While I wasn't overly impressed with 2015 movie "Detective Chinatown", then I did sit down to watch the sequel "Detective Chinatown 2" (aka "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2") here in 2022 simply because I had the opportunity to do so.
And who knew, maybed writers Sicheng Chen, Yining Yan, Lian Zhou, Chun Zhang, Jiake Cheng and Lifeng Gao would up the game for this 2018 sequel. Truth be told, I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to the movie though, but I was open for being entertained and possibly surprised.
I am surprised, sure, but not because of the entertainment value of the movie. No. I am surprised with the fact that six writers could not collectively manage to churn out something more entertaining or enjoyable than they did. In fact, "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2" was just about at the same level of entertainment as the 2015 predecessor. But hey, that's good news for the fans of the first movie, but not so much for those of us that weren't swayed.
The storyline in "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2" takes place in New York this time, more specifically mostly in the Chinatown district of New York. Perhaps it is because I am not overly keen on solving murder mysteries that the movie wasn't all that impressive or entertaining to me. The writers sort of take you on a trip that goes everywhere, but doesn't necessarily feel complete.
The movie does have a good cast ensemble, and it certainly was nice to see the likes of Kenneth Tsang, Wah Yuen and Bai Ling make appearances in the movie, despite of them having minor roles only.
For a movie like "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2" with comedy elements to it, I have to admit that I only laughed a single time, and it was when the horse pulling the cart got tranquilized.
I found "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2" to be sort of a missed opportunity, and it was a shame that the writers didn't bring more solid and entertaining material to the table, because director Sicheng Chen just didn't have an abundance to work with.
My rating of the 2018 sequel "Tang Ren Jie Tan An 2" lands on a four out of ten stars.
