Royal Tramp II

Despite finding the distinctly Asian humour hard to comprehend AND struggling to follow the plot (none of which was helped by my DVD's diabolical sub-titles), I gave the first Royal Tramp a reasonably generous rating of 6/10 thanks to its sheer craziness.

Part II of the Royal Tramp saga is also fairly wacky, but with the plot's complex political wrangling being even more incomprehensible than before (bad subs not helping once again) and the perplexing 'mo lei tau' humour and slapstick even more low-brow, this one is likely to prove something of a chore for those who, like me, aren't schooled in the many nuances and complexities of Chinese culture.

Some bonkers violence (including an exploding horse, multiple decapitations and an impalement on a dragon statue's claw) and quite a bit of fanciful wuxia martial arts (including the Luk Hop fighters, who are controlled like puppets and armed with deadly golden rings) help to break up the tedium, but overall I just didn't find the Royal Tramp experience as entertaining second time around, even with the welcome presence of quite a few very lovely Hong Kong actresses (Chingmy Yau, Brigitte Lin, and Michelle Reis, plus Fennie Yuen and Vivian Chan as the Shang'er twins).