The script is totally incoherent (something about a letter that could expose a criminal organization... don't even bother to think about it),and most of the comedy is lame, but the action is fast and exhilarating. Jackie has a small part and barely any dialogue in this one; I also would have liked to see more of the gifted Yuen Biao, who has a way of making even the most amazing stunts seem effortless. Sammo Hung gets the lion's share of the fighting, and at the end he is pitted against Richard Norton, one of the most worthy villains of Jackie Chan movies. I give "Twinkle" * for the comedy and *** for the action, so the average is **.

This broadly humorous sequel to the cult hit MY LUCKY STARS is another film cast from the same mould: small scale comedy and laughs combine with hard-hitting action, the result is a roller-coaster of a film, slow in some spots and rip-roaring in others. The thing that really made me enjoy this film was the fun atmosphere, even more improved since the last instalment: the leads now seem really natural together (as they should, having starred in two ensemble films previously) and the comedy comes brisk and naturally. Plenty of the humour surrounds the boys' attempts to score with a pretty young woman, creating fires and fights in an attempt to grope and see her naked as many times as possible. Yes, it all sounds pretty low brow, but that's the point, and there's an innocence about the humour which makes it impossible to dislike.

Just about every cast member acquits themselves admirably in this production. The comedy stars shine through and the action heroes are quite wonderful. Comedy and action is mixed together in a successful, always moving, non-boring sequence. There are two main martial arts sequences, whilst the rest of the film involves incredible stunts (jumping from buildings and moving cars particularly),motorbike chases, shoot-outs, and just plain old-fashioned escapism (Jackie shooting the door off his car is a favourite moment). The warehouse attack, about halfway through, is a major tour-de-force for stars Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and a young Andy Lau. Each faces a weapon-wielding toughie in a warehouse setting; the resultant fights are fast and furious in the truest sense of the words.

The film is really a who's who of Asian talent: along with bit-parts from popular players like Kara Hui, Jason Pai Piao, Phillip Ko, and villain Dick Wei, we have fresh-faced soon-to-be-famous bits from Michelle Yeoh and Andy Lau amongst the more established turns of the three leads. Rosamund Kwan lends fiery support but the fun is in the villainous trio, comprising Fat Chung with hilarious eyebrows; imposing Japanese villain Yasuaki Kurata, and best of all the Australian martial arts master, Richard Norton. In one of his first roles, Norton is great as the shell-suit clad baddie, particularly when shooting people with a machine gun whilst hang-gliding through the air! He also gets some great dialogue, such as in the final fight scene: "Painful?". Norton's tongue-in-cheek turn makes for the best villain of the series and every scene with him is a winner.

Sammo Hung only really comes to light in the film's finale, a chase-cum-shoot-out-cum-mass-fight in a theatre and a restaurant. There's a great gag in which a girl pretends to be blind, then some blistering action from Hung and Chan. Hung is particularly good, wielding wooden tennis rackets and beating bad guys like the pro he is. Obviously these kind of films are an acquired taste, a mix of old-fashioned slapstick, sniggering schoolboy humour, and the kind of martial arts flavoured mayhem they can only make in Hong Kong. It's reall rather good.

The Five Lucky Stars, played by Sammo Hung, Richard Ng, Stanley Fung, Eric Tsang and Charlie Chin, return in this action-comedy sequel. Charlie Chin's character, Herb, makes a cameo appearance only and is replaced by his brother, Pagoda (Kiu Wai Miu). They get themselves involved in an illegal drug operation plot, where an informant is assassinated by the drug lord, and is instructed by Chief Insp. Barbara Woo (Sibelle Hu) to protect the informant's friend Yi-Ching (Rosamund Kwan) while she and her police team attempt to bring down the illegal operation.

The main plot is loosely tied together and the film contains various subplots that were quite silly - from the Lucky Stars' vacation in Thailand with a bunch of tour girls to Sandy's (Richard Ng) meeting with a witch doctor, and from cops Muscles (Jackie Chan) and Ricky (Yuen Biao) high intensity fight with a gang of arm dealers to the Lucky Stars' attempts to woo Yi-Ching. It gets quite annoying at times when the movie strays away from the main plot, but what made up for it is the huge all-star cast, its numerous martial arts action scenes, humorous one-liners and just class Hong Kong-style comedy.

I remember first watching some parts of this film when I was a kid and was pretty entertained by it. The appearances of the martial arts trio of Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Andy Lau was neat stuff and, of course, it was cool seeing the Five Lucky Stars in a sequel again.

With such a large cast of characters, it's fun seeing how each contribute to the story. The film is not as entertaining as the original "Winners and Sinners" film, but it has more fun and action than the second film. Despite the loose plot, the filmmakers really packed a lot of stuff in this flick.

Grade B-