Noutions
Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .
Console
best movie i've ever seen.
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Candida
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
BrickNash
China O' Brien II picks up where the first film left off and it's almost literally more of the same which means TV movie quality plot and acting interspersed with some martial arts action.As a film it's certainly not the worst ever made and it's about as solidly entertaining as any episode of Columbo or Walker Texas Ranger. As with the first one where the film excels is the fight scenes which are dynamic and very well choreographed with some brilliant OTT sound effects.The film's plot centres around some bog standard pap about an escaped convict terrorising the town and in that it makes some mistakes. As with the first film, the main bad guy is an older dude with no fighting skills whatsoever and so there is really no final threat or showdown, just a big free for all brawl involving loads of people.It would have been nice to have China go up against another female martial artist hench(wo)man or even a female villain with fighting skills. Even a bog standard martial arts villain would have done but alas no.Still in saying that, watching China beat the s-h-i-t out of endless waves of plaid shirted goons is satisfying enough although the story:fight ratio is a little off in favour of the "boring" bits.Still, as thin as the plot is it's executed well enough to keep the pace going and fans won't be disappointed by the highly satisfying action one bit. One for the collection!
Leofwine_draca
Set two years after the first film in the series, this cheap and cheerfully brainless chop-socky adventure has all you'd ever want from a B-grade martial arts flick: a ton o' action, lots of hulking henchmen and other assorted goons, some painful emoting on the part of the unknown cast, and slick direction. The latter comes from Robert Clouse, the man who directed the first and also ENTER THE DRAGON in his heyday, and he still knows how to shoot a decent fight scene.The plot is as insubstantial as it is unbelievable. China gets involved in a murderous plot by an escaped criminal, who we see at the beginning of the film bumping off all the people who took him down (my favourite death is the judge's, a hilarious magic-trick-gone-wrong jape). There are lots of stand-offs and various fight scenes until the massive climax, in which the massive gang of bad guys TAKE OVER THE WHOLE TOWN, leaving the heroes of the movie to take them on. That's the kind of climax I like! Imagine ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, except that the good guys leave the police station and beat the hell out of the baddies instead – that's what I love to see.The central trio of martial artists return, very much unchanged, from the original film; hell, they even wear the same costumes! Rothrock kicks ass with relish and seems even more supple and athletic than before, performing lots of flips and gymnastic stunts in mid-air. Norton is the heavy-hitter who whacks the hell out of anybody who comes close, while Keith Cooke continues to channel the fighting spirit of Bruce Lee. Harlow Marks is another craggy villain, and lots of the henchmen from the first film return as more goons waiting to get beaten up. What's amazing is how many people (including Cooke) went on to star in MORTAL KOMBAT movies after making this flick… anyway, I digress. Muscleman Billy Blanks also pops up as a badly-dressed '80s baddie who gets his ass whupped in an alleyway, although my favourite fight scene is between Rothrock and the Chinese guy with the Freddy Krueger gloves. Way to go! Sure, CHINA O'BRIEN II makes for lowbrow entertainment, of interest only to fans of B-grade action flicks who know exactly what they're getting themselves in for. I did, and I loved every minute; I can't help but feel that the time is ripe for a "twenty years later" third film in the trilogy, rounding up Rothrock, Cooke and Norton for a final slice of small-town ass-kicking. We can but dream.
ebiros2
Same thing I've said for China O'Brien applies to China O'Brien 2. They should have hired the guy who did the choreography for "Inspector Wears Skirts" for this movie, and upped the action to that level.Made by Golden Harvest, and produced, and directed by American producer and director, China O'Brien was in the perfect spot to take advantage of best from both worlds. Unfortunately, Raymond Chow probably didn't want to put in the budget to make this into a first class movie.It could have been like "So Close" if China O'Brien character was bit more edgier, but this is a product of the '80s, so edginess was not part of movie making. She kind of looks too wholesome that takes away from her sex appeal, and also lowers the tension of the movie.The producers failed to produce Cynthia Rothrock properly. She could have done lot better in these movies.
hershiser2
As long as you go into this movie knowing that it's terrible: bad acting, bad "effects," bad story, bad... everything, then you'll love it. Though this one isn't as good/bad as its predecessor, it's definitely good for a handful of laughs. Also, the drunker you get, the better the movie gets... have some wine with the movie's cheese.
