Aces Go Places II
The second film in this popular series from Cinema
City was also directed by Eric Tsang and like the others it is full of
chases, pratfalls, gadgets galore, incredible stunts and a little romance.
Now this is all tied to a plot that has the brainpower of a 1-watt bulb,
but if that doesn’t interfere with your enjoyment of a film then this can
be a fun ride. The emphasis of this one shifts somewhat from comedy to
more action, stunts and technological mayhem. This is a good thing because
the comedy bits felt weak and the constant mugging to the camera and the
skit like nature becomes somewhat tiresome after a while. The action pieces
though are terrific and some of the stunts are truly breathtaking.
Beginning soon after the first film ends, the
Mafia is still trying to recover the diamonds and kill Hui. The first fifteen
minutes of the film is a classic non-stop romp that is hugely entertaining
and imaginative. A number of miniature helicopters controlled by a hitman
crash through Hui’s apartment window and transform themselves into a giant
killing robot. After a grueling battle with this, Sam escapes out of the
high rise window by diving into a pool far below and is then instantly
pursued by six motorcycles around the streets of HK. There are some eye
opening moments here – in particular one stunt in which a motorcycle lands
on top of a moving bus and then drives off of it.
Before one can catch their breath, four hoods
are chasing a beautiful damsel and Sam fights them off and is instantly
smitten by her beauty. She is a major scam artist though and hoodwinks
Sam into helping her rob a bank. And again the chase is on – with some
lovely bicycle maneuvers from Hui. It turns out that he is the best man
at the wedding of his friend Baldy (Karl Maka) and his much put upon girlfriend
(Sylvia Chang). Sam manages to botch up the wedding much to the displeasure
of Sylvia. Of course, Sylvia often has a good reason to be angry with the
both of them.
The Mafia still hasn’t given up and now sends
another professional killer to HK. He is called Filthy Harry (but dresses
more like the Eastwood character from his Westerns) or Black Glove (brother
of White Glove) and his agent - Henry Kissinger! – gives him his assignment
- kill both Hui and Maka.
The plot just gets sillier and sillier – and
is often just an excuse for some great stunts. There is a car chase that
is quite amazing as at one point a car does a backward jump over another
car and then later gets split in two by a pole with Hui driving in one
section and Maka riding in the other – and both sections continue to roll
on.
Throw into this Yasuaki Kurata (brother of the
damsel in distress) who forces Hui and Maka to help him in his evil doings
by tying a bomb around each of them. One of the sweeter moments in the
film is when Maka can’t disengage the bomb and it looks like final curtains
for him – and Sylvia stays at his side holding him – leading Maka to admit
he loves her.
Both Tsui Hark and Walter Cho show up again in
this film – Cho again as the police captain (as he also is in the Lucky
Star series) and Tsui as a loony mental patient who thinks he is an FBI
agent.
There are some inspired moments in this film
– the stunts, a fabulous brawl in a nightclub that demolishes the place,
the crazy little robots – and of course always Sylvia – but for me the
in between moments and comedy never quite click.
My rating for this film: 7.5
DVD Information:
Distributor - Universe
The transfers for all the films in this series
are universally excellent. Crisp image and great color.
Letterbox - almost extremely so!
Trailer + previews of: Aces Go Places I
8 Chapters
Subs - English, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese,
Japanese, Korean, Bahasa Malaysian and Indonesian
Star files - Sam Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang
and Tsui Hark.
Easy to read subs on black border beneath picture.