Saviour of the Soul II (1992)

Ostensibly a sequel to Saviour Of The Soul, though it has very little in common with that film besides a wibbly sword and some weaponised cloth. Andy Lau supposedly returns as Ching, and does carry over a few mannerisms and wardrobe choices, but there is no narrative connection to his character from the earlier film.

Instead, he is one third of a team with an inventor and a kid who calls him Godfather and dresses like him in every scene (it is never explained why). They find a text revealing the location of a magic treasure that can grant immortality, though apparently it is actually quite well known - the problem is that nobody who has gone up the mountain to retrieve it has ever returned.

I think I got that right? Those are all things that happen anyway. I guess the main plot is that Ching has seen a woman in his dreams since childhood, and she turns out to be the keeper of the treasure... oh, and the King Of Hell also wants it.

Like Black Panther Warriors, this is not the sort of film where a plot synopsis is particularly helpful. It goes off on so many tangents that narrative takes a back seat to skits, action set pieces, and a whole lot of random weirdness. Unfortunately it is rarely as inspired or impressive here, so it often feels a bit forced and occasionally awkward.

The film has style, with the Canadian locations where it was filmed giving it a distinctive look, but it falls well short of the visual opulence of e.g. THE ICEMAN COMETH - or the striking aesthetics and set designs of its predecessor.

It's basically one of those sequels that is so different to the film it shares a name with that you suspect they just grabbed a random script and tried to force some tenuous connection into it, and which has such a different tone and style that the association can only serve to disappoint those who were drawn in by that name.

There are some fun parts though, and I do miss the "anything goes" style of cinema Hong Kong embraced in the early 90's, so watching it again after 25 years wasn't a total waste of time.