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Long Arm of the Law II

Long Arm of the Law II

List Price: $29.95
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Product Info Reviews

Features:
  • Color
  • AC-3
  • Widescreen


Description:

Director Johnny Mak and company crafted an observant, naturalistic crime drama in the 1983 Long Arm of the Law. This sequel by director Michael Mak, made in the wake of the huge success of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow in 1986, shifts the tone toward fashionable romantic ultraviolence--and Mak lacks Woo's flair for operatic mayhem. Part 2 is a much more conventional, even pious commercial thriller, in which the hangdog mainland crooks become undercover operatives working for the cops. The touching bonds uniting the homeboy refugees in the original are replaced with a Woo-style bond of "sworn brotherhood" between ringleader Tung (Lam Wei) and a soulful tough cop (Alex Man). There are several effective body-slamming action sequences, but not much else of interest. The "American cultural imperialism" motif is carried over almost verbatim from part 1, with scenes staged in many of the same fast-food outlets. --David Chute
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