A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990)

People are voting emotionally.

Admirable film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This movie sort of follows on from the first one. It opens with a rehash of what happened in the previous movie and then Ling and the Taoist part ways. As Ling journeys through the land he comes to notice that there is an excess of thieves and robbers, and escapes with his life after entering an inn run by bandits who cut up their guests and eat them. Unfortunately he is captured by guards and locked up in jail and sent to be executed. While in gaol he impresses an old man who gives him a symbol and shows him the way out. He take this way out and comes upon a group of outlaws who behave as ghosts. One of them reminds him of Sui Sin, and throughout the movie he is constantly seeing her as Sui Sin. It becomes evident though that a great evil is menacing the land, and this evil has taken the form of the high priest.Chinese Ghost Story 2 attempts to out do what they did in the first movie. In the first they fight and kill a demon lord, while in the second one they are confronted by Buddha himself. Buddha is far more powerful than the demon prince, but the strange this is that Buddha is behaving very evilly. The characters in the movie, including the general and the Buddha's servants, appear far more dangerous than those in the earlier movie, but this is not surprising considering what Ling has previously been through. First he fights and destroys a demon lord, so to send him up against something less threatening would not be a challenge.These movie should really appeal to roleplayers as there are a lot of fantasy elements in them. They leave the Western Fantasy movies for dead for in these magic is magic and the monsters are real monsters. Magic is far more common in these movies - they are the providence of the Taoist monks - whereas in the Western movies, sorcerers are few and far between. The encounters are far more interesting as well, such as humans who can burrow through the ground, demons that can turn people into beasts, and soldiers that can turn invisible at will.This movie does go far better than the first, but it acts more to build upon it rather than outdo it. With the Chinese Ghost Stories, I think it works far better if we watch them all rather than say one is better than the other and ignore the others. I have not yet watched number three so I cannot comment on that yet. What it does do though is that it remembers what went on before. Ling is a character that has depth to him. He is pinning for Sui Sin, his lost love - one he knows he cannot see again. He holds tightly onto the painting, and enamoured with the woman who looks a lot like her.I find that these movies are very well done. Tsui Hark, the producer for these movies, did a lot to bring the special effects in Hong Kong up to a equal level with Hollywood. What happens in Hong Kong movies though is that the film makers tend to push for much more, and generally arrive at that place as well. Hong Kong horror is not horror in the Western sense, but more fantasy.

Only in Hong Kong would a martial arts-action-comedy mixing humor, horror, romance, and at least one song and dance number be given such a generic title. The sequel is no less noisy or frenetic then the original, and the bigger budget means better translated subtitles. But except for some cheesy, papier-mâché monsters and grubby special effects (an old man's eyes boiling out of his face, for example) the more polished production lacks the sloppy, innocent charm of Part One, and as in any sequel the excitement of discovery is diminished. On the other hand Part Two makes even less sense (if that's possible), despite telling essentially the same story: the headlong pace hides not only most of the plot holes, but much of the plot as well. A synopsis would be impossible; suffice to say there aren't too many movies able to claim the novelty of a scene set inside the digestive tract of a giant airborne centipede.

Although a little shorter on plot than the first movie, this one might be a bit funnier. With the welcome additions of Jackie Cheung as a wandering ghost fighting Monk and the lovely Michelle Reis to the cast, the movie has even more Hong Kong star power than the last. Of course the chemistry between Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang is still there, and the film is funny and fast paced. If you liked the first movie, then put this on your must see list.

Not entirely sane mixture of martial arts, supernatural tomfoolery, adventure epic, picaresque, Eastern philosophy and religion, and monster movie; featuring cowardly, yet devilishly handsome scholar-heroes, potty priests with magical nous, fearsome, yet cute, highkicking heroines, fat evil fake Buddhas, mendacious high priests, lumbering trolls, hairy gurus and noble warriors. You can choose either THE PHANTOM MENACE and George Lucas, who stole many of these elements to create an enervating sticky gloop that goes on way too long; or this, directed at a breathless pace, full of fun, joy, energy, terror, invention and wonder (and socio-historical critique) which ends far too soon.