Let me start out by saying that "Cold War II" from 2016 was just every bit as entertaining as the first "Cold War" movie from 2012. And with that being said, take it for what it was. If you liked the first movie, then you will also like the sequel, and if you didn't, then chances are that you will not like this movie either.

I found it to be adequately entertaining, although it wasn't particularly outstanding or memorable - just as the first movie had been.

"Cold War II" continues on a short time after the events of the first movie, and we see familiar characters return to the screen in this sequel. And having established characters return was a good thing.

However, it just felt as if directors Lok Man Leung and Kim-Ching Luk set out wanting to accomplish too much with "Cold War II" and only delivering on about half of this.

There was just a sense of it all being too rushed and forced, as well of an element of too much chaos going on. Which didn't really help the movie in any way.

As in the first movie, "Cold War II" does have some impressive names to the cast list, including Aaron Kwok, Tony Ka Fai Leung and Yun-Fat Chow.

"Cold War II" failed to make a lasting impression and also failed to stand out in the Hong Kong cinema. Surely, it was an entertaining enough movie, but it is hardly one that you will be watching a second time around.

My rating of "Cold War II" ends on five stars out of ten, similar to the first movie.

This is already a political propaganda film, which clearly puts the Legislative Council on the table. The key is that one of the main plot lines of the whole film is the checks and balances of rights. It's busy to set rules, play in competitions, whistle and send out news releases to make a fool of yourself. Returning to the film itself, it's too far away from the front, and it's hard for the audience to connect the plot. In addition, compared with the previous one, this one is just like turning the table and fighting the knife. The plot has no depth, the story is full of twists and turns, and the struggle turns into a round system. In the first half, I call on you in the second half. If it weren't for some performances, it would be for the evaluation of the dog-tailed mink.

I very much disagree with the people here saying that the first film was better and strongly disparaging this one (such as the review by 'Uhungmax') Yes, in the first movie, technically, there was a lot more 'stuff' happening. And, in a sense, although it was indeed engaging and exciting, after it was over I felt that some of the key plot elements and character actions did not really make a lot of sense.

However in this 2nd film, although the plot is much more direct and simple, to me personally I thought that the story was much more tightly plotted and a lot better constructed. Here you didn't have the apparent twists and turns of the first film, usually an element that I like very much. But, like I said, AFTER watching the movie and thinking about it, there were certain character motivations and actions that didn't quite add up to me. Whereas with this movie, the story itself seemed to flow much more naturally. In my lowly and wretched opinion, I honestly felt that as a FILM in and of itself, it was put together and executed in a more streamlined and believable manner. Not that I mind AT ALL when movies are complex, or seemingly disjointed, or non-linear. I DO very much like that ***IF*** everything is well thought out and put together in such a way that it fits the internal logic of the film, and as a WHOLE all the parts work together.

I think the tricky thing about comparing the two films is that the first one had a LOT more going on and was more complex. NORMALLY, that would be something that would be very appealing to me. But in this movie, I had more of a feeling that I was being carried along by the story and much more involved in what was happening, and therefore the overall effect had more substance, and I felt that the tension of the story was much more compelling. It's like with the first movie they were almost trying to be TOO clever with the twists and turns of the story where maybe it at times had the effect of almost stumbling on itself. Don't get me wrong... I liked the first film and it was quite good. But, I feel that this one was better...

These 2 films seem somewhat different for movies coming out of Hong Kong in the sense that you normally would expect them to be a LOT more Action oriented. But, both films dealt more with inter-departmental politics and connections with highly placed officials than they were on action. But, with that said, there is ONE action scene in the middle of film that was quite effective and will blow your socks off (so to speak...)

So, that is why I feel that on the SURFACE some people may get an impression that the first film was better with more 'going on' and more twists and turns. But, I honestly feel that this one was put together in a much more cinematic way with better internal logic (being a simpler story) and more believable character interactions that had a more substantial impact in the long run...