The Brave Archer Part II (1978)
Reviewed by: Gaijin84 on 2022-04-14
Summary: Complicated, but more engaging than the first film...
The Brave Archer saga continues with the second installment of Louis Cha's novel-based epic. After surviving a shipwreck, Kuo Tsing (Fu Sheng) and Huang Yung (Niu Niu taking over the role from Tien Niu) are stuck on an island with Western Poison Ouyang Fung (Johnny Wang) and his son Ke (Danny Lee). They hold Huang Yung hostage in exchange for the Yue Fei martial arts manual. Along with Northern Beggar Hung Chi-Kung (Ku Feng), they decide to alter the manual before handing it over, rendering it virtually useless to Ouyang's clan. Afterwards, Northern Beggar decides to hand down control of the Beggar Clan to Huang Yung by giving her the group's ceremonial staff and teaching her the 36 Stick Strikes technique. The two groups (Western Poison and Northern Beggar) keep an eye on each other and travel to the same areas. Kuo Tsing and Huang Yung locate an inn that has the skeleton of her brother along with a trove of paintings. In the meantime, Yang Kang (Li Yi-Min) has tracked down both groups and attacks Kuo Tsing, stabbing him in the side.
Tasked to bring the two feuding groups to Peach Island under Eastern Evil Master Huang Lung Su (Ku Kuan-Chung), Luk Koon Ying (Sun Chien) and Ching Yiu Jia (Lin Chen-Chi) are betrothed and try and broker a deal for all. Unfortunately, Yang Kang is having none of it, and kills Ke Ouyang in order to become the sole inheritor of the Poison Clan kung fu style. He also steals the ceremonial staff from Huang Yung and tries to claim the leadership of the Beggar Clan, looking to join forces with the Iron Palm Clan led by Master Kau (Lo Meng). He has Kuo Tsing and Huang captured and attempts to have them executed. Ultimately, Huang is able to expose Yang by showing that he does not know the 36 Stick Strikes, and Yang escapes with the Iron Palm clan. Having fully healed from his stabbing, Kuo takes Huang along as they decide to follow Master Kau and Yang Kang in order to bring them to justice.

As one can probably gather, the Brave Archer series has a ton of characters and lots of separate plot lines. This second part is actually superior to the first, as the action is plentiful and well choreographed. Shirley Yu's character detracts from the story by being incredibly annoying, but luckily she is limited to just a few scenes. There are so many stars and well known faces that the story, complicated as it is, holds the interest of any Shaw Brothers fan. Once you've seen the second, it's hard not to want to move on to the third in the series.
Reviewer Score: 8