what is this movie, and is it any good?

[rarnom]

here is the VCD cover with no clue as to the English title:



thanks for any help.

[Magic Wong]

Those were the Days

[rarnom]

awesome! thanks so much.
and it looks like no one has reviewed it yet, so I'll try to get that watched and reviewed in the next few weeks...

[Brian Thibodeau]

You know, I've literally been waiting for YEARS to figure out what film came between the excellent MAN WANTED and the alright MAN WANTED 3. Now I know! Seeing that little "2" in the Chinese title made me look it up and there was my answer down in the alias list.

Cool!

[rarnom]

Well I just got through watching it. As far as I can tell it has nothing to do with the first Man Wanted film.
Best way to describe it is as the HK version of the film 'GHOST'. Lots of romance, little action, and of course the dead giveaway of when you can see a 'GHOST' movie poster on the wall in a Triad apartment...

I will be posting a review shortly. It was good enough for fans of HK romantic dramas.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I've noticed several Hong Kong movies over the years that have name-only "sequels" that have little to nothing to do with the first installment. At best, they may share a common theme, like:

FULL THROTTLE and LEGEND OF SPEED

OFF TRACK and HIGHWAYMAN

These also seem different from movies like WICKED GHOST of TROUBLESOME NIGHT where the overall series serves more as an anthology and can thus get away with a whole new story and characters each time around. I'm aware that this practise can be found in American movies as well - predominantly in the direct-to-video market, where horror and erotic "sequels" appear all the time with no relation to the previous installment beyond the title - but I'd argue that Hong Kong takes it the furthest. I remember several titles where the smaller Chinese text above the main Chinese title has a little "2" in it somewhere, but I'm drawing blanks right now. I guess it probably helps at the box-office if you can draw people in on the strength of a box-office hit, even if your new movie has no connection beyond the title.