Sexy and Dangerous II (2000)
Reviewed by: ryan on 2000-03-09
Summary: A movie with a misleading name
Did you still remember "Sexy and Dangerous"? It was a movie released after the huge success of "Young and Dangerous" at the box office in 1996. Now a new "Sexy and Dangerous" has hit the theatres with a limited release. Unlike the previous Y&D movies, this one is not produced by BoB & Partners. Will this film maintain the quality of the series?

Four young women -- Nozzle, Pepper, Yee, and Cocky -- hang out together and dream of running their own bar one day. Their fight with the girlfriend of a triad boss named Dragon is resolved when Prince intervenes. A triad boss himself, Prince is attracted to Nozzle and uses Pepper to bring them closer. Meanwhile, Cocky's sister is raped by their father. When Cocky seriously wounds him, her boyfriend Log takes the blame. Even though Log is a triad member under Dragon, he is helped by Prince, and this further raises tensions between the two bosses . . .

Even though "Sexy and Dangerous II" stars Michael TONG who appeared in the previous movies, this film does not have many ties to the prior series. From what we saw in "Sexy and Dangerous," one would assume that this film was going to be a female Y&D movie. Unfortunately, S&D2 does not fulfill one's expectations.

The plot for "Sexy and Dangerous II" is very weak. The audience expects the story to be headed by Nozzle, Pepper, Yee, and Cocky. However, except for Cocky and Nozzle, the other characters remain vague and unestablished. From what is on screen, the audience knows that Nozzle is a girl who remains under the shadow of her triad boyfriend who died years before; Cocky is a girl with a broken family. However, we have no knowledge about the other characters. Unfortunately, this failure undercuts the ability of the women to remain the focus of the film.

Since the female characters are so poorly developed, Prince becomes the only character who can lead the movie. He and Dragon become the main engine pushing the development of the movie. However, the filmmakers fail to provide enough description to convince of the audience of the building hatred between them.

Perhaps the movie is too long considering its content. Indeed, there are too many pointless scenes. For example, there is a subplot between Cocky and Log. The purpose of this is to add some romance to the film, but the atmosphere is totally ruined by the dialogue. In addition, the set-up of the cameras is so poor that you can see passer-bys blocking the camera while Cocky and Log are talking to one another! Such poor production is unforgivable.

However, the ending of the movie is the worst part of the movie. Since the conflict between Prince and Dragon is not convincingly developed, the ending is too abrupt. The audience is left with the impression that they have to do something senseless just to finish the story. The stylish cinematography during the fight scenes cannot veil the poorly choreographed sword fighting.

"Sexy and Dangerous II" is a movie with a misleading name. The female characters and development are so weak that it fails to develop anything that could remotely be called "sexy" or "dangerous."

Written by Ryan Law, from Hong Kong Movie DataBase, on 6 March, 2000.