7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In the sequel to the Tsui Hark classic, Wong Fei-Hung faces The White Lotus society, a fanatical cult seeking to drive the Europeans out of China through violence, even attacking Chinese who follow Western ways. Wong must also defend Dr. Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary, from the military. With his friends, loved ones, and the future of China itself at stake, Wong must once again use his martial arts skills to defend the innocent.
Starring: Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Donnie Yen, David Chiang, Xin Xin XiongForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 41% |
Action | 21% |
History | 9% |
Biography | 2% |
Period | 1% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: LPCM Mono
Cantonese: LPCM 2.0
Mandarin: LPCM 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy.
The Once Upon a Time in China franchise is regularly cited as having kickstarted the weirdly dormant martial arts film genre in the Asian
market, but it’s also arguable that the series helped to foster another element of “eastern” cinema that is not necessarily relegated only to China
(Korean films also come to mind in this regard): a kind of “rah rah” jingoism that seeks to exploit national identity while also perhaps hinting, none
too subliminally at times, that the “natives” (Chinese or otherwise) may be just a bit smarter than some of the interlopers. Once
Upon a Time in China appeared in 1991, helping to catapult Jet Li to superstar status, and continuing an even by then decades long tradition
of crafting entertainments around the adventures (typically “fictionalized” if not outright fiction) of real life Chinese martial arts master and folk
medicine healer Wong Fei-hung. Wong lived from around 1847 to 1925, but it didn’t take long for a rather gargantuan mythos to be built up
around the character, so much so that by the late forties, Wong was an immensely popular character in Hong Kong films. Kwan Tak-hing made a
veritable career out of playing Wong, appearing in some 70 films about the character, and there are several rather well remembered films about
Wong that came out as Kwan was winding down from playing Wong (incredibly, the actor continued the role from the 1940s to the 1980s, earning a
place in the Guinness Book of World Records in the process). These include the Shaw Brothers’ Challenge of the Masters, Drunken Master with Jackie Chan, and the relatively recent Rise of the Legend. The Once Upon a Time in China films offer some typical martial arts
frenzies, but the films are also quite notable for how they portray a nascent nation defending itself from outside influences, and creating its own
identity in the process.
Once Upon a Time in China II is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Eureka! provided only check discs for the purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfers that might be included in an insert booklet, but Eureka!'s site states that the transfers of the first three films in this set are culled from new 4K restorations. As I mentioned in the Once Upon a Time in China Blu-ray review, I found the transfer of the first film to be marginally less consistent than the next two, and so my scores reflect that, though that said, our scores can only account for so much, and in that regard, I'd rate this film as better looking than the first, but perhaps doesn't offer the same levels of saturation that the third film does. This has the same kind of yellowish qualities that I mentioned with regard to the first film, but probably not to the same extent, though once again if you look, for example, at the Golden Harvest masthead, blacks don't seem especially deep and there's a kind of hazy undertone to subsequent proceedings. Speaking of hazy, this is another Tsui Hark film that is filled with an almost comical amount of haze and mist drifting through various shots, stylistic choices that, along with other aspects like skewed perspectives and fish eye lenses, can lend at least the perception of softness to certain moments. That said, there are very nice detail levels evident throughout this presentation, and some moments, like a late extreme close-up of Yen's face or even later the kind of weird feather adorning a hat he wears, provide substantial fine detail levels. Outdoor material pops extremely well in this transfer, with some bright and vivid primaries. I'm giving this an official score of 4.5, at least in part to indicate I felt this looks better than the first film, but especially in terms of palette saturation, I'd probably score this closer to 4.25.
Once Upon a Time in China II features the same array of audio options as the first film, with Cantonese tracks in LPCM 1.0 and 2.0, a Mandarin track in LPCM 2.0, and an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. I found the English dub even less convincing than on the first film, with some pretty anemic amplitude and an overall boxy and kind of oddly reverberent sound. The mono and stereo tracks all sounded fine to me, though as with the first film, there are some kind of interesting differences in the mix. The Mandarin track sounds like it either has different effects, or at least a different mix, with some effects sounding considerably brighter on that track than on either Cantonese track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and I heard no signs of age related wear and tear.
The political aspect of Once Upon a Time in China II may provide this film with a bit more drama than some of the other films in this franchise, but Tsui Hark obviously knew what audiences were coming to this sequel for, and so this film, unlike its immediate predecessor, pushes action to the forefront a lot of the time. Jet Li is once again a commanding presence, and he's well matched by Yen. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplementary package very appealing. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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