THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 2 (1993)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological, sociological*

Although BRIDE 2 came out the same year as BRIDE 1, it still met the fate of many other sequels: not quite managing, even with the best efforts, to duplicate the first film's chemistry.

Now, BRIDE 1 was all about how clan-conflicts doomed the great love of two members of said clans: young swordsman Yihang of the WuDang Clan, and "wolf girl" Lien from WuShuang. Feelings of betrayal cause Lien to transform into a blood-hungry "white-haired witch" who can, among other things, strangle or stab people with her extensible hair-follicles. Most of the clans are decimated by their conflict as well, although WuShuang seems totally gone while WuDang has apparently reconstituted itself, to judge by the number of young people still amid its ranks. However, witchy Lien has built a new clan made up largely of other women betrayed by their male lovers, and with the aid of these women warriors she's continued to prey on all local clans. Apparently all this has remained the state of affairs for ten years since the first film, because Yihang waits ten years for the blooming of a magical flower that can cure Lien's madness.

However, the Lien-Yihang conflict can no longer drive the narrative, so the writers-- one of whom was BRIDE 1's director Ronny Yu-- focus upon a new couple. This time both romantic leads come from the WuDang Clan: Yu Qin (Joey Meng) and Feng (Sunny Chan). Feng is the nephew of Yihang, who to the best of everyone's knowledge is still brooding atop some snowy mountain, waiting for the blooming of the magic flower. The fact that Feng's uncle brought about much of WuDang's suffering doesn't seem to bother anyone, and everyone seems quite happy that Feng will become the new head of the clan once he's married. (To be sure, there's one female, Yu Hee, who has a thing for Feng, just as there was a side-character in BRIDE 1 who wanted to win Yihang's love-- but Yu Hee ends up supporting Feng's romance despite her own feelings.)

Lien, who's still pissed at WuDang, abducts Yu Qin but leaves Feng alive. Feng thus marshals six other stalwarts, including Yu Hee, to liberate the bride who doesn't have white hair. While they prepare for battle, the audience sees that again Lien has fallen prey to bad advice. Chen, one of the members belonging to Lien's clan of disaffected females, has conceived a lesbian passion for Lien and is jealous of Yihang when Lien remains distant. Chen persuades Lien to brainwash Yu Qin to believe herself betrayed by Feng. Thus, when the knights of WuDang attack, Yu Qin joins the other Amazons in routing her former friends. But on the good side, the magic flower has bloomed, and Yihang is at least ready to make amends for his past deeds.

The various dramatic arcs involving Feng and Yu Qin, or Lien and Chen, are not very involving, and the production values are a little less impressive this time out. I don't think new director David Wu is at fault, though, and all the actors certainly do their best. The doomed reunion of Lien and Yihang has all the expected sturm und drang one might desire of a splashy romance, and BRIDE 2 gets that across in a satisfactory fashion, though the script doesn't evince the more imaginative concepts seen in the first part.