In 2001, Hong Siu-lung traveled back in time to the birth of the Qin dynasty to investigate why a terra cotta warrior had his face in the hit Chinese TV show A Step into the Past.
Now, after 25 years, the show gets a sequel in the form of Back to the Past. There are more time travel antics, wild fights, and, of course, the history of China on the line.
Louis Koo resumes his role as the time stranded Hong. He and his family spent the years since the end of A Step into the Past hiding from his former student Ying Ching, the emperor, once again played by Raymond Lam.
When another time traveler shows up with a plan to become emperor himself, circumstances force the them to once again work together.
Koo and Lam clearly have a lifelong friendship that plays into the complex relationship between their characters. These two are simultaneously friends, mentor and student, and enemies. Time hasn’t healed their wounds, but they can’t ignore the bond between them.
Their relationship grounds the overall story, which is incredibly silly (in a good way). Back to the Past opens with people playing soccer in ancient China. There seems to be little concern for contaminating history with gun fights and high tech inventions.
The script has fun acknowledging that Hong is further out of time, arriving 25 years after when he left. He wonders at technology that’s entirely new to him. It’s hard to take seriously a film in which one of the main characters considers a transforming motorcycle to be a greater invention than a time machine.
The highlight of the film is the action sequences directed by the legendary Sammo Hung. The martial arts fights pop, with characters leaping into the air and every punch and kick hitting with full force. Hung can make motorcycle action and even a hoverboard fight look dynamic. Even at 74, Hung knows how to make even the most ridiculous ideas work.
Back to the Past may not be the most ground-breaking time travel film, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s an excuse for old friends to get together and put on a show. Things might be a little silly and occasionally melodramatic, but stars Koo and Lam make a grand time of it. All they ask is that the audience does too.
