Big Boss Part II, The (1976) Review

“The Big Boss Part II” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Chan Chue
Cast: Lo Lieh, Wong Ping, Lee Kwan, Michael Chan Wai Man, Bruce Le (Huang Kin Long), Krung Srivilai, Preeya Rongernaug, Hung Wang, Shan Shan, Chiu Lik
Running Time: 107 min.

By Ian Whittle

It’s weird that The Big Boss Part II is as obscure as it is. You’d think being a semi-official sequel to a Bruce Lee movie, it’d have been all over numerous VHS and DVD re-issues in the manner of the same year’s Fist of Fury Part II. And yes, there was a Big Boss 2 doing the rounds on home video, but that was a retitled Dragon Lee film that was a Fist of Fury knock-off if anything else!

Around the mid-00s, an English language trailer showed up on a DVD collection – which didn’t look very inspiring, with especially lame dubbing and narration. A South African collector claimed to have a print and did indeed upload some of it online, as did a relative of the film’s producer – the latter’s upload is indeed still on Youtube. But seeing the full film seemed an elusive prospect, until a print (possibly owned by Quentin Tarantino) started appearing at special screenings around 2020. And now, about a year after the longer version of the 1971 original made its Blu-ray debut, we can now watch The Big Boss Part II on Blu-ray in its OAR and Mandarin with subtitles! Wonders never cease!

Following a bizarre title sequence – in which clips from the first film are mixed with new footage that doesn’t match in any way – we meet up with the hero of the original, Cheng Chao-an, now played by Bruce Le (Huang Kin Lung) in his Bruceploitation debut. Despite a ton of mascara, Le doesn’t really resemble the Bruce Lee of The Big Boss in the way he sought of resembled the Lee of Enter the Dragon – the hair cut is too different for a start – and somewhat unfortunately for the movie, Cheng is stuck in prison, meaning all he can do is overact. But this is the movies, land of coincidences, and Cheng gets a visit from his brother he never knew he had, Cheng Chao-chun (Lo Lieh) who has the same “never get into fights” medallion, but is more than happy to take vengeance on Cheng’s behalf. And, as luck would have it, their conversation is overheard by a fellow prison visitor who arranges for Lo to get a job in Thailand.

Once in Thailand, Lo falls in with a bunch of gangsters who are in a gang war with the new boss of the ice factory, played by Chan Chue, the director of this movie. Chan has played the manager in the previous film and has been assistant director. His character’s disappearance near the end (apparently due to breaking glasses during the filming of the party scene) meant he survived the bloodshed and could return for this movie – how convenient. And wouldn’t you know it, but the girl Lo falls in love with (Wong Ping) also happens to the daughter of the new Boss… well sort of, but that’s hardly a spoiler as the trailer we’ve all seen for years told us!

One of the highlights of The Big Boss Part II is the fight choreography (courtesy of Yuen Cheung-Yan of Dragon Missile), which is, dare I say it, better choreographed than the original, where Bruce Lee moved like lighting against slow and unwieldy extras. Lo Lieh was never the most dynamic of fighters, but here looks especially fast and brutal. The film does lose some points for an endless and slow boat/underwater chase, clearly copying those in the recent James Bond films… not least because of the use of the Bond theme. It’s a wonder they didn’t put a fat Southern sheriff in it (although it might explain why Lee Quin, a returning actor from the original, is doing as a weird Thai witch doctor… clearly he is this film’s Baron Samedi).

The final battle in the ice factory gets to use the location in a similar manner to that later seen in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story – hey, maybe Tarantino got his print from Rob Cohen? – with the machinery put to good use. It does get a bit silly though, when Chen Wei-man suddenly appears out of practically nowhere to take on Lo in a fight that is clearly suddenly in Hong Kong instead of Thailand (with a cow prominently in the field next to them!), and most of Chan Chue fighting Lo features an obvious stunt double with a old mop for a wig.

But, after all this time, I’m happy to say that while this is no masterpiece, it is a much more entertaining movie that that naff trailer suggested. Thank you very much, Severin, for releasing this obscurity!

So that’s the uncut Big Boss, Big Boss Part II, and the forthcoming release of the longer version of A Man Called Tiger. What’s next…Tiger Boy? It could happen!

Ian Whittle’s Rating: 6/10