Just in time for Lunar New Year, the guys at BOB rushed this latest
installment in the continuing saga of triad boy Chan Ho-Nam (Ekin
Cheng). However, the return of Chan Ho-Nam comes with a price: no
Chicken, as Jordan Chan was too busy to lend his welcome presence
to the latest Y&D outing.
The results are mixed: Ekin Cheng manages
to carry things pretty well by himself, but without Jordan Chan the
series loses its best actor and most compelling character. In his
place, we have Chin Kar-Lok as Big Head, an ex-triad who’s dragged
back into the triad game by his former Hung Hing buddies. His mission:
defeat the Tung Sing’s best kickboxer in a Tung Sing/Hung Hing grudge
match.
However, there’s more at stake than mere
“face.” There’s a cutthroat Malaysian businessman (Paul Chun), who
joins forces with evil Tung Sing branch leader Szeto Ho-Nam (played
by Mark Cheng Ho-Nam) to help do in our Hung Hing guys. Danny Lee
is on board as “Lee Sir,” the local anti-triad cop who takes a shine
to Chan Ho-Nam.
All in all, this installment is decent but
by far the weakest of the bunch. First of all, where is everybody?
Chicken is absent, Yee died in the last flick, and the filmmakers
aren’t done offing people yet. Plus, there’s the absence of the series’
most enjoyable supporting characters, Spencer Lam and Karen Mok as
the preacher and his daughter.
In place of the young fellas, we have characters
like Sister Thirteen (Sandra Ng) and Ben Hon (Wan Yeung-Ming). The
series doesn’t seem so Young and Dangerous any longer, a fact
reinforced by the fact that Chan Ho-Nam spends nearly the entire film
in a suit and tie.
On the plus side, Mark Cheng is very good
as the evil Ho-Nam, if a bit undeveloped. Also, Shu Qi is quite winning
as the requisite love interest. See it if you loved the other ones,
just don’t expect to be blown away. (Kozo
1998) |
