"Game of Death" was a mess of a feature and this follow-up (which supposedly took three years to complete) is no different, but I did find the sequel more fun. Again we get the tag of Bruce Lee starring, but stock-footage and look-a-likes of Lee are cobbled together with short- fused live-action. It could have stand alone as it's not much of a sequel, other than having the Billy Lo character returning, but only for the first half-hour when suddenly he's killed off and his rebellious younger brother Bobby Lo (played by Tong Lang) takes centre stage. Billy Lo is in Japan after the death of a good friend (the skillful Korean Tae- Kwon-do master Hwang Jang Lee), but in trying to investigate how he died he bites the dust. So his brother Bobby Lo heads to Japan looking for vengeance thinking that he knows who did it, but he discovers there's more to it with the answers lying in the mysterious tower of death where no-one has ever returned alive. Rather low-budget martial arts junk which feels cramped, but when the martial arts choreography shows up it is swift and fierce (which is quoted in film) in its execution flair thanks to being orchestrated by legendary action director Yuen Woo-Ping. The plot is silly and questionable, eventually ending up like a James Bond adventure where the expansive finale is an exciting barrage of masterful hand-on-hand combat in a picturesque lair. The mystery surrounding the circumstances of Billy Lo's friend's death is predictable and uninspired, but still outrageous that it's hard not to see what's about to unravel. It's the phenomenally slick action, fluid camera-work and exotic locations when it's not using obvious sets that engage. Although the muddled dramatics are campy and there are some hilarious sequences too, like Roy Horan's character taking about his peacocks, eating raw meat and drinking deer blood for breakfast or when Bobby Lo takes on a lion
or was it supposes to be someone in a costume??? Hard to tell. "Game of Death 2" is colourful in parts, but mostly an average martial arts thriller.
"You're lucky I'm a fair man, otherwise you'd be dead. Beat it!"
"You're lucky I'm a fair man, otherwise you'd be dead. Beat it!"