Cast Member: Athena Chu

Great all-round entertainment that shows Stephen Chow and the Monkey King myth at their finest.

If you enjoyed the first ‘A Chinese Odyssey’, then this second part is pretty much guaranteed to please.

This isn’t the best ever Hong Kong movie – it isn’t even the best ever Hong Kong gambling movie – but it could have been much worse.

Although it isn’t quite as good as the original, ‘Fight Back To School 2’ is still a solid sequel that contains some classic moments of hilarity.

Having emerged from the debacle that was ‘Kung-Fu Cyborg’, Jeff Lau returns to his beloved sub-genre of the nonsensical and it’s certainly an improvement on his previous effort.

Stanley Tong continues to show his skill in the action genre with more kinetic direction.

The action lacks any spark or excitement and the narrative fails to grab onto the viewer in the slightest.

There is little to redeem this movie, with drama non existent, plot structure meandering all over the place and awful comedy at inappropriate moments.

Despite Jing’s attempts to prove otherwise, ‘The Conman’ is really little more than a second rate attempt at remaking ‘God of Gamblers’.

‘The Hero Of Swallow’ retains a few likeable old-school qualities that just about save it from falling below the three star mark.

Although ‘Time 4 Hope’ is certainly a solid film that remains watchable, it is memorable for its wasted potential rather than anything else.