Synopsis: The Queen Bee returns to take-down and destroy any villains that have wronged her or get in her way!

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Views: The wonderful Lu Yi Chan returns as the titular heroine in this fast paced sequel that ups the action, drama, and violence to help make for an exciting second chapter of the Queen Bee saga. Opening with a great action sequence that sees a fake Queen Bee killed by a ninja assassin, we soon learn that the real vengeful vixen is now in jail for the crimes that saw her take down her sister's murderers. After some time passes, the reformed femme fatale is released and tries to find a real job in the city. She soon finds work as a kitchen hand in a restaurant where she is constantly harassed by her pervert boss – something, of course, she doesn't put up with for long which sees her jobless once again. Stuck without a home or money, she soon finds help when an old friend (Chi Kuan Chun) finds her alone on the streets. Meanwhile, a bunch of gangsters – led by another mysterious woman – are killing off Queen Bee's old team in the most violent ways. Along with her old partner, Queen Bee sets out on another path of vengeance to bring down those that have killed her friends!

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I quite liked Queen Bee's Revenge. While it was made the same year as the previous chapter and Chester Wang Chung Kuang returns as director, I felt it was a little more exciting overall with much better fight scenes, graphic violence, and felt much darker in tone. The addition of Sally Chen Sha Li as the leader of the killer gang, was a great touch. Having started her career in the early 60s, the popular Chinese actress starred in almost 80 films including classics such as Tiger's Claw, Furious Slaughter, The Guy With Secret Kung Fu, and many more. Chen retired from the scene in the late 80s with a role in Rouge Of The North and only recently came back out to play in 2017 when she appeared in a couple of films such as The Lady In The Portrait, and The Bold, The Corrupt & The Beautiful with Kara Hui Ying Hung. As well as working as one of the choreographers on Queen Bee's Revenge, Man Lee Pang also stars as one of Sally Chen's main heavies – kicking ass and killing people off in some pretty brutal ways. Although he had appeared in many classic titles from the early 70s, Lee Pang worked as an assistant choreographer on Jackie Chan's Spiritual Kung Fu and Dragon Fist later on. His first job as a martial arts director would actually be on Chester Wang's very own debut, My Life's On The Line starring Leung Kar Yan, with Queen Bee's Revenge being his last only a few years later. Interestingly though, his acting career would continue through to the turn of the century. The great Chi Kuan Chun definitely gets a lot more to do this time around, both in terms of action and acting. I've often found him to be one of the most forgotten Shaw Brothers stars over the years, but personally find him to be one of the best. While he has only starred in around 60 titles since the start of his career, many have been incredible to watch – including a host of independents that he had starred in over the years such as The Golden Mask, Iron Monkey, Showdown At Cotton Mill, Iron Neck Li, The Big Rascal, and many more...

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Joining Man Lee Pang in the action department is kung fu actor, Chan Long, who appeared in films such as The Furious Killer, Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu, My Life's On The Line, and Kung Fu Of Seven Steps, Chan also worked on the action for many fun films including The Idiot Swordsman, Death Duel Of Mantis, Eunuch Of The Western Palace, Dragon On Shaolin Tower and more. Between them both, they bring much more edginess to the fight scenes with tighter choreography and strong violence that sees knives go through hands, throats cut, children strangled, fingers shot off, and then some. Lu Yi Chan handles herself very well in the action scenes and throws some nice moves throughout. She also excels in the acting department as she is put through the emotions from her imprisonment to being forcefully drugged by the enemy and having to survive. I really enjoyed her in this role and while I said in my Queen Bee review that I got some young Brigitte Lin vibes from her – here, she reminded me quite a lot of the wonderful Sue Shiomi with her fighting style and trademark ponytail, and really gets to bring that to light in the films brilliant big-twist finale.

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Queen Bee's Revenge is a much better film than the first, and not only because we already care for these characters but for many other reasons. I watched both films in Chinese without English subtitles (and not understanding any dialogue) but still had a great time watching and found them easy enough to follow. To be honest, I wouldn't say no to getting a widescreen HD version of both films as I feel there was so much missed in the 4:3 copies I saw, complete with dodgy video quality. They have also made me want to see more of Lu Yi Chan who really impressed me in her roles as Queen Bee!

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Overall: An exciting sequel and action thriller, Queen Bee's Revenge is worth the watch and a lot of fun!