Zui jia pai dang 2: Da xian shen tong

Mad Mission 2: Aces Go Places is another slice of silly action/comedy from director Eric Tsang, which sees Sam Hui reprising his role as a high-tech thief who uses James Bond style gadgets to outwit his enemies. Also returning for this second outing of zany 'fun' are Karl Maka and Sylvia Chang as police officers who once again get involved in the action.

Following directly on from Mad Mission, this sequel sees our heroes in all sorts of bother as a US gang attempts to take revenge for the death of villain White Glove. A local gang offers to protect them, but only for a hefty cut of the diamonds which were stolen in the original film.

I found the first Mad Mission to be fairly disappointing, due to its poor slapstick comedy, rather mundane stunt-work and slapdash script (the best parts of which were lifted from the British film 'Ooh... You Are Awful' starring comedian Dick Emery); however, Part 2 works marginally better thanks to more outrageous action, better (and more dangerous looking) stunt-work, and some truly daft moments that have to be seen to be believed.

Take, for example, the early scene in which Sam Hui does battle with a huge robot, which is so ludicrous (the machine is extremely clunky and poorly designed) that it's almost impossible not to enjoy. Another similar moment towards the end of the film, in which our heroes unleash their own army of tiny robots, is even more ridiculous.

And then there is Filthy Harry, the assassin hired by the US to retrieve the diamonds: a cigar chewing, stetson wearing Clint Eastwood lookalike whose entrance is accompanied by the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! As you can probably tell, this isn't high art and it certainly won't be to everyone's taste (I struggle with the films at times—especially when Karl Maka goes into OTT slapstick mode, complete with comedy mugging and silly walks), but if you like your films chaotic and as dumb as hell, then there just might be something in Mad Mission 2 to take your fancy.