Part two in writer-director Wong Jing’s big-screen adaptation of the wuxia classic “The Deer and the Cauldron” is another rollicking success that once again mixes Ching Siu-tung’s fantasy wirework mastery and Stephen Chow’s comedic genius to near pitch-perfect synchronicity. Although ROYAL TRAMP 2 is a Stephen Chow comedy, the quality of the screen fighting and Wong’s creative handling of the original Jin Yong material make this film one of the most entertaining wuxia movies produced in Hong Kong during the 1990s.

Previously, Wei Xiaobao (Chow), a crafty conman had successfully infiltrated the Qing palace for the rebellious Heaven and Earth society, made friends with the Emperor (Derek Wan) and his sister King-nan (Chingmy Yau) and used his wits to defeat a powerful martial arts master (Elvis Tsui) who threatened the stability of the empire and the well being of its citizens.

While Xiaobao enjoys the benefits of being granted a high-ranking position in the government, a female master arts master (Sharla Cheung), who had has been previously exposed while posing as the Empress Dowager, has escaped to inherit her master’s power through a union of qi energy. She emerges transformed into an even more powerful master, played by screen goddess Brigitte Lin. Despite her past rivalry with Xiaobao, she eventually joins him, in more ways than one, in battling a rebellious lord (Paul Chun) and his top general (Yen Shi-kwan).

As befitting a Jin Yong tale, the plot is filled out with numerous, colorful supporting characters including a one-armed fighting nun and her two disciples, played by Michelle Reis and Carol Tam. During one of many crazed action sequences in the film, the trio literally flies in to assault a guarded caravan that is escorting the Emperor’s sister.

Damian Lau returns as the Heaven and Earth society leader and engages in a mid-film showdown with Yen Shi-kwan. His role is somewhat muted but Yen gets to eat up the screen with his over-the-top fighting techniques. For Yen’s character, action director Ching Siu-tung turns him into a puppet master wielding men as child-like marionettes. This is performed through the use of pins and string that carry Yen’s qi energy to the fighters who wield large metallic rings as their primary weapons. Eventually, Chow’s character is granted superhuman martial arts fighting ability and must contend with Yen and his ring-wielding puppets. These “puppet” characters are a reference to Nezha, a youthful and mischievous deity from Chinese mythology that was portrayed by Alexander Fu Sheng in Shaw Brothers’ NA CHA THE GREAT (1974).

The action sequences have been ratcheted up to even greater levels of creative insanity and spectacle. Ching and his stunt team deliver one incredible fight scene after another where anachronistic wuxia action conventions become thrillingly kinetic art. Wires are hidden better this time and yet there is seemingly even more elaborate aerial work. This could be partially attributed to better lighting and editing. Ching Siu-tung has produced a lot of quality action over the years but this is some of his best. He was definitely on a roll with the new DRAGON INN released just a month prior and THE EAST IS RED and BUTTERFLY AND SWORD soon to follow.

It’s great to see Chow get in on the action more in this sequel. Ching can make anyone look like a kung fu master and Chow is no exception. It’s understandable that when SHAOLIN SOCCER was first released in the U.S., mainstream media mistook him for a “kung fu star.” Chow has never pretended to be a serious martial arts actor but he’s put enough time and effort into the action that he has performed onscreen to earn his place among the likes of well-rounded superstars like David Chiang, Alexander Fu Sheng and Andy Lau. Back in 1992, he was still more of a straight comedy guy with the screen fighting he did do relegated to parody as in FIST OF FURY 1991.

The first film had a number of comedy players to compliment Chow’s antics. In this sequel, long-time screen partner Ng Man-tat is gone but Nat Chan returns for a slightly larger role as a cross-dressing and conniving official. In one of the film’s more memorable comedy moments, the stock wuxia convention of a woman warrior appearing in a teahouse while posing as a man is turned upside down when Chan turns up in an inn dressed as a woman. The joke is that his appearance is so hideous that it causes men to involuntarily vomit at the mere sight of him. Chow and Chan have good screen chemistry and compliment each other well. The film could have benefited from more of Chan and less of the pointless antics of Sandra Ng or the overstayed welcome of Chingmy Yau. Ng’s role is like an extended cameo that probably would mean something to Hong Kong audiences familiar with her other work but she does basically nothing in this film of any entertainment value. Its common knowledge that Yau was director Wong Jing’s girlfriend at the time so it’s no surprise he kept her prominently displayed. Her character actually has a complimentary purpose in the first film but she becomes more of an unnecessary distraction this time with so many other female characters vying for attention.

Like its predecessor, ROYAL TRAMP 2 comes with a measure of ultra-low-brow comedy consistent in the works of Wong Jing and apparently the tastes of local audiences at the time of its release. Penis jokes from the previous film are revisited in the form of an aphrodisiac that causes people to develop an insatiable sexual lust for rod-shaped objects. Former screen beauty, Helena Ma (CAVE OF THE SILKEN WEB) becomes the love potion’s victim and Brigitte Lin’s extreme beehive hairdo the object of her desire in what ultimately forms the unusual basis for a martial arts duel. Later, a male character’s castration is turned into something of a joke.

Overall, the humor in the sequel is less consistent in the face of evolving elements that take the film beyond mere comedy. This is comfortable territory for Chow as his better films often wrap outlandish comedy around a heartfelt story. Chow’s character becomes less of an ass as he finally begins to consider his central role in the conflict between the Qing government and Ming loyalists. One of the central ideas of Jin Yong’s story is that honoring past loyalties isn’t such a great thing if it comes at the cost of destabilizing the country and hurting the people you’re supposedly trying to help. Historically, the Manchu overthrow of the Ming Dynasty led to the creation of secret societies committed to the restoration of the Ming. This has long been the subject of martial arts tales where Ming rebels fought valiantly in a hopeless struggle against the oppressive Manchu. This story suggests that the loyalists have become blinded by the single-minded dedication to a mission that is no longer relevant to the times. The film doesn’t dwell long on this aspect of the story, just long enough to suggest that underneath Xaiobao’s seemingly petty ambitions and playfulness lies a moral center that puts him above the martial arts masters and social elites he has become associated with. I’ll have to credit Wong Jing for bothering to put in this little nugget of substance into an otherwise screwball parody of the wuxia genre.

What is interesting to note is to look ahead 12 years later at KUNG FU HUSTLE and see the similarities between that film and this one. In both, Chow plays an opportunistic anti-hero who is “magically” granted supreme martial arts ability to fight a threatening kung fu master. Chow hasn’t built up his success as a movie star and filmmaker by taking risks. Rather, he continually refines specific ideas, making them more robust and defined with each incarnation. Speaking of KUNG FU HUSTLE, Chan Kai-see, the actress who played the skinny tenement resident with the overbite can be seen in ROYAL TRAMP 2 in a non-speaking bit part. This is another example of Chow’s tendency to recycle talent he’s worked with before with improved results nearly every time.

by

Related Topics:
 •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •