The Bride With White Hair is one of the guaranteed classics of Asian cinema. The Bride With White Hair 2, alas, is not.
I soooo wanted to be able to say something good about this. Really. But there’s precious little good to say. All the glories of the first film have turned to dust and ashes and second-rate burlesque here. The sweeping epic beauty of the original, which could make us forgive the occasional scenery-chewing (such as Francis’ star turn in the finale), is nowhere to be found. Instead, we have a mundane plot with a less-than-stellar cast which meanders around without exciting any other than pity.
The only flash of anything worth watching comes near the end, as the two original cast members (Brigitte and Leslie) meet once again to rekindle the spark. Other than that, you’ve got a perky Christy Chung demonstrating that she’s fit but not overly talented; a rather banal Sunny Chan showing why he rarely gets leading roles; and a brief glimpse of the always-watchable Helena Law Lan.
The psychotic Bridettes who assemble themselves around the disgruntled Bride, while fetchingly garbed in white cheesecloth and dreads, are a tad too one-dimensional for my liking, and their shrieking desire to kill men pales very rapidly. The only, and admittedly minor, highlight of this aspect of the film, is the quiet Bride quote, “Men – see one, kill one.”
No. For fans of the original, curb your curiosity, because this will only leave you bitterly disappointed. And for anyone who hasn’t seen the original, see it instead of this. Please.