One of fave armed combat scenes is Donnie Yen and Wu Jing going mano a mano in the alley in SPL (2005). So visceral, so blood-chillingly intense and raw. Can any of the fights in this by name only sequel even approach that level of intensity and ferocity? Yes, oh yes.

Frankly a direct sequel is probably impossible since Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung and Simon Yam's characters all died. What the writers did was to borrow the themes and spirit of the first and tell a different story. Like the first film, Sha Po Lang are Chinese astrology signs which symbolize destruction, conflict and greed.

The first half hour is audacious filmmaking because instead of linearity for maximum clarity, director Soi Cheang went for an extended flashback for all the major characters. Did it work? I have mixed feelings about it, but the moment all the narrative threads interlocked I felt the stars were aligned for WWIII.

In terms of plot, SPL 2 has more nuts and bolts than a jet plane. The story is balancing so many elements to the point it became Planet Coincidences. But sitting in the cinema I was willing to buy all the machinations and contrivances because I was enjoying all the character arcs, from the little girl to the bad guy played by Louis Koo. Plus, there is a strong element of Godpermeating throughout the story, playing with all the human chess pieces and sitting back to find out how it all plays out.

Even though Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung are not in this sequel, the rest of the cast carry the movie very well. This is definitely Wu Jing's career defining role and he not only delivers the action, he has the acting chops in some of the emotional scenes. Tony Jaa put on some superb acting heft too in his scenes with his daughter. This is the best non-Thai film that showcases his talent, way way better than what was asked of him in Furious 7. The bad guys are over the top and their fighting skills do the acting for them.

In terms of action we get some by the numbers beat-downs and three set-piece extravaganzas - a shootout in a ferry terminal, a Thai prison and a medical centre. The action is viscerally filmed and it is only spoiled by some slightly over-used wire-work. The prison fight scene in particular is done in one mouth-watering long take. Each of the set-pieces improves and they culminate to a no holds-barred eye-popping climax.

All is going well until an extended final epilogue that feels like a quick after-thought and a CGI wolf is also inserted to bring out the Lang in Sha Po Lang, but I would be lying if I said it spoiled the entire film for me. It has been a long time since I was willing to give a story so much leeway and prayed so hard that everything would coalesce in a meaningful manner. It sort of did.