Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2 [倚天屠龍記大結局] (1978)
AKA Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, Part II
Starring Derek Yee, Candice Yu On-On, Ching Li, Karen Chan Ga-Yee, Cheng Lai-Fong, Candy Wen Xue-Er, Lo Lieh, Ku Kuan-Chung, Ai Fei, Yue Wing, Chung Gwok-Yan, Tin Ching, Teresa Ha Ping, Wai Wang, Wang Lai, Helen Poon Bing-Seung, Wang Yong, Woo Wang-Daat, Chan Shen, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Ching Miao, Yang Chi-Ching, Chiang Nan, Keung Hon
Directed by Chor Yuen
Expectations: High.
Whether you enjoy Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre or not, this sequel presents more of the same. If you’re a fan, it’s a worthy continuation and conclusion of the story, while non-fans will most likely still be lost by the end of it all. Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2 is more straightforward than the first film, but it’s straightforward in the densest, most wuxia way you can imagine. I’m finding it hard to write about, because everything I wrote for the first film could just carry over. They’re really just one long serial movie, although I couldn’t imagine sitting through them both in one go. Even for a Jin Yong super fan, the density of the material may fry more synapses than any one fan can afford to lose.
We left off when Priest Chang San Fang (Cheung Ying), the leader of Wu-Tang, was struck by the poisonous King Kong Palm from a Yuan mercenary posing as a Shaolin monk. Wu Ji (Derek Yee) must once again retrieve an antidote from Chiu Ming (Ching Li) at the Green Willow Mansion. In exchange for it, Wu Ji agrees to perform three tasks for Chiu Ming, to be named as needed. She sends him on his way, as she already sent the antidote for San Fang before he even arrived! When he rejoins his Ming brethren, he learns there is yet another problem in the martial world requiring his attention. On the way home from their battle at Bright Peak (the Ming Cult headquarters), the six clans were poisoned at a tavern by Chiu Ming’s brother, Fufu Temuyi (Yue Wing)! He then imprisoned the poisoned clans in the Man Fat Temple of the Yuan capital, Khanbaliq (now Beijing). Turns out Chiu Ming is the daughter of Yuan General Chaghan Temur, and the dissent amongst the clans was a calculated effort to divide and conquer the martial clans! Oh no!