Young Hero of Shaolin 2 (1986)

Young Hero of Shaolin II is a direct continuation of its predecessor that introduced yet another take on the Fong Sai-yuk legend, previously covered by numerous Hong Kong and Taiwanese films over the years. This sequel is superior in that it provides more action scenes with greater intensity and creativity. Although this Mainland Chinese production comes up lacking in many places, it’s still fairly entertaining and appears to have had nearly as much influence on successive Fong Sai-yuk films as it draws from past kung fu classics.

Having returned from Shaolin where he further developed his martial skills, Fong Sai-yuk (Shut Bo-wa) teams up with fellow Shaolin classmate Wu Wai-kin (Cheung Wang-mooi) to tangle with a bully of a Wu Dan martial artist named Dragonhead. The conflict grows when, in an attempt to destroy Shaolin, the Qing government orders a local commissioner to start a war between Shaolin and Wu Dan. The commissioner orders Dragonhead to take care of Sai-yuk and Dragonhead recruits a powerful martial artist, who is seeking revenge against Sai-yuk for the death of his brother. To lure Sai-yuk into a trap, the villains kidnap Wai-kin’s sister. Sai-yuk, his mother and Wai-kin rush to rescue her, but in doing so they invariably draw their Shaolin brethren closer to a major conflict with Wu Dan and its treacherous leader Pai Mei.

It turns out that these two movies end up not really telling the story of Fong Sai-yuk any better than any other film about the hero. The first film began ambitiously with Sai-yuk as an infant, but this sequel feels like a middle episode where nothing is really resolved at the end. As the legend goes, Sai-yuk dies as a young patriot and Shaolin Temple is once again burned to the ground. We see neither of these things happen, which leads me to believe that either a third film was meant to wrap up the story or the filmmakers were determined to end it on a happy note.

Tonally, this film moves in a different direction from part one. Where the first episode was a fairly straightforward production that combined elements of independent kung fu movies with Mainland Chinese wushu, part two is seemingly far more inspired by the films of Lau Kar-leung. From elaborate lion dance competitions and formation kung fu scenes to dye factory battles employing cloth in creative ways, much of the film borrows from Lau’s films at Shaw Brothers. I suspect this change may have been due to the release of Martial Arts of Shaolin in 1985. For this film, Lau and SB went to Mainland China to shoot an ambitious co-production. Director Ngai Hoi-fung may have felt the need to step up his production to meet the standards of Lau’s movie. In truth, that would be a tall order for any filmmaker and he ultimately fails, although the effort isn’t a complete waste.

Thanks to the Lau Kar-leung influence, the sequel has longer, more complex and more entertaining fight sequences. None of it comes close to besting a decent Lau Kar-leung fight scene, but in particular, the formation kung fu fight comes pretty darn close. In this scene, a large number of fighters armed with twin cymbals dance around a yin-yang symbol in a highly coordinated series of movements that would impress a drum and bugle contest panel of judges. Usually, a film will toss in a similar scene and quickly move on, but this thing becomes the film’s signature battle as it goes on and on, with a manic intensity that’s almost enough to make you believe something so obviously ridiculous could have practical value on the battlefield.

As a bonus, most, if not all of the unknown stars in the movie appear to be genuine wushu practitioners. That doesn’t make them the best of screen fighters, but it does mean they can deliver more than their fair share of flashy moves. With the exception of an impressive two-finger hand stand and a women bending over backwards, all of the exhibition-style grandstanding that dominated part one is replaced with more focused fighting. Personally, my favorite fight scene is actually one of the more casual ones where Sai-yuk and Wai-kin get into a tussle over a girl. It becomes this three-way fight as the two men battle for the pleasure of sparring with her. Again taking cues from Lau Kar-leung’s playbook, this shows a conscious effort to use a fight scene to further develop the characters and forward the story. I also quite enjoyed their application of Sai-yuk’s exaggerated use of the two-finger strike, which is capable of piercing flesh.

The poorly English-dubbed version of this film continues the trend of reducing the dialogue to a juvenile level. Whenever possible, Chinese names are replaced with nicknames like “Swift” and genius lines like, “I’ll get my ninja gear” are thrown in. The actual acting isn’t all that great either, but the overall impression the actors give is always far worse with sloppy dialogue laid on top.

Fans of Fong Sai Yuk and its sequel, both starring Jet Li will notice where Corey Yuen may have gotten some of his ideas, including Sai-yuk’s walking and fighting on the heads of people and the rescue of Sai-yuk’s mother (in this case, Wai-kin’s sister) who is dangling precariously from a rope. In fact, I would go so far to say that Corey Yuen borrowed heavily from these two films. If true (and I can’t imagine this being some enormous coincidence), then the Young Hero of Shaolin films, although lacking in polish, big name talent and overall originality, deserve credit for taking the Fong Sai-yuk legend and martial arts cinema itself into new directions.