's movies including some of the oldest ones. But even with that impartial opinion the fighting just wasn't very good either. It could stem from the fact that Director Lo Wei just wouldn't let go of the past. He was the man who directed the classic martial arts film 'Enter the Dragon' starring the legendary Bruce Lee. In a way, this was just another attempt to make Jackie into another Bruce Lee clone. He was even given the name 'Sing Lung' (already a dragon) for his movies with Lo Wei productions.

Another problem with this movie is the big mole Jackie had to wear on his face. I've read his book 'Jackie Chan: My life in Action' and he never mentions what the decision for that was. This could make viewers uncomfortable or something of that sort whenever they see him. I know I couldn't ignore it.

By the end I really wouldn't be able to recommend to anyone. Unless you're like me since I'm starting a Jackie Chan movie collection. And this would be a very important part of it since this was Jackie's last unfinished film with Lo Wei Productions and was released only after Jackie became a big time star in Asia under another production company. This made Director Lo Wei, who had hit some very hard times by then, finish the movie using a look-a-like and stock footage of others movies that could be used.

If you'd really like to see it, I would say rent it first then decide what you'd like to do.

Final Score: 3/10

The Fearless hyena II as being reviewed here is Fearless Hyena I in Holland which was distributed by Prime Time. This is a big mistake, because Fearless Hyena I (II in Holland) was done by Jackie himself (fighting scenes) and in nr II he was doubled some times and there were even scenes cut and pasted from part one.

Jackie had well and truly left the Lo Wei Motion Picture Co when this hodgepodge was put together, a mindless cash-in that mixes scenes of Chan with that of a disguised double, creating a truly awful sequel that bares little resemblance to its successful predecessor. Some actors return (Yen Si Kuan seems to have come back from the dead) with the story concerning the Heaven and Earth fighters who wipe out any combatants of rival styles, of which includes Jackie's father and summarily the former seeks vengeance – but it's all pretty bad stuff, proof if proof be needed of this being Lo Wei's last grab at credibility which ultimately concludes as a wasted exercise. Thankfully the real Jackie Chan went on to live, and work, happily ever after.

In cinema, regardless of country, there is a tendency to try to capitalize on the success of a film by remaking it Ad Nauseam. The most common approach is the sequel. Generally sequels will never perform as well as the original (there are exceptions such as Godfather and Drunken Master). When the star of the original film will not appear in the sequel this is normally a recipe for disaster. However, this does not compare to when the lead actor leaves during production (either through death or other problems) yet they continue on with the project trying to complete it. This happened with atrocities such as Trail of Pink Panther and Game of Death when they employed such fraudulent techniques as splicing in old footage, using body doubles while mixing with the original material to create an Ed Woodian style of film. This would also happen with Fearless Hyena II.

With the success of Fearless Hyena there was obviously going to be a sequel. Jackie Chan decided to leave for the greener pastures of Golden Harvest during the early filming of movie. Now instead of quitting production, Lo Wei obtained the rights to produce this film, part of the infamous bargaining agreement between the Triads, Jackie, Lo and Wang Yu and employed the use of old footage, body doubles and mixed this with the already completed footage.

This "sequel" borrows the same premise as the original and tries to follow the same format. Heaven and Earth (Yam Sai-kwoon aka Yen Shi-Kwan who was also the original nemesis in the first film and Kwan Yung Moon), wearing capes to appear villainous and silly, are tracking down all members of the Yin-Yang clan to exterminate them to prove that they have the greatest Kung Fu. Notice that they fight a young James Tien though later in the film he will age considerably. If you take note of every continuity error, or where the Jackie Chan footage comes from, you will probably have more fun watching this film.

We are then introduced to a nude Jackie Chan getting fish, putting snakes down his pants and killing chickens. These introductory scenes of Lung are courtesy of the previous Lo Wei film Spiritual Kung Fu. Like in the first film Lung's guardian (the ubiquitous James Tien) wants him to get a job. This leads to one of the best scenes in the film that is actually left over from the first Fearless Hyena (I am not sure how much extra scenes were originally cut from the first film, but I've read at least an hour or more though I do not know how much still exists). Lung asks to get a job from Jaws Four (a great part from Dean Shek) in a restaurant and results are similar from his previous job with the other brother (a quadruplet) the coffin salesman. This scene is also infamous because of the post dubbing insults that were added against Jackie like – "Look at your ugly face. Small eyes and a big nose. You(r) hair is even longer than a goddamn monkey" and "That goddam long-haired hippie".

Then we are introduced to the lazy son of Chan Chi Pei (Chan Wai-Lau as the Unicorn in the first film) Ah Tung who does have an interesting Rube Goldberg device that was done before Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Brazil (could they have copied this film? :-) Probably not). He is a disappointment to his father (though he has good inventor skills) and has a weak knowledge of Kung Fu. He is also friends with a local malcontent named Frog (Hon Gwok-Choi). Frog is the comic relief in the film (and we all know what happens to the comic relief in a Hong Kong film).

The plot is vary familiar once you have the introductions of the characters and especially if you have seen Fearless Hyena. Jackie is going to take revenge along with his new found friend (who are they going to take revenge for, well I will not spoil that if it is not obvious). This leads to a shoddy finale that has new scenes filmed mixed with the climax of Fearless Hyena. There is no comparison to the awesome finale of the first film.

After watching this movie for the first time I felt it was OK. After subsequent views I disliked it more and more. The biggest problem is the piecemeal approach to this movie. The doubles they used did not look like Jackie and did not move like Jackie (though the one in the beard was a decent fighter). Obviously Lo and Chan Chuen (the director) did not care about continuity and made lots and lots of mistakes in editing. For (another) example there is a good fire stunt in the film until they cut away and show the stunt man in complete protective garb ruining the decent scene. Oh and when they were not taking music from Raiders of the Lost Ark they were using a horrid electronic soundtrack.

The pluses of this film are the contraptions that Lazy Tung creates and several scenes with the real Jackie, especially the scene with Dean Shek and the out-of-place betting scene involving turning a shirt inside out. Though even the new scenes Jackie does not appear to "giving it all" and sometimes appears to be out-of-place. Though some of that is because those scenes are from different films.

I have a couple of R1 versions of this film. I have one of the full-screen prints (there are many of these out there) and the Columbia version. The full-screen print should definitely be avoided in favor of the Columbia version. This has a great transfer, Cantonese dialog option and looks quite good for this mediocre film. The worst attribute is the ever present malady that afflicts most Hong Kong R1 films – dubtitles.