The Storm Warriors 風雲II

The Storm Warriors (風雲II), sequel to the 1998 film The Storm Riders (風雲), AKA the semi-disastrous comic-to-movie adaptation that helped to usher in even more freakish HK comic-to-movie adaptations like "A Man Called Hero (中華英雄)" and the one that finally dropped the ball on the genre, "Dragon Tiger Gate (龍虎門)". The above sentiment might prove to be debatable to many, as common consensus dictates that sacrifices to the source material are somewhat mandatory while conducting the transition, with examples like Peter Parker developing his webshooter as another manifestation of the radioactive spider effect or Wolverine having his claw laced to his knuckle in a distinctly different manner. On both accounts, I agreed and thought of it as stylistic indifference. However, in the case for these Chinese Manhua adaptations, the alteration seemed to fit no one but probably the Costume Designers (to justify his existence) , the Writers (for exercising his forte by running wild with their creativity on the source materials) and the Directors (for banking on the source material's existing fanbase to cash out the cheque). It's 2009, and we have seen "Sin City", "The Dark Knight", "Ironman" and "Watchmen". With the Pang Brothers at helm (right after their abysmal Hollywood outings) and a seemingly sound plot line to follow, can HK's adaptation of their proud culture relic, Manhua, keep up? Judging from the snippets, I'm afraid to say that keeping fingers crossed seemed to be an optimistic way of looking at it. The trailer seemed okay notwithstanding the fact that it 's not really showing much, but the snippets are indeed worrying, to say the least. A cheap knock-off of 300 if you ask me. Nevertheless, with stroke of genius like the casting of the Nameless Wu Ming 無名 (何家勁 Kenny Ho, who successfully portrayed Hero Hua in the 1990 TV Drama adaptation of "A Man Called Hero (中華英雄)" and its 1991 sequel) and one of the best storyline in Hong Kong's Manhua history, Let's keep that finger crossed.