This film follows on from the original with Ching still in prison. Tensions are high with prisoners from mainland China and those from Hong Kong constantly fighting. To make matters worse sadistic guard, Officer Zau, is determined to crush Ching. After Ching is refused leave to visit his son in the orphanage he escapes; he then turns himself in and back in prison Zau is determined to punish him further by letting it be known that Ching informed against a senior gang leader to protect his actual informant. Fearing for his life Ching escapes again and ends up on the run with the gang leader. Eventually he returns to prison and must confront his enemies; both the inmates and Zau.
This was an enjoyable sequel to the first film; Chow Yun Fat is on good form as Ching although anybody expecting martial arts action will be disappointed as the fight are ordinary scrapping. There is a degree of humour which is fun and doesn't detract from the main story. Elvis Tsui is suitably unpleasant as Officer Zau; a character who starts mean and only gets worse. The scenes in the jail are fairly tense, especially after Zau starts targeting Ching. The escape scenes were entertaining even if it was a little hard to believe that Ching got away more than once when almost surrounded by his pursuers. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the first film but suspect it can be enjoyed almost as much even if you haven't seen the original.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.
This was an enjoyable sequel to the first film; Chow Yun Fat is on good form as Ching although anybody expecting martial arts action will be disappointed as the fight are ordinary scrapping. There is a degree of humour which is fun and doesn't detract from the main story. Elvis Tsui is suitably unpleasant as Officer Zau; a character who starts mean and only gets worse. The scenes in the jail are fairly tense, especially after Zau starts targeting Ching. The escape scenes were entertaining even if it was a little hard to believe that Ching got away more than once when almost surrounded by his pursuers. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the first film but suspect it can be enjoyed almost as much even if you haven't seen the original.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.