A combination of sports comedy and family drama, Second Chance offers a winning story that entertains despite treading on familiar thematic territory. The film opens in medias res, with former billiards world champion Hsieh Shuan-feng (Monster Wen) meeting for an underground nine-ball match with gangster Hsu Che-yung (veteran Taiwanese actor Jason Wang). The genesis of their match requires a flashback to earlier times, when Shuan-feng exiled himself to rural Taiwan after a disastrous billiards match. Now a drunken slacker who runs a chicken soup stand, Shuan-feng can’t keep his hands from shaking uncontrollably and actually runs away when challenged to billiards games. How the mighty have fallen.
Shuan-feng is drawn out of retirement by his niece Siang (Peijia Huang), who recently lost both her parents, one of whom was Shuan-feng’s elder brother. Lacking a proper guardian, Siang may be sent to a foster home and she’ll also have to give the family billiards hall to loan sharks. Shuan-feng initially doesn’t want to be Siang’s keeper, but his refusal is really a cover for his own personal issues and the billiards hall undeniably holds special meaning for him. When Siang decides to take advantage of her nine-ball skills to keep the billiards hall, Shuan-feng agrees to coach her to compete in underground matches and a ladies World Nine-ball Championship tournament. However, Shuan-feng’s shady past makes realising their goals harder than imagined.
Unlike zanier Asian sports movies that play like live-action Japanese anime, Second Chance offers a more realistic and gentler story built on themes of redemption and family. This is the story of an arrogant champion who was humbled by circumstance and is given a chance to regain his pride and reconnect with his family. There are darker elements – the story involves underground betting and dangerous gangsters – but they’re secondary to positive and life-affirming emotions. Peijia Huang and Monster Wen show fine chemistry as the estranged family members who share a difficult past, and their slow journey towards reconciliation proves to be a rousing one.
Also, the billiards action is well played; the strategies and skills seem realistic, and any CGI used to create the impressive trick shots is seamless. Billiards and nine-ball have a comparatively greater cultural presence in Taiwan than in most territories, and the film serves fans with appearances by real professional players. Siang faces former nine-ball world champions Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher and Kim Ga-young on her way to the final, while 2007 world champion Pan Xiaoting gets a larger role as Siang’s main opponent. A classically trained dancer, Peijia Huang shows attractive sass and strong-willed character as Siang, following up on a promising debut as identical twins in the Golden Horse-nominated Cha Cha for Twins (2012).
However, for many Taiwan cinema fans the main draw is Monster Wen, a popular member of five-member rock band Mayday. Second Chance represents Wen’s first feature starring role, and the actor shows an uncouth but also self-effacing screen persona that’s suited to the fallen billiards champion Hsieh Shuan-feng. The character’s sardonic attitude and scruffy appearance seem lifted from a stock Stephen Chow character (e.g., Kung Fu Hustle or even Legend of the Dragon, a 1991 Hong Kong film about a billiards genius), and while Wen is not an actor of Chow’s calibre, he’s an intriguing talent who could headline future commercial films. Along with Peijia Huang, Monster Wen deserves future chances beyond Second Chance.