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Somehow, this film is a direct continuation of Swordsman,
even though the two films have little to do with each other, and you might
very well understand Swordsman 2 without ever having seen the first part
...
Ling Wu Chung (Jet Li) rides through the countryside with his sidekick
Kiddo (Michelle Reis) - who's secretly in love with him - looking for both
his brothers of the Hua Mountain Sect and for Ren Ying Ying (Rosamund
Kwan) of the Sun Moon Cult he has somehow fallen in love with.
Meanwhile, Japanese general Hatori (Waise Lee) wants to do some
conquering in China and forms an alliance with an eunuch ... who though
might be a tad to big for him, as this eunuch has read the Asia
scriptures, and now turns into a woman, Asia the Invincible (Brigitte
Lin), a being of magnificent power who wants to overthrow the Ming
Dynasty. The only one standing in the way of Asia's ambitious plans is
his/her brother Wu (Lau Shin), leader of the Sun Moon Cult, so Asia
imprisons him, and has most of the Sun Moon Cultists killed - among the
few who escape are Ren Ling Ling, incidently Wu's daughter, and her ever
faithful maid Blue Phoenix (Fennie Yuen, the only actress to return in her
role from Swordsman).
Upon finding the Sun Moon Cultists, Ling Wu Chung is sure Ren Ling Ling
has been captured by whoever it was, and he plans to take up
investigations, instead though his paths cross with Asia, who now appears
very womanly, and somehow tender romance blossoms, though they only see
each other briefly.
Later, Ling Wu Chung's and Kiddo's paths cross with both Ren Ling Ling
and Blue Phoenix, and with his brothers from the Hua Mountain Sect. And
even though the Hua Mountain Sect is prepared to give up fighting for
good, they agree to help Ren Ling Ling free her father.
Soon enough, Ling Wu Chung has entered Asia's fortress and even met
Asia there - but somehow he has come to all the wrong conclusions and
thinks she is a captive as well ... a belief she doesn't want to shatter.
Anyways, the trip to Asia's fortress gets him thrown into the dungeon -
which is exactly what he has wanted, since only there can he find Wu, and
the two of them soon make a jailbreak, during which Wu sucks the life
energy of many of Asia's guards to himself come to strength again.
With her most prominent prisoner gone, Asia prepares a counterstrike,
during which most of the Sun Moon Cult and the Hua Mountain Sect, and even
Blue Phoenix, are killed. Ling Wu Chung though did not take part in the
fight, instead he went to Asia's castle, where he had sex with Asia's
servant girl Sisi (Yu On-On), whom Asia made to look like her to have Ling
Wu Chung out of the way as an opponent - and also because Asia didn't want
to fight him.
It's only when Ling Wu Chung returns to his drastically diminished
group of friends that he learns who he actually has fallen in love with -
and now Wu knows he has power over him and teaches Ling Wu Chung a few
tricks from the Asia scripture as well.
It all culminates in an over-the-top martial arts/magic battle, at the
end of which Asia shows she still has feelings for Ling Wu Shung when she
rather falls to her death than to kill him ...
All's well that ends well, then ?
But no, unfortunately, with Asia gone, Wu has quickly taken her place,
and now he tries to gain power by opposing everyone who might be against
him ... and Ling Wu Chung and Kiddo are high up on his list. It's only
thanks to Ren Ling Ling, Wu's daughter, that they can escape at all ...
As said up front, this film has litle to do with the first Swordsman,
and even though many of the characters return from the first film, all
(except for Blue Phoenix) are played by different actors.
Now this might sound like a bad sign, but actually Swordsman
II is the better film of the two (even if acting-wise, the lead couple Michelle Reis
and especially Jet Li are a poor substitute for Sam Hui and Cecilia
Yip): While Swordsman
was a traditional martial arts film in story and style, Swordsman II
throws genre conventions over board rather quickly to emerge as an
over-the-top fantasy epic, where one character (Wu) sucks the life essence
(in graphic detail) out of his opponents and effortlessly throws around
giant claws on chains many times his own weight, another character (Asia)
turns into a woman for extra strength, just like that, and then there are
Japanese ninjas who surf through the air on overgrown ninja stars. And
let's not forget the many bodies which explode in battle. Now this all
might sound very silly, and objectively speaking, it is, but for the
duration of the film, everything seems to make perfect sense and induces
an exhilerating experience.
Now it might not be art or the best martial arts ffantasy ever made,
but due to its outrageousness, it is simply put, just great, watch it !
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