Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Martial Arts/Comedy
Director: Corey Yuen
Year: 1993
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
One of the advantages that Hong Kong used to have over Tinseltown was that, if a film was a success in Hong Kong, they’d have a sequel in development within months, not years. A case in point is Fong Sai Yuk II which came out THE SAME YEAR as Fong Sai Yuk, and with the top of the line talent intact, including actors Jet Li, Josephine Sao, Michelle Reis, director Corey Yuen, and action director Yuen Tak. Try pulling that off in Hollywood.
Yet the sequel is decidedly less effective than the first Fong Sai Yuk adventure. The martial arts scenes don’t work as well, for one thing. There is way too much wire fu for my taste. Why have a martial arts master like Jet Li at your disposal if you aren’t going to show off his moves? The martial arts battles aren’t photographed with enough care. There are way too many closeups, so that you can’t follow the action. It’s like shooting dancers in closeup. It never works.
Still, there are a couple of standout martial arts scenes. One takes place on several rafts in a lake. Corey Yuen and martial arts director Yuen Tak find any number of ways to creatively use these rafts as means of locomotion, weapons, defensive strategies, and so on. It’s very effective because you can follow the strategy of the fight, as opposed to being bamboozled by a bunch of incoherent movement.
The second standout sequence involves Fong Sai Yuk’s mother (Josephine Sao), who has a noose tied around her neck and is propped up on a rickety pile of wooden benches. Fong Sai Yuk (Jet Li) must rescue her from the clutches of Yu (Ji Chun-Hua). Again, the way the benches are used in the sequence is a riot.
The picture is also helped by some excellent character work, especially by the always reliable Josephine Sao. She can make something as simple as making a special soup for her son and carrying it to him on horseback a comic tour de force. Michelle Reis is adorable as Ting Ting, Fong Sai Yuk’s fiancee. Amy Kwok is supremely bratty as the daughter of the governor who develops a crush on Fong Sai Yuk. Later on, she makes a sacrifice which is surprisingly moving. The biggest problem here is Jet Li, or more accurately, the character of Fong Sai Yuk.
Granted, Fong Sai Yuk II is a comedy, and Fong Sai Yuk himself is supposed to be a silly kid, but the way he indulges himself with saving a pretty girl while his buddies are being slaughtered is not exactly sympathetic. Later on, he does something that he knows will be extremely hurtful to his fiancee with only token resistance. Fong Sai Yuk comes off as having his head up his ass at best, and being a complete jerk at worst. I’m not sure any actor could have made Fong Sai Yuk likable in this scenario, but poor Jet Li is not equal to the task. That tends to sour some of the comedy.
Still, there are some good laughs and some creative wire fu to be had here. In the end, Fong Sai Yuk II is a lot like leftover Chinese takeout. If you heat it up, it’s not quite as good as when it was fresh, but it’s still pretty tasty.
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