Combats de maître

A very weak story, but there are a few moments that warm the heart, especially the final brawl in the factory. Still, I can't help it, there could have been more fights, at the expense of uninteresting scenes full of wannabe witty banter (Chan's humour just never suited me). Chan's choreography of the fights is traditionally great, with great physical commitment, no shortcuts, sometimes I just rolled my eyes in mute amazement. But I found the choreography more imaginative in Chan's later Hollywood films, where the fights are humorously spiced up with the use of all sorts of objects, which I found a bit lacking here (except for a great fight with a tattered bamboo pole with the "hatchet gang"). Otherwise, the more Chan is a great brawler, the worse he is as an actor, for example, his drunkenness acting is just crap. He really can't act, but that's too much to ask of him. (13/02/2005)

Part one had no ambitions, boasted ten minutes of story (rather a strong word for the nothing that happened) and eighty minutes of choreographically perfect fights, overflowing with ideas. Part two has ambitions. It also has eighty minutes of story. Or rather would-be story, topped up here and there with twenty minutes of uninventive action, rather untypical of Chan movies. Part one is an immortal classic, part two a dime-a-dozen relax movie. (02/09/2010)

They fight on and on and on, a fist here, a kick there. But I can see how Lee meant it now because the drunken boxing looks really interesting :-D Oh well, I had the most fun with the end credits. Anyway, Jackie shows what he can do again and wins as always. And the biggest disappointment – I've been waiting for Andy to reappear the whole movie and nothing... (29/07/2009)