Very disappointing...

Sorry, this movie sucks

Great Film overall

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Review: This movie sees Jackie Chan back as Dragon Ma who has now been promoted to shadow a police chief to fight against corruption and crime in his town. He hasn't got his handy sidekicks that he had in the first movie but he brings along some other agents to help him fight against crime. The Pirates are now seeking revenge after Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) crippled there business in the first movie and he has to fight against corruption in the police force. After building a relationship with the head of the coast guards in the first movie, he helps him in a few tricky situations involving gangsters and then Pirates so it's full of action from beginning to end. Personally, I got confused with who was who and what was what. As usual, the death defying stunts are great and the authentic Kung Fu scenes were well put together but it seemed like it was never going to end. Jackie Chans character is slightly more serious in this movie, which is a plus in my opinion but there is way too much going on. It starts off quite simple but once all the different characters come into the movie, I was completely lost. It also seemed quite dated for this day and age, which is good in a way because you don't get all of the string action but it is still worth a watch just for the amazing Kung Fu. Watchable!Round-Up: I'm going to try my best to collect all of the Jackie Chan movies and I'm looking forward to see his earlier work but so far, it's not a good start. I can't fault his amazing action scenes and detailed stunts but I'm not impressed with the story lines. I'm hoping that the next movie that I get will show Jackie Chan on top form.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/comedy/crime movies about a coast guard who has been promoted to take down a crime boss on dry land. 4/10

This movie has so much in it and by the end you are generally left panting. It has pirates and underworld gangs, rebels and imperialists and corrupt colonial dignitaries and police officers, and as with all Jackie Chan movies, it is pumped full of action, fights, and stunts.Project A Part II actually follows on from the original movie with the remaining pirates clambering ashore and vowing to get back at Jackie Chan. The movie is set in the turn of the century, when the China was still an empire and Britain a colonial power with huge vested interests in China. The movie is about a police officer, Sergeant Chung, who is seen at the beginning of the movie setting up an armed robbery so that he is made to be a hero. The chief of the Hong Kong police force believe that he is corrupt but Chung has too much power, so they remove one district from his control and bring Chan in, who is a marine policeman, and give him that district. Chan immediately sets about cleaning up the district, and after busting open the big gang in the area, the once cowardly policemen decide to follow him.There is a lot in this movie and as such it would spoil the whole movie to describe the plot. It involves Chan getting framed for stealing jewelery and then trying to prove that he is innocent. Caught in the middle of all of this are the rebels who want to save China by overthrowing the Emporer, and there are the emperor's bodyguards who are trying to get rid of the British.The movie has little in the way of theme because people watch a Jackie Chan movie for the action and the comedy. They watch them for the bizarre scenes, such as the handcuff chase scene. The other really notable thing about this movie are the sets, they are all very authentic. The sets made for this movie are being reused constantly for many other Hong Kong movies. Chan went to a lot of trouble to not only create an entertaining sequel, but one that capture the essence of this tumultuous time in Hong Kong history.

I guess a second instalment to the very successful original was inevitable and this follow-up doesn't disappoint either, although I wouldn't say it comes close to it predecessor. With the likes of Summo Hung and Yuen Mao not returning it does leave a very big hole, but we know how well Jackie Chan can carry a film and that's was he does with Part II. Chan again would star, co-wrote, and direct along with being the stunt coordinator. You know by now the stunts we are seeing are Jackie leading the way in some feats like the handcuffed chase, rotating cage and the climatic showdown involving falling framework, but never really do they reach the great heights of some of his other staged stunts. Dragon Ma has rid the sea of Pirate Lo and his men, and now finds him back on land where he's given a new assignment of cleaning up crime and corruption in one of the roughest districts. But Ma and his loyal crew don't have it easy with the local police chief who's crafting a web of deceit. However also riding Ma's back are some pirates who want to avenge the death of Pirate Lo and then there are agents of the Manchu government. This action-adventure can be as fast and furious with outstanding martial arts choreography balanced out with goofy, if charming slapstick humour. The action is not as frequent as it seems spaced out, with more comical elements finding its way in where Chan toys around. Even the script shines the spotlight on some political issues involving communist's rebels vs. mainland Chinese imperials, which can make things a little talky and some sub-plots feel aimless. It starts off rather sharp, but never recaptures that spirit it began with. The lavished production makes good use of its set-designs and costumes with a flamboyant Hong Kong backdrop.

Sequels are a capricious lot with most nowhere near the stature of the original. Sometimes you find a sequel that is considered better than the original, some critics (such as John Charles) have stated that Project A2 is better than the original, I disagree somewhat but this movie is still a worthwhile follow-up and fits well in the output of brilliant Hong Kong action cinema in the 1980s as well as Jackie's own oeuvre. I do wonder how with such an awesome release of great films that his later films were not as good. He only has directed two films in the 1990s and none past that, but he has had much clout in many of the films where he is not officially the director.Earlier in 1987 Jackie had brain surgery following a disastrous fall in the filming of Armour of God. This encouraged him to work on his next film close to home. This did not encourage him to stop risking his life and his stunt team for our amusement. What resulted is a smash hit at home that eclipsed the original in box office tallies (31 million HK dollars compared to 19 million for the original).Jackie Chan is once again police officer extraordinaire Dragon Ma and he is ordered to work with "Three Wan" Superintendent Chun (Lam Wai, Royal Warriors) who is the only Chinese police officer allowed to have a gun yet is thought to be staging arrests to make himself look better and ignoring the crimes of a triad lord named Tiger Au (Michael Chan Wai-Man, Dragon Lord). Apparently Chun has too much power to be taken down directly, but he is relieved of the Sai Wan district (now he is "Two Wan") which Dragon Ma takes over. This inefficient and corrupt office will soon get a makeover and there is a great scene where three officers, who do not know who they are dealing with, attempt to assault Ma to teach him a lesson about complaining about police officers. He soon has that district ship-shape and Tiger Au taken care of. The fight choreography and stunts with Tiger and his men are quite awesome. My favorite stunt was a beautifully brutal fall from the second floor into a large vase and that vase did not appear to be soft.Meanwhile a couple of subplots are happening. There are pirates who have survived from the first film who are looking for revenge and food. Then there are revolutionaries including Maggie (Maggie Cheung, In The Mood For Love) and (Rosamund Kwan, Casino Raiders) who are trying to raise funds for Dr. Sun Yat-sen to overthrow the Qing Government as well as government operatives who are trying to find these rebels. Throw in a mixture of corrupt Hong Kong and British Cops as well as legitimate ones and you have a stew that is getting a bit too many ingredients, but yet still seems to coalesce. This works well when there is a Marx Brothers influenced scene (the Marx Brothers have done this type of scene a few times with The Cocoanuts (1929) being the first) at Maggie's place where everyone is looking for someone while hiding from someone else. Many weeks were spent on this scene alone and the effort certainly shows.There are several faults with the film. There is a certain didactic nature that creeps in the film that seems a bit out-of-place – especially one small speech towards the end that Jackie gives when dealing with the Mainland revolutionaries and the extremely easy conversion of the pirates that survived from the first film. Female characters are once again underused and under-appreciated, especially Maggie Cheung. I was not as satisfied with the continuance of the plot as much as the first film either. The individual scenes dominate my feelings for the film instead of thinking of this movie as a cohesive whole. I do not fault the film for not being able to have Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao like the first though (I have heard the main reason behind this was that those two were filming Eastern Condors, but I do wonder if Jackie could have waited a small while to get them to perform in this – they would work together for the last time the following year in Dragons Forever), but they are missed.I found this to be quite an enjoyable and well-made film and it is rightfully regarded as one of the better comedic action films of the 1980s. This film is also quite good in a few unexpected places. The art direction is superb (Eddie Ma Poon-chiu), the costumes are exquisite, the cinematography is good and the movie looks quite authentic. But the stunts, comedy and the action is what I remember this film for. There is a chase involving a handcuffed Dragon and Chun that is superb (part of the axe throwing scene would be used in Shanghai Noon). The last twenty minutes is full of awe-inspiring hits, falls, chili-peppers as a mouth-mace (Jackie writes in his autobiography about how he used real peppers in this scene; you can see him in a lot of mouth pain during the outtakes at the end) and is a worthy conclusion to this movie. The most famous stunt from this sequence is his homage to Buster Keaton from Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) with the exception that there is no hole and only a weak section where his head pops through.Fans of Jackie and/or Hong Kong action cinema should consider this a must own and watch. I certainly do.