Six years ago, The White Storm was a surprise hit that I remember very positively with its profound characters, exotic locations and gripping plot. I didn't expect a sequel to ever come around and the similarities between the movies are indeed rather shallow. In terms of quality, the first movie is largely superior while The White Storm 2 - Drug Lords is only just good for genre fans.
Fifteen years ago, reckless Jizo got his fingers cut off by his colleague Tin after he betrayed the Ching Hing Gang by running a secret drug business in his club. Jizo left the gang and swore to have his revenge as he eventually became the biggest regional drug dealer. Tin on the other side became a philanthropist and tycoon who supported numerous projects fighting drug abuse. In present day, Tin loses his estranged son to drug addiction which further fuels his hatred for drug abuse. Jizo on the other side wants to see hin former gang vanish and former colleague suffer and attempts to expand his drug business even further. After the two enemies clash at the funeral of their former boss, their conflict escalates frantically. Jizo tries to go after Tin's wife while Tin publicly offers a bounty to assassinate Jizo. Police chief inspector Lam gets caught between both sides and tries to prevent that Hong Kong becomes the bloody battlefield of the two men's bitter rivalry.
The White Storm 2 - Drug Lords convinces on a few levels. The breathtaking and brutal action scenes should be enjoyed at your local cinema. The body count is particularly elevated and the film is quite graphic even by genre standards. The sound and special effects are captivating and intense. The two lead characters and their backgrounds are interesting enough to keep the audience watching until the end.
The movie however also has several flaws. The plot is an extremely thin tale of revenge that justifies massive violence. The film entirely focuses on extremely negative emotions which makes it hard to emphasize with any character. The morally debatable movie at times feels like a Rodrigo Duterte propaganda flick as the protagonist openly idolizes the pitiless anti-drug campaign of the president of the Philippines.
In the end, this sequel was rather unnecessary as it never equals the creativity, depth and emotion of the first film at all. You may like this movie if you are looking for a particularly brutal action-thriller but its message is too bland and debatable to make it artistically relevant or even recommendable beyond faithful genre fans. Give the first movie a try and ignore the sequel.
