The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk II

Cast
Jet Li as Fong Sai Yuk
Michele Reis as Ting Ting
Amy Kwok as Man Yin
Josephine Siao as Fong's mother
Adam Cheng as Chan Ka Lok
Kai Chun Wah as Yu
Chan Lung as Ch'ien-lung

Intro

"The Legend II", starring Jet Li as Fong Sai Yuk, is the continuation of "The Legend". In the "Legend I", Fong Sai Yuk married Ting Ting and at the end of the movie, Sai Yuk had joined the Red Flower Society. Chan Ka Lok heads this society. The "Legend II" tells the story of Fong Sai Yuk's adventure in the Red Flower Society and a new love interest, the Emperor Ch'ien-lung's daughter.

What about the story (Spoilers!)

The story takes place during the Manchu rule under Emperor Ch'ien-lung. Fong Sai Yuk is in the Red Flower Society as a new member. He has no experience and has never been on a mission before. Sai Yuk is with his wife, Ting Ting, at a festival. There are fireworks and dragon dancers on the streets. Sai Yuk, Ting Ting, and Red Flower Society (RFS) leader, Chan Ka Lok, are eating in a restaurant overlooking the dragon dancers. Sai Yuk and Ting Ting are at a table eating when a monk tries to enter. The waiter stops the monk but Sai Yuk helps the monk in. There is a girl dressed as a boy sitting near Sai Yuk. She throws one of her chopsticks at the waiter and the waiter falls down on his knees. The monk dines with Sai Yuk and Ting Ting. The monk offers to tell Sai Yuk's future.

He says that Sai Yuk will live a very extraordinary life. He tells Ting Ting that she will have one boy and one girl. Sai Yuk is astonished that he will only have two children. The monk replies that Sai Yuk will have two boys and two girls. That implies that Sai Yuk will have another wife. Ting Ting gets mad and leaves. Sai Yuk runs after her. The monk starts to talk to Chan Ka Lok. The monks bows down and says that Chan is the emperor. Chan remembers that when he was young, he had to flee to Japan under the Red Flower Society's protection. His mother gave him a box, which had documents to prove that he was the real emperor. While he was in Japan, some samurais stole the box. The monk then warns Chan that someone close to him will betray him and someone close will save him.

Meanwhile, Sai Yuk and Ting Ting are on the roof talking about their love. Ting Ting starts to complain that Sai Yuk doesn't declare his love for her enough. Sai Yuk closes his eyes and says that he loves her. However, the girl dressed as a boy had climbed on the roof and was laying next to Sai Yuk. Ting Ting gets mad and tells Sai Yuk to slap her. They start arguing until some men call for the girl and she leaves. Suddenly some dancers jump into the restaurant and splash gasoline meant for Chan, but hits the monk. They set the monk on fire. A fight starts to break out. Sai Yuk runs to help Chan. While fighting, one of the assassins gets his arm injured and all the assassins flee. A meeting is held to report changes in the RFS. A woman holding her new born son asks Chan to name her son. She throws her baby in the air and tries to kill Chan. Chan already knew the woman's intent and hit her. Yu suddenly kills the woman. The woman had a mask on and was an assassin. Yu is the son of the former RFS leader but Chan was named the new leader and not him. Yu is very jealous of Chan. Yu also has a bandage on his arm.

The members find out that Yu brought the woman here and his son told Chan that he saw his father talking to her before the meeting. Yu tries to kill his son. Sai Yuk stops him and insults Yu for being a coward. Chan stops the fight and punishes Sai Yuk for his behavior. That night, Yu challenges Sai Yuk to a fight. Chan stops the fight and he yells at Sai Yuk for his behavior. Ting Ting tells Sai Yuk to visit his mother at home but Sai Yuk swears that one day he will become the RFS leader. An official working secretly for the RFS enters a restaurant and asks Chan for some water. He throws his towel down and leaves. On the towel it says that some samurais will be traveling at the river with the box. The next day, Chan chooses some men to retrieve the box. Sai Yuk was chosen to go because Dong, his friend, refused to go.

Each member was given a bamboo stick with their number on it. Sai Yuk had the unlucky number 49. When Sai Yuk left, his mother came to bring him soup but he had already left. The members hid behind some windmills waiting for the ambush. Sai Yuk spots the girl at the inn on a raft heading towards the samurais. The members ambush the samurais and Sai Yuk tries to save the girl. She gets paralyzed by the samurais nerve block. Sai Yuk unparalyzes her top but not her legs because he didn't know how. He carries her on his back while fighting. The samurai leader paralyzes Sai Yuk but suddenly, another samurai jumps in to save him.

All the other samurais bow down to this samurai. This samurai was Sai Yuk's mother. She asks for the box but the girl motions to the other samurais not to. Everyone starts fighting again and Sai Yuk's mother gets paralyzed. The samurais are motioned to leave. Sai Yuk is carrying the girl and his mother is standing there next to him. All three are paralyzed. Sai Yuk's mother then uses bees to sting her face to unparalyze herself. She then unparalyzes Sai Yuk. Sai Yuk asks his mother how to unparalyze the girl. Sai Yuk hits the girl in the stomach and leaves with his mother. The girl had secretly stolen Sai Yuk's bamboo stick and keeps it as a memento.

Back at the RFS headquarters Sai Yuk's mother meets with Dong. Song and his mother were lovers and they get drunk. They spend the night together. The box arrives at the palace and the identity of the girl is revealed. She is the emperor's daughter named Man Yin. The official working secretly for the RFS reports to Chan that Man Yin is in love with Sai Yuk. Chan tells Sai Yuk to send the girl a love letter and pretend to like her so he can get the box. Sai Yuk decides not to tell Ting Ting about this. He also makes a bet with Yu that if he can't retrieve the box he will disable his kungfu. Sai Yuk meets Man Yin at a temple. He is sweating a lot and his mother pushes him so he would kiss Man Yin. Sai Yuk closes his eye and kisses her. When he opens his eye, he saw a bunch of nuns in front of him puckering their lips. He thought he had kissed on of the nuns. Man Yin then tells Sai Yuk to prove himself in a competition to marry her.

Man Yin will give Sai Yuk the box when they get married. On the day of the competition, Sai Yuk and his mother show up late because Sai Yuk wanted to carry a huge flag. The competition already started. There are four other competitors. They have to climb at a tower and retrieve a red ball. If you fall, you lose. Sai Yuk comes flying in a kite to the top of the tower. Man Yin is seated at the top of the flower and she kicks the other competitors so they can't get the ball. Sai Yuk defeats all the other competitors. Suddenly, Ting Ting dressed as a man, jumps onto the tower. She argues with Sai Yuk because he is trying to marry someone else. She then jumps off the tower but Sai Yuk jumps in after her and catches her in midair. Man Yin also jumps and Sai Yuk also catches her. The two of them are in midair in Sai Yuk's arms. Sai Yuk's mother also decides to jump so her son and catch her but both of Sai Yuk's arms are full. She falls flat on her face and gets angry because no one catches her.

Ting Ting leaves and Sai Yuk is declared the winner. Man Yin forces Sai Yuk to yell out that he loves her. On the night of the wedding, Man Yin gets angry with Sai Yuk because he only got married with her for the box. She gives him the box and leaves. Sai Yuk, Ting Ting, and Sai Yuk's mother flee but are captured. Man Yin saves them by renouncing her relationship with her father. Man Yin then gives Sai Yuk back the bamboo stick and leaves. Now Sai Yuk releases that she is really in love with him. On the way back to headquarters, Sai Yuk, Ting Ting, and Sai Yuk's mother are chased by assassins. They become separated. Sai Yuk returns to headquarters and in front of all the members burns the box. Yu is mad because he wanted to destroy the box. Chan realizes that the box was a fake. Yu tells Sai Yuk that he had lost the bet. Chan was forced to cut Sai Yuk's nerves. Yu then disposes of Chan and his followers. Now Yu is the new leader. Yu also sends his men to kill Sai Yuk.

Dong saves him and gives him a book to help him repair his nerves. Dong gets killed and Sai Yuk's mother is captured. She is strung by the neck on top of a tower of chairs. After some time, Sai Yuk regains his kungfu and goes to save his mother. After some intense fighting, Sai Yuk uses the fatal nerve block to kill Yu. The rope on Sai Yuk's mother breaks and she falls. Luckily Man Yin and Ting Ting break her fall.

Now Ting Ting and Man Yin are both Sai Yuk's wives. Chan is also freed by the official working for him. Sai Yuk then gives Ting Ting and Man Yin each a jade bracelet saying that it is a family heirloom. Ting Ting and Man Yin were trying to give each other the jade bracelet when they find out that the bracelet was similar. Sai Yuk's mother pulls out a packet of jade bracelets and hands it out to Chan and his servants. Man Yin and Ting Ting are mad at Sai Yuk and chases him on horseback. The End.

Jet Li

I am a hardcore fan of Jet Li. This is one of the funniest movies I have seen him in. Jet Li was very funny and entertaining. His performance was superb. On of my favorite scenes was the one where he has Man Yin on his back and he is floating through the air with an umbrella. It was very romantic.

Amy Kwok

She was very funny too. I saw great chemistry between Jet Li and Amy. In the beginning, she portrayed the spoiled and evil princess, but falls in love with Sai Yuk. It is similar to Chiu Min's lover for Wuji in "The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber".

Josephine Siao

Her acting was great too. I love how she portrays Sai Yuk's mother. One funny scene is when she jumps off the tower and falls flat on her face.

Michele Reis

Michele also did a great job. She and Sai Yuk were very funny together. She had a more serious role and appeared in fewer scenes than in the "Legend I".

Adam Cheng

Of course, Adam did a great job. He fitted the role of RFS leader perfectly. The only thing I don't understand is Chan's birthright. The movie did not explain the secret enough. You would have to know some history to understand the story.

Kai Chun Wah

Wow! He looked very evil. I don't know why he doesn't have eyebrows. It makes him look so funny. Yu can't hide his evil intentions very well. At the beginning, everyone knew that Yu was trying to take over the RFS.

Best supporting actor

Adam Cheng as Chan Ka Lok

Best supporting actress

Amy Kwok as Man Yin

Josephine Siao as Fong's mother

Best villain portrayal

Kai Chun Wah as Yu

Worst character portrayal

None

What about the fighting, scenes, costumes

The fighting was great. Since Jet Li knows kungfu, the fighting was much better. One good fight scene is the fight with the samurais in the river. The scenery and costumes were great too. There was one problem though, the emperor's costume looked like an official's costume.

What about some history

During the Ching rule, Ch'ien-lung was the third emperor. He was the successor to Yung-cheng. His grandfather was the famous Kang Hei. Ch'ien-lung ruled from 1735-96. He retired after 60 years so he won't exceed his grandfather's reign. He died in 1799 at the age of 89. He destroyed Mongol rebellions had the strongest army in the east. His later years were not as strong as his beginning reign. He became extravagant and also amused himself with a guard named Ho-shen. Ho-shen became the most powerful official and dwindled China's government. After Ch'ien-lung's death, the Ching government began a rapid decline. In this movie, Ch'ien-lung had a secret that he didn't want anyone to know. His true birth was that he was a Han and not a Manchu. He was hated by everyone, especially the Red Flower Society. Chan was the leader of the RFS and his true birth gave him the throne. Chan didn't want anyone to know of his true identity and searched for the box to destroy it.

Watch it or forget it

Of course, go rent it now. This is one movie you do not want to miss.