Ten years ago, an action film showed up with little fanfare and slapped the taste for Hollywood-type happy endings right out of my mouth. That movie was Wilson Yip’s SPL, which stands for Sha Po Lang. The three words are derived from Chinese astrology, and refer to three stars that can exert good or evil influences depending on their position in the skies.
But as a certain Wm. Shakespeare wrote, the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings. And SPL 2, a sequel in name only (since none of the characters was left in any condition to come back), is all about faulty men – all underlings, under heaven – who make their own choices and must deal with the consequences.