Hak mau II: Chi saat Yip Lai Hing

"Black Cat II" is an uneven sequel to the modest 1991 Hong Kong hit. Jade Leung returns in the title role: she looks good, plays the emotionless assassin perfectly and is in good physical shape, but much of her fighting and stuntwork appear to be wire-enhanced, which (for me at least) spoils the effect. Robin Shou is quite a handsome guy in his own right, but the script doesn't give him much to do - he has only two brief fight scenes. The plot of the movie is uninteresting and often laughable. For example, the Black Cat (who is more or less like a cyborg here) accidentally kills an innocent woman in front of many witnesses, but we only see the event referenced once on the news - nobody seems to mind that she isn't arrested after that. There are also some sci-fi elements here: the villains take strange radioactive pills that enhance their physical powers, and the Black Cat can sense this radioactivity from miles away. At one (low) point, the film even demonstrates that her mind and hands really ARE quicker than a bullet! And, like another reviewer said, the dubbing of EVERYONE (including Americans and Russians) into Chinese pretty much destroys the credibility of the movie. (**)