Milkyway has always taken care of its own, by acknowledging them officially and unofficially but at the helm you almost always find Johnnie To. Officially and unofficially. For the sequel to their hit and certified "own" film Running Out of Time, in-house editor, assistant director, executive director and by now sole director (2 Become 1), Law Wing-Cheong sat in besides grandmaster To but truthfully, Law's stamp isn't felt from that position on this production. Certainly a professional movie on all accounts, editing remains solid so Law certainly didn't waste his skills either. Being brought forth to the spotlight, even if in name only, represents a sign of Johnnie To feeling he deserves the honour of being grandmaster but that sometimes other people need a push in their strife towards expression.

Regardless, the always important question and the one I'm always curious about when approaching yet another of To's "real" films is how is he going to conduct himself. Running Out Of Time was a combo of commercial sensibilities the Milkyway way, a milestone therefore, and the sequel goes very much the same routes. Gleefully I might add but it's an entry that earns its place. Even a third time would not be a stretch! Rather than letting someone else xerox his work, To does that himself, using much of the same bombastic Raymond Wong score, elements of absurd humour and bonding between the cat and the mouse game players. While the prospect of teaming leads Lau Ching-Wan and Ekin Cheng never meant equal audience success, Running Out Of Time 2 is one entertaining re-thread containing dependency the To-way. I like it that way.

Initially threatening with English dialogue for extensive periods of time for no apparent reason (*cough*Fulltime Killer*cough*), the business world of Teresa's is structured around that and while elaborating on it very little, To gets acceptance for this choice eventually. Settling soon in the same shoes as the first movie, it's again a movie world we're into here, not the real one. But cinematographer Cheng Siu-Keung doesn't dress the urban landscape in a fantasy manner. He is however attractively mobile with his camera, capturing coolness in and around the leads but more importantly, the coolness IN the leads. Director To (and Law) does use tension to make us a bit unsure of whether or not this will be much along the same lines as when Andy Lau was part of the equation and it wouldn't have been unwelcome to change tac of course. But creatively high even when replicating himself, the recipe clearly is up for usage again to almost the same cool, immersing effect.

Being playful is one of the added weaknesses for Running Out Of Time 2 though. Hui Siu-Hung elevated the first film with appropriate outbursts of buffoon-behaviour as the fellow officer of Lau's but here he's let loose way too often and way too extremely, creating some high annoyance not even fit for this cinematic world. The Lam Suet sub-tangent is trademark To however as he's a down on his luck negotiator in many regards but one who receives a subtle awakening through his coin flipping game with Cheng's character. Or so the direction says because the coda to his character rhymes less well with even To-logic nor does the presence of Kelly Lin. Flat is being nice about it but she does get to take part in a wonderfully emotional/quirky beat concerning her inability to distinguish left from right. A scene showing To at his playful best, breaking cinematic rules that usually says one-note mood throughline is a must. But that defiance was a fact ages ago and still is thankfully.

The centerpiece to it all, and another reason why Running Out Of Time 2 overall fares very well is Lau Ching-Wan and Ekin Cheng's duel to the....whatever the Milkyway team feels it symbolizes. Death would be too expected coming from them and when saying that, they're not making up cool cinema for the sake of it either. All the way through the game between Ho and the thief, there's an insane amount of trademark looseness if you will that gives way for scenario after scenario that doesn't resemble anything you would find in your reality based urban setting. Because this was never To's intention anyway with the first film. Hence little character-setup's. You have 90 minutes, and that's where they're going to so call exist. Therefore Ching-Wan's cool charisma is a terrific brick in the framework, a character who is never in danger ever. Just someone who has to deal with incompetent surroundings and reality outside of cinema intruding in a not so welcome way via a lame attempt at subtle romance. We don't need it. Just pit Lau against charismatic "bad guys" with some form of payoff for their actions and you could have a franchise easily. For the second attempt, they could've sunken it however via the casting of Ekin Cheng but he's steered towards utilizing a previously untapped charismatic vein and is simply electric at all times.

By the end creating coolness that really takes Running Out of Time 2 out to space and back, Johnnie To still scores for pretty much the same reasons he did with his first team-up of the series. There's other elements in the long run that doesn't get as riveting pay off's as previous creative highs in the flick have indicated but we'll allow a niggle, even several because if you were gladly lost in the cinematic world of Running Out Of Time, you're bound to be again. I'll stand in line for a third time again as well.

The only real difference (besides different protagonists) is that Ekin's character (never given a name) isn't dying, he just seems to be a Robin Hood, stealing from rich crooks and giving to poor people. (Though in one instance, he gave millions of dollars worth of CANDY to poor village children! Let's hope the subtitles didn't interpret that right). The Inspector and the thief (as he's referred to) engage in a game of wits and again the ditzy commander, played by Shiu Hung Hui, horns in to screw everything up.

The thief also seems to be a bit of a circus performer as we see him walk a tightrope strung between two high tower buildings and do some magic. Ekin does display a lot of charm as the thief in this movie, it was the first time I could see his appeal (sorry Martin) but again the high point of the film is Lau Ching Wan, his performance is so effortless and impressive. There's a hint of a romance here between him and a business woman but it's not really followed through, unfortunately.

It's a bit more action in this one with a sad subplot involving one of the Inspector's men having a gambling addiction. Those scenes were hard to watch. Running Out Of Time 2 isn't as good as the first one but it still has the best reason to watch it in Ching Wan Lau. I'd recommend it highly!

Bad English acting brings the audience up to speed on the theft of major art pieces. Teresa (Kelly Lin) is in charge of the company, PFA, who owns the pieces. The thief speaks with Teresa and promises tht for $20 million he will return the art. Meanwhile, Ken (Ekin Cheung), the thief, attracts the attention of a negotiator (Lam Suet) on the roof of a towering building. Ken begins a dangerous mind game with the negotiator, robbing his sense of hope through flipping a coin. He negotiator looses every time, because for some reason he will only guess “heads”, and prepares to jump. Luckily for the negotiator, Inspector Ho (Lau Ching Wan) arrives just in time to save him. From this point on, the film has no surprises. Inspector Ho chases Ken, eventually trying to trick him into giving back the art for fake money, while Ken seems to be running the show. He is always a step ahead of Inspector Ho, and seems to have a lot more fun with it all than the viewer. All this leads to the film's complete let down of an ending.

I like to think that Johnnie To had little or nothing to do with “Running out of Time 2”. Many of his films, including The Mission, the first Running out of Time, and Fulltime Killer, are really great works of modern Hong Kong cinema. How, then, he could even be involved with this – I dare not to imagine. The plot itself leaves much to be desired, but the direction almost ruins the film. There is little or no cohesion in the cinematography, and through attempts to make the film stylistic, it makes it laughable. A bald eagle flying along Hong Kong roads sticks out as an example of this failed stylism, but examples abound in this prime example of a failure. There are a few good sequences, the bicycle scene, for instance, was very well shot and choreographed. But scenes like that are oases in a desert of failure.

With the exception of Ekin Cheung, the cast is shoddy because of the material they are given to work with. Lau Ching Wan doesn't seem human, or anything more than a parent figure with a pole up his ass, and so the audience is never on his side. This is a real tragedy beacuse, in most roles, he is near brilliant. As the officer working under Ho, Shiu Hung Hui tries to make his character funny but succeeds only in making him unbearably annoying. The beautiful Kelly Lin also turns in a sub-par performance, probably due to the fact that Teresa speaks primarily in English. Ekin Cheung, though, does a commendable job in a very different role for him. Normally he does decently in the one role he plays – some amazingly liked and talented individual with inner problems and a stone faced exterior. Here, though, he is a charming, manipulative, magician and Robin-Hood-like figure. This is a great change for the actor, and hopefully he will be able to try again in a more worthy film.

This film is a sequel only in name to the first Running Out of Time. It's far more like a much inferior, lighter, and shallow retaking on the plot of the original. Interesting for fans of the directors, actors, or genre, it would be a real waste of time to anyone else. Unless you're a huge fan of the original, Ekin Cheung, Kelly Lin, or laughably bad movies, stay away from this rehashing. Be sure to check out the original, though.

During what seems to be a fairly routine case of a man threatening to jump off a roof, respected police officer Ho - known as Sean in the original - meets a mysterious new challenger. After facing a series of tests in the previous case, Ho now finds his wits put to the test by Ken who manages to use his supposed suicide attempt to announce his appearance on the scene. Ken reveals that he is the man responsible for the theft of Chinese art treasures from a local company and that he will alert the press about the incident if he doesn't receive the money he demands. This is especially unsettling to the company's head, Teresa, who realises that, if the truth gets out, it would spell certain doom for their proposed merger. Therefore the race is on to get back the assets before it effects the financially lucrative move. However, Ho once again finds himself faced with an opponent who is one step of the police force and takes delight in the intellectual games that perplex the police.

It was always reasonable to expect that Johnnie To would come under fire from those who enjoyed the original when the sequel went into production; 'Running Out Of Time' featured a plot that couldn't really be repeated as it was reliant on the terminal illness of Andy Lau's character. Some also prematurely hit out at the casting of Ekin Cheng - an actor who hasn't always commanded much respect from fans. To the credit of all concerned though, 'Running Out Of Time 2' is a constantly diverting caper movie that works well in most areas. On viewing this, it's important to distance oneself from the original and its unique premise; this therefore means that the film can be appreciated on its own merits. Although some of the tricks used in the original are repeated here, the execution is stylish enough to make them entertaining and a self-referential tone helps this regard. Ekin Cheng has often fallen foul of wooden performances that rely on style far more than substance, but his efforts here are one of the film's highlights. His display is measured and just as magnetic as Andy Lau's award-winning showing in the original. It says something for Cheng's performance when he can hold his own with the great Lau Ching Wan in their many scenes together. There's also a few very well directed scenes within the film that give the various actors a fine chance to shine and move the pace of this feature along at an impressive rate.

'Running Out Of Time 2' does deserve some of the criticisms it has faced though. Some performances, especially Hui Shiu Hung, are a bit too over-the-top and lend themselves more to farce than the suspense genre. There's also the now obligatory insertion of computer effects that aren't really appropriate. For a director of To's reputation, it shouldn't be necessary to rely on these needless gimmicks. Importantly though, this is a slickly made thriller that achieves most of the objectives it sets out to accomplish. Taken on its own merits then, 'Running Out Of Time 2' is a constantly entertaining film.

PICTURE: Although released by Mei Ah, the disc thankfully shows the picture quality of the China Star films that were previously released under their own label. The picture is mostly good with many difficult indoor scenes coming off very well. Although some moments are a bit too soft, there is a fine level of depth in scenes where the screen is full. Sadly, Mei Ah's preoccupation of releasing very basic discs is here - this is one of the unfortunate effects of Mei Ah's handling of China Star's films.

While Running Out of Time 2 gets by on a lot of charm -- Lau Ching-Wan is his usual intense self, Ekin Cheng turns in a surprisingly good performance and Lam Suet offers good comic relief along with some pathos -- it's not enough to make the film anything other than average. It should tell you something that even Ekin Cheng's huge star power and Johnnie To's critical adoration failed to give Running Out of Time 2 any impact at the box office. Most damningly, there really seems to be no motivation for the characters to be engaged in this somewhat ridiculous overlong chase. While Ekin does well, he fails to provide a credible villain to Lau to compete with. Running Out of Time 2 felt like it had the basis to be a good movie, but it really manages to go nowhere during its' running time, and, as such is really only recommended is you're a huge Lau Ching-Wan, Ekin Cheng or Johnnie To fan.