Fong Sai-yuk II
| Fong Sai-yuk II | |
|---|---|
 Promotional artwork | |
| Directed by | Corey Yuen |
| Written by | John Chan Jeff Lau |
| Produced by | Jet Li |
| Starring | Jet Li Josephine Siao Adam Cheng Michelle Reis Amy Kwok Corey Yuen |
| Cinematography | Mark Lee |
| Edited by | Angie Lam |
| Music by | Lowell Lo Stephen Shing |
Production company | Eastern Production Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Gala Film Distribution Ltd. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Box office | HK$23,013,797.00 |
Fong Sai-yuk II, also known as The Legend II and The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk II, is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Corey Yuen, and also produced by and starring Jet Li as Chinese folk hero Fong Sai-yuk. The film is a sequel to Fong Sai-yuk, which was released earlier in the same year. Two former Miss Hong Kong Pageant winners, Michelle Reis and Amy Kwok, portrayed Fong Sai-yuk's wives.
Plot
Fong Sai-yuk and his wife, Ting-ting, are now full-fledged members of the Red Flower Society, which is led by Fong's godfather, Chan Ka-lok, who intends to groom Fong to become his successor. Chan's deputy, the ruthless Yu Chun-hoi, stands in Fong's way and tries to harm him. The society's members are unaware that Chan is actually the younger brother of the Qianlong Emperor, and might renounce their loyalty to him if they discover his true identity. Meanwhile, some Japanese rōnin find evidence of Chan's background and attempt to pass it to the Qianlong Emperor.
Chan sends Fong to intercept the rōnin and retrieve the evidence, but Fong is distracted by a damsel in distress and focuses on rescuing her instead. At a critical moment, when Fong is almost killed by the rōnin, his mother, Miu Tsui-fa, shows up and saves him. Despite so, the rōnin get away and pass the evidence to Suen Si-ngai, the Viceroy of Guangdong province. The woman whom Fong rescued earlier is Suen On-yee, the viceroy's daughter. Chan plans for Fong to enter a martial arts contest to win On-yee's hand in marriage and use the opportunity to steal the evidence from the viceroy. On-yee has already fallen in love with Fong and marries him for real, much to Ting-ting's unhappiness. However, the viceroy is aware of Fong's true intention so he sets a trap for Fong. On-yee manages to persuade her father to release Fong by threatening to commit suicide.
Fong returns to the Red Flower Society and admits that he has failed in his mission. Since he had made a promise earlier that he will permanently disable himself if he fails the mission, Yu Chun-hoi forces Chan to abide by the agreement so Chan cripples Fong, rendering him unable to practise martial arts again. While Fong recovers, Yu incites the society's members to turn against Chan and seizes the leadership position. Yu then sends his men to kill Fong in order to silence him. Fong manages to escape but his mother is captured by Yu. To save his mother, Fong returns and fights his way through, blindfolding himself so that he will not see his former fellows spilling blood. It turns out that Chan had actually pretended to disable Fong. Fong confronts Yu, kills him after an intense fight. He saves his godfather from prison and restores him to the leadership position. By the end of the film, Fong's two wives have come to terms with each other, such that they can talk and behave in absolute unison. Fong decides to retire from the martial artists' community and spend the rest of his life with his family.
Cast
- Jet Li as Fong Sai-yuk
- Josephine Siao as Miu Tsui-fa
- Adam Cheng as Chan Ka-lok
- Michelle Reis as Lui Ting-ting
- Amy Kwok as Sun On-yee
- Corey Yuen as Lee Kwok-bong
- Ji Chunhua as Yu Chun-hoi
- Peter Chan as Magu
Alternate versions
American version
The DVD release published by Dimension is dubbed in English and contains different music cues compared to the original Hong Kong Universe version. The Hong Kong prints come in different releases such as Universe Old version DVD (embedded subtitles), Universe Remastered DVD (optional subs), Universe VCD (embedded subtitles, based on the old release), and the Tai Seng VHS (also based on the old release). The American version, released as The Legend II, cuts out a scene where Lee Kwok-Bong is naked while leaving the rest of the film intact. The remastered Universe DVD maintains a red tint throughout the entire film except in night scenes.
Taiwanese version
The Taiwanese version, released as Gongfu Huangdi 2 (功夫皇帝2; Kungfu Emperor 2) and dubbed in Mandarin, is distributed by Scholar/Taiwan and runs longer than all other versions. The opening sequence of the film shows a white screen with red Chinese credits. The Hong Kong version has English credits while the Taiwanese version does not. The following are some scenes that have been omitted in all other versions:
- Flashback scenes at the beginning: featured in colour and not in black and white as in the Hong Kong version. There is an additional scene of Miu Tsui-fa talking and eating at the same time and another scene showing Fong Sai-yuk as a child. Some flashback scenes from the previous film have been omitted as well.
- A dialogue after Ting-ting says, "You only care for your mom, not me!" There is a scene of Chan Ka-lok saying, "Sai-yuk, let's go."
- The bath scene showing Lee Kwok-bong's bare bottom has been cut from the Taiwanese version for print damage and nudity.
- Final fight scene: An extended scene of Yu Chun-hoi stamping on Fong Sai-yuk's face.
The Taiwanese version contains Jet Li's original voice in Mandarin. The up and down black bars move up and down because of film transfer and does not feature the red tint featured in the Hong Kong remastered DVD.
