Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 02/18/2011 The first Black Cat film was an uninspired remake of the cult favorite La Femme Nikita. This sequel isn't a direct remake or ripoff of any particular film, but it shares the first entry's sloppy and lackadaisical style, and settles in on the bottom of the barrel as far as Hong Kong action flicks go. Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 06/02/2008 Summary: assassination of president yeltsin... the film opens with black cat (jade leung), previously erica / catherine, going under the knife again. with the new "b2" chip, she seems to, pretty much, become something akin to a terminator although, the technology isn't quite ready for fieldwork. however, when c.i.a. agent robin (robin shou) is nearly killed by terrorists who are part of a group intent on killing boris yeltsin, he is thrown together with black cat. forging an unlikely, and rather trouble-stricken, alliance, the two head around america and russia, trying to find the assassins, before they get to yeltsin... if the first film was familiar, it was because it was a remake of 'la femme nikita'. if this film sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. still, it is ridiculous in the best possible way. from a few minutes in, i began to find myself chuckling away at various ideas, dialogue and action sequences that were presented; all of which were ludicrous or stupid, in their own way, but presented with an air of serious, which made them all the more (unintentionally) comedic. as the film progresses, maintaining any kind of grounding in the plot seem to become less and less important; instead, it seems to be there, only to string together a selection of action sequences, chases and things that, you get the impression, which stephen shin decided that he wanted to put in his film. this results in scenes that have more wire-work than your standard wu xia flick and plenty of giggles as shin gets inventive in the silliest of ways... pretty dreadful, but a highly enjoyable piece of crap as a result...

Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 03/15/2008 The only disappointing aspect of “Black Cat II” wasn’t that it was a badly made movie—based on reviews here and elsewhere that was expected. However I had hoped to see a bad Jade Leung movie but instead was treated to a bad Robin Shou movie which is another matter entirely. A worshipper at the shrine of all things Jade knows that he will have to put up with a lot of inept filmmaking; for every perfect extended cameo (Kung Fu Mahjong) or terrific starring vehicle (Fox Hunter) there have been many films in which she was the only reason to watch. “Black Cat II” barely qualifies as watchable even on that lowered level of expectation. She is the Jadeinator, the Black Cat from the first film but as a character that has been stripped of almost all emotion and judgment. “Black Cat II” begins with flashback to “Black Cat”, with its scenes reminiscent of “A Clockwork Orange” of brainwashing and memory erasure. Black Cat, now called Erica instead of Catherine as she was in the first movie, is having a new microchip implanted in her brain and her old memories wiped clean. Things don’t go quite as the CIA doctors had planned, though, as images of being beaten, chased and shot at flash through her mind, images that can’t be erased. This version of Black Cat, when they are finished with her, still has some significant flaws—she is very sensitive to heat and a being hit be a laser beam will shut her down immediately. The second one proves useful in controlling her in the field while the first almost leads to her death and that of her partner. She is paired with the very reluctant Agent Robin, a CIA officer with something to prove—he was in charge of protecting a Russian defector who knows the secrets of the Anti-Yeltsin Organization. The defector and his family were killed when two black clad assassins on snowboards shot up the safe house. The killers looked like ninjas and were impervious to pain, fearless and maniacally committed to their mission. Agent Robin doesn't want to take the Jadeinator when he goes after the killers because she is a woman and will slow things down. She convinces him otherwise when she arrives just as he is about to take off in his jet helicopter, beats him up and disarms him with almost no effort. It turns out that the superhuman seeming killers they are after actually do have enhanced capabilities that are the result of them being irradiated. The CIA discovers this when one of the assassins is killed while running a roadblock--presumably in Russia. His comrade escapes through the usual robot ninja method of shooting a steel wire into a tree and sliding up (yes up) the wire. Black Cat's chip can sense the presence of the radiation if she gets within 20 miles of its source and a lot of screen time is wasted with shots of Erica and Robin driving around trying to pick up the trace radiation. There isn’t much right with “Black Cat II” but the worst of its excesses are so bad that they are funny. For example after the first attempted assassination of Yeltsin in Russia the assassin escaped by jumping through a manhole into the sidecar of a waiting motorcycle which is idling in the underground sewer (the dry part). The "motorcycle in the sewer" trick might be original with this movie. Robin and Erica are able to elude the Russian police officers who are watching them by simply running into a subway station, even though they have never been in the Moscow Metro before and they are on the home territory of the Russian cops. There are more (many more) lacunae but these are among the worst. On the plus side Jade and her stunt double have a convincingly fast and brutal action scene inside a foundry where she beats up ten or so Russian workers who are armed with axes and hammers. The stunt work was exemplary in a scene when Erica climbed the side of building using a rope while wearing pumps and a miniskirt—whoever that was did a terrific job. Also there was the ingenious way of finally getting a close range shot at the Russian leader--I won't reveal it although not many people will still be watching this far into the film. This one is for Jade Leung fans only and only the most dedicated or obsessed would sit through the entire film. Her part is badly written, giving her very little to work with. If she (or anyone else in front of the camera) were helped by director Stephen Shin it didn’t come through in the finished work. Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: Wurms Date: 07/23/2002 Summary: Stay Away! Well, the first one I thought was an ok take on La Femme Nikita. Well, the second is pure garbage. Instead of sticking with the original character of Black Cat story they pretty much said "screw that" and turned Jade Leung's character The Black Cat into some Bio Cyborg Terminator shallow, emotionless pyschopath. When looking through her POV wee see some computer screen that is green with cross-hairs and stuff. All the fights have some of the worst wire work seen on film, and the gun sounds are straight from GI Joe cartoon. Robin Shou (of Mortal Kombat fame) is wasted in this movie. The guy has skills (watch Tiger Cage II, he is awesome in that) and they never do anything with him. Any dumb joe could have had his part. The story is ridiculous, Robin teams up with Jade to try and stop some psycho Russian terrorist from assassinating Russian President Yeltsin. Why? Anyways, just stay away from this. It has nothing to do with the first Black Cat, which was at least enjoyable to watch. Rating: 0.5/5 (0.5 for at least having a lot of retarded action scenes to keep me awake.) Reviewer Score: 1

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/14/2002 Summary: BAD The first was bad enough, but why a sequel was made I will never understand. Like 'sydneyguy' said, the final scenes of the film really send it away with a complete laugh - but they are trying to make it serious! Rating: [1/5]

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 03/09/2002 Summary: YIKES!! This just goes way over the top in crazy land, especially the end fight sequence where people are almost flying!! But this isn't a fantasy fighting movie!! They lost the plot here!! I really feel generous giving this: 3/10

Reviewed by: leh Date: 12/09/1999 Totally nonsensical follow-up to the excellent first film. This time Jade Leung has turned into an emotionless killing machine (she hardly speaks five words altogether), which makes the story quite pointless. And the effects and action sequences are ridiculous. Good Yeltsin impressionator, though.

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 The Black Cat has her memory erased and is hired by thesoviets to protect Boris Yeltsin from a crazed killer in this wild action film. [Reviewed by Rim Films Catalog]

Reviewed by: spinali Date: 12/08/1999 Summary: NULL Cute, compact, and ready for action, Jade Leung reprises her role as Black Cat as she squelches a plot to kill President Yeltsin. This movie and its predecessor worked best as a series of inventive chases, but this gets a little bogged down showing off its Russian location shots. (2.5/4) [Reviewed by Steve Spinali] Reviewer Score: 6

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