Once Upon a Time in China II

Once Upon a Time in China II is a 1992 Hong Kong martial arts action film written and directed by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li returning as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung.^[2] It is the second film and first sequel in the Once Upon a Time in China film series. The Mandarin version of the iconic theme song A Man Should Better Himself (男兒當自強) was performed by Jackie Chan while the Cantonese version was sung by George Lam.

Plot

In 1895, during the late Ching Dynasty, Wong Fei-hung travels by train to Canton to attend a seminar on Western and traditional Chinese medicine. He is accompanied by his romantic interest "13th Aunt" Siu-kwan and disciple Leung Foon. He gives a lecture during the seminar on the benefits of acupuncture while a fellow Chinese doctor helps him translate for the predominantly Caucasian audience.

The seminar is disrupted by members of the fanatical White Lotus Society, an extreme nationalist cult led by the sinister and seemingly invincible Priest Kung. The cult aims to drive all foreigners out of Canton and they have been killing foreigners and destroying everything regarded as foreign. Later, Wong learns that his translator friend, by the name of Suen Man, is actually the leader of a group of pro-democratic rebels who wish to establish a republic in China. Suen Man and another fellow rebel named Luk Ho-dung are planning to travel to Hong Kong to continue with their plans for revolution.

Wong decides to help Suen and the rebels in their plan, but they encounter an official of the Manchu imperial government called General Nap-lan who stands in their way. Further chaos ensued when the cult attack a foreign-language school for children. Siu-kwan brings the children to hide in the British Consulate. Nap-lan suspects that the rebels are hiding inside the Consulate and orders his men to disguise themselves as cult members and attack the Consulate. Wong defends the Consulate while Suen escapes secretly. Nap-lan enters the Consulate in the name of protecting the foreigners from the "cult members" while taking the opportunity to search for Luk. Luke disguises himself as Leung and follows Wong out of the Consulate safely. Meanwhile, Leung disguises himself as Luk to lure Nap-lan away. To put an end to the cult's evil activities, Wong and Luk travel to the cult's headquarters to confront Priest Kung. After an intense battle, Wong defeats Kung and the cult is disbanded.

Wong, Luk and Leung proceed to retrieve the hidden contact name list of the rebels. They encounter Nap-lan and his soldiers. Luk is killed by gunfire. In the final scenes of the film, Wong Fei-hung and Nap-lan have a dramatic showdown dubbed as "the greatest fight of Jet Li on screen". Eventually, Nap-lan is killed and Wong manages to retrieve the name list. He returns it to Suen Man, who had been waiting at the dock and Suen sails to Hong Kong safely. The closing scenes of the film are exactly the same as the prequel film.

Cast

• Jet Li as Wong Fei-hung
• Donnie Yen as General Nap-lan
• Rosamund Kwan as "13th Aunt" Siu-kwan
• Max Mok as Leung Foon
• Zhang Tielin as Suen Man (Sun Yat-sen)
• David Chiang as Luk Ho-dung (Lu Hao-tung)
• Hung Yan-yan as Priest Kung
• Yen Shi-kwan as Governor Chung
• Dion Lam as Governor Chung's assistant
• Ho Ka-kui as Innkeeper Mak
• Paul Fonoroff as British Consular
• Mike Miller as Dr Thompson
• Chu Kai-sang as White Lotus Sect regiment commander
• Chun Kwai-bo as White Lotus Sect member
• Kong Chuen as White Lotus Sect member
• Chan Siu-wah as White Lotus Sect member
• Ling Chi-hung as White Lotus Sect member
• Leung Yat-ho
• Ho Chi-moon
• Chow Shu-kei
• Chang Kin-ming
• Wong Wai-leung
• Leung Shing-hung

DVD release date

On July 2, 2001, DVD was released in Hong Kong Legends at Europe in Region 2.

Two years later, Hong Kong Legends DVD were released on April 7, 2003 at 3 disc set Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy.

Three years later, The Donnie Yen Collection DVD were released on May 29, 2006 at 4 disc set including two films they were New Dragon Gate Inn and 2 disc platinum edition Iron Monkey.

Historical references

• The Chinese doctor Suen Man is Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. "Luke Ho-tung" is the Cantonese pronunciation of "Lu Hao-tung".

• The film's setting is after the First Sino-Japanese War. At the beginning, there is a student protest against the unfair Treaty of Shimonoseki in which Formosa (present-day Taiwan) was handed over to the Empire of Japan.

• The White Lotus Cult in the film is most likely based on an anti-foreign secret society called the Yihequan (aka Boxers of the Boxer Rebellion). The cult also has references to the historical White Lotus such as the cult of Maitreya.

• An "Eastern Extension Australasia and China telegraph company" office can be seen, where the locals are demonstrating outside.

Alternative version

The Taiwanese VHS release distributed by Long Shong opens with a 7 minute-long recap of the first film in series.

This version also includes scenes cut from the international releases:

• Siu-kwan tastes some medicine and says that it tasted bitter. Leung Foon tries it and agrees. Wong Fei-hung returns but they are unsuccessful in their prank on him.

• Luke discloses Suen's plans for revolution. Wong Fei-hung protests angrily by saying that China should not experience any more turmoil.

• After the scene featuring children learning martial arts at the foreign-language school, Siu-kwan and Leung Foon discovers that they were writing their wills. Unexpectedly, Leung manages to raise their spirits by teaching them martial arts.

Box office

This was a rare sequel to a Hong Kong film to exceed the original film's box office take. It grossed $30,399,676 HKD.[1]

Awards and nominations

• 1992 Golden Horse Film Festival
  • Won: Best Original Song (James Wong)

• 1993 Hong Kong Film Awards
  • Won: Best Action Choreography (Yuen Woo-ping)
  • Nominated: Best Film
  • Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Donnie Yen)
  • Nominated: Best Director (Tsui Hark)
  • Nominated: Best New Performer (Hung Yan-yan)
  • Nominated: Best Art Direction (Eddie Ma)
  • Nominated: Best Cinematography (Arthur Wong)
  • Nominated: Best Film Editing (Marco Mak)
  • Nominated: Best Original Film Score (Richard Yuen, Johnny Njo)

References

External links

• Once Upon a Time in China II at the Internet Movie Database
• Once Upon a Time in China II at AllRovi
• HKMDB
• HK Cinemagic