ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II
A film review by Leong Heng Cheong
Copyright 1992 Leong Heng Cheong
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II (Chinese Title: WONG FEY-HONG II: MEN SHOULD STRENGTHEN THEMSELVES) is one of the latest martial arts movies from Hong Kong: the Hollywood of the East.
Directed by Tsui Hark, who also co-wrote the screenplay, this film stars Jet Li, from ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA and THE SWORDSMEN II. This film is in Cantonese, with Mandarin dubbed versions available. Film length is about 110 minutes.
All the elements of Tsui Hark's martial arts movies are again featured in this film: the "wooden" hero, the side-kick cum comic relief, the women that needs to be rescued by the hero....
However, unlike many movies, there isn't a good-vs-evil one-force-againist- another plot. We have the hero: Wong Fey-Hong, who knows justice, but doesn't approve of revolution. There is Sun Yat-sen and his follower, who wanted to save China. There is a Qing minister, who just wanted to do the job he is paid for. And there is the White Lotus sect, who made used to the chaos condition in Canton to cheat others -- and in the end, cheated themselves.
These recent installments of Wong Fey-Hong's legends are also very different from the past 99 episodes. Here, the foreigners are no longer the only bad guys, and not all Chinese are good. Instead, we see better portrayed characters which are no longer one-dimensional.
But, that doesn't mean they are three-dimensional. :-) Character development is not a strong point of Tsui Hark, and here, he avoided it altogether. The romance was quickly introduced, and quickly disappeared into the background. A scene which Wong taught his aunt (the romantic interest -- the other way round) martial arts looks stiff and out-of-place. The rescue of the children from the Language School looks routine, and fail to evoke any drama.
The story: Wong Fey-Hong is invited to Canton for a medical conference, but got himself involved in the chaos of revolution. Meanwhile, the White Lotus sect, bent on destroying all "evil" stuff from the West, cheats the people by proclaiming they are there to save the people with help from God. There isn't any suspense in the movie -- everything is almost predictable...
Fans of Chinese martial arts movies would not be disappointed. In fact, fans of action movies shouldn't be disappointed. There are fights all the way from the beginning till the end on various different kinds of props ranging from ladders to tables. The movie is rated PG in Singapore -- no nudity, but some violence and blood. Masters of martial arts like to cut vital veins that spurt blood of their opponent.... :-)
A brief knowledge of China's history during the turn of the century can help enhance the enjoyment of this film, but viewers should note the disclaimer displayed at the beginning of the movie after the credits: the story is by no means historically accurate.
Overall, a standard project by Tsui Hark -- but an entertaining movie all the same. Not much depth, but who will expect that in such a fast-paced movie?
The next project by Tsui Hark, already completed, is a remake of DRAGON-GATE INN. Currently, Tsui Hark is in China filming ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA III (you are guaranteed a sequel with the box-office success of the second in the series in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore...) and GREEN SNAKE (translated title).
Leong Heng Cheong hcleong@iti.gov.sg
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