Fearless Hyena 2 (1983)

The cinematic equivalent of a coma

The cinematic equivalent of a coma, the story behind Fearless Hyena II is more well-known than the film itself. A patchwork disaster that barely holds together, but how on earth Lo Wei managed to convince Jackie to do a nude scene is truly beyond me. Originally set to be Jackie's first film under a new contract with Wei, the story of how he avoided getting killed by the triads and returned to Hong Kong to become a megastar is the stuff of legends. Ultimately, Lo Wei supervised a reshoot of the uncompleted film, mainly by taking the footage from the 1980 shoot, incorporating some used and unused scenes from Chan's previous films, and hiring a double to bridge the gaps created by his former star's departure; Lo was able to assemble some form of sequel which, to his credit does manage to cover for it's lack of main star until the climax when Chan's absence becomes blatantly obvious. The premise is almost exactly the same as the original film, aside from the awful Jackie Chan lookalikes who play his "relatives" that never existed before, with the most outrageous wigs and fake beards you’ll ever see. The direction is laughable, carrying a definite Lo Wei vibe throughout, which ultimately makes the film feel more like a film from the 60s than one from the 80s, while Austin Wai's protagonist does the film no favours, although to be fair, there is at least some competently staged fights in places. Ultimately, Fearless Hyena II is nothing more than a simple novelty, only really worth the watch to see the smattering of scenes Chan shot prior to his departure, because the film has nothing else going for it… Game of Death was a better-made film than this.

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