The dramatic elements of this aren't anything to rave about but you'll want to watch it for the fight scenes. They weren't quite as good as the first movie but they still manage to hold their own. Not bad at all.

Images, layout and respect for history are examples of domestic entertainment films. It's a pity that the plot is too hard to deal with, so we have to add emotional drama.

This sequel to the first film brings back that movie's central surviving character, as played by Chang Chen, for a new plot involving yet more conspiracy, battlefield showdowns, and disparate plotting. It's very much of the quality of the first film but it does feel just as overlong as that movie and too padded when it comes to supporting characters. The action doesn't have the edge of that of the first movie and the whole thing feels a little bit too drawn out and overreliant on CGI at times, but for a mainland Chinese movie it could be worse.