Once Upon a Time in China II

Name: Once Upon a Time in China II

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama     

Cast: Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Donnie Yen, Tsui Hark (Director)

Synopsis: Wong Fei Hong was travelling to Guangzhou through train to attend a seminar where doctors of both Western and Chinese medicine were about to meet, with his student Leung Foon and Aunt Yee. White Lotus Society was gaining popularity and was performing demonstration on streets. Aunt Yee was seeing that demonstration. She tried to take a picture of the demonstration and caused a flash which men of that society got scared and treated her as evil as she can produced lightening and also was wearing foreign cloths and tried to take her away to burn her but Wong Fei Hong came for her rescue and beats the followers of the society. At the Medicine seminar Wong Fei Hong was having difficulty to make the western doctor understand his lecture on the benefits of Acupuncture but Dr. Sun Yat Sen, helps him to translate in western language what he wants them to understand. As seminar was going on, White Lotus Society tried to disrupt it on the orders of their priest leader Kung. Their main aim is to drive foreign powers out of their homeland. After a series of events Wong Fei Hong came to know that Dr. Sun Yat Sen, is the leader of a society who wants to topple the government and wants to establish a democratic china. A school of foreign languages was set on fire by the White Lotus Society. Some children hide in the shelter of the school and later were found by Wong and Aunt Yee. After having some difficulty in providing shelter to children, Aunt Yee, takes the children to British Consulate. On other hand, Wong tried to talk to Commander Lan asking him to provide security to the children and to do something about White Lotus but Commander Lan told him that already all the men are deployed on borders to deals with foreign power and he doesn’t have enough power to support a fight with them.

When Wong goes back, he sees that those children from foreign school as well as Aunt Yee and Foon are not there. Soon Foon came there and tells Master Wong that the children are safe in British Consulate. Soon followers of White Lotus attack the consulate. Wong Fei Hong helped Dr. Sun Yet Sen, in treating the injured. Commander Lan have some information that rebels including Sun Yet Sen, is hiding in British Consulate and came with force to search the consulate but wasn’t able to do so as they were told that consulate is not under their jurisdiction. Commander Lan ordered to cut down the telegraph wires so that Dr. Sun, could contact the outside world. At night White Lotus attacked the consulate but Wong Fei Hong and his aides defeated the white lotus followers but soon Commander Lan came their and arrested those followers. Dr. Sun had already escaped before the attack of White lotus but now Wong planned that Foon impersonating as Dr. Sun’s companion named Lu Hao Tung runs from there, Wong takes Lu with him as impersonating Foon and asked permission from commander Lan to destroy the White lotus Society. Later on, he destroys the society and their leader King got accidently killed during the fight. They meet Foon near the docks but foon told them he forgets to take the book containing the names of their rebel brothers. Lu asked them that they had to go back to take the list as it is a matter of life and death. All of them went back. After retrieving the list, they were going back but Commander Lan and his men came there and shot Lu. Lu asked them to destroy the list and Foon stars doing that. Wong Fei Hong fights commander Lan as he is desperate to get the list and Wong knows that after he gets the list, Lan will kill them. There starts a fight between them but in the end Wong Fei Hong defeated Lan which eventually lets him killed. They ran to the pier to and arrived just when Dr. Sun’s ship was about to leave. Wong Fei Hong throws a cloth containing the design of the flag for free china for which they were fighting.

Review: Another great movie made by the great director Tsui Hark. He once again proved his excellence in film making. As laid in the previous part, the direction in the movie this time was also great. Jet Li was performance as Wong Fei Hong in this movie is damn good. Donnie Yen and Rosamund Kwan performance were good although Rosamund Kwan role in this part was not much. Music as per the previous was good and so does the martial arts sequences of the movie, Just awesome and including historical and main figures of China in the movie also provided an extra edge in the movie.

Stars given: 4 out of 5.