Blackbelt 2: Fatal Force

On a good day, "Blackbelt II" would get two stars instead of one. The film has some B-movie charm to it and, realistically, isn't the worst you can go when it comes to low-budget action pictures. Nevertheless, the technical laziness and storyline hodgery of Blake Bahner's guns & karate vehicle weigh in on my nerves enough that I don't feel very generous. Chances are you've never heard of this movie before now, and with good reason: there is absolutely nothing special about the film, leading it to languish in utter obscurity.The story: when the partner of renegade cop Brad Spyder (Bahner, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2) is murdered while investigating the reappearance of his thought-dead brother in Hawaii, he makes it his mission to find out what happened and discovers a deadly crime syndicate trying to swindle money out of a desperate father (Paul Holme, Doomsdayer)...The meat of the plot is that this syndicate (led by no-namers Gary "Skinner" Rooney and Michael "Friedkin" Vlastas) has promised the aforementioned father the return of his son, who went missing in Vietnam, but plan to trick him with the false testament of a fake POW before stealing his money. The idea has some potential, but it's presented in such a convoluted manner that few viewers will be troubled to continue to follow its development after the first half-hour. There's a political half-statement regarding the expendability of soldiers and the facilitation of a theory that, when too many soldiers deserted the military in Vietnam, they were declared MIA to cover up the embarrassment. Weird.However, what kills the movie dead is its poor production. Far too many scenes are shot under dark lighting and have a bleak, washed-out look that makes this 1993 film seem like it was made in 1980. Expect incorrectly-synched sound effects galore. Worse still is the movie's atrocious editing, which not only cuts every shot half a second too early but also denies the film any ebb or flow via chronic inconsistencies between shots and a general lack of comprehensible pace. This carries over to the action scenes, which were the movie's last chance at any cinematic worth. A combination of bloody-but-unremarkable shootouts and worthless fistfights disappoints something awful. Blake Bahner has some decent kicks and more or less looks the part of the next Van Damme-wannabe, but save for so-so brawl he has with Gary Rooney at the end of the picture, the four fights either make dreadful overuse of the "many shots, one strike, quick edit" technique or are simply executed so lifelessly that it's very difficult to care who wins.With the exception of "the jolly evil fat man of Filipino exploitation cinema" Vic Diaz (Live by the Fist), the cast is made up almost exclusively of bit-players and the acting is roundly questionable. The subliminal weirdness of the story and how the movie and the wonky production values might ultimately appeal to hardcore B-movie lovers, but this film clearly isn't for me. Rest assured, it has no connection beyond its title with the original Don Wilson outing, therein eliminating its final glimmer of possible intrigue. Continue to ignore this movie; it might as well not even exist.

It sure starts with a bang which is always a good thing. First we get an intense Vietnam war scene to set the background story. Then, the opening action sequence replete with shootouts, chases in cars, motorcycles and on foot, and finally, a brutal drawn out karate slugfest with a sudden shocking end.It slows down a bit from there, but is generally pretty captivating throughout, with plenty of action and few boring parts. Some nice explosions, chases and fights. Near the end is one of the most unique shocking helicopter deaths I've ever seen.A few glaring drawbacks though. Most of the gunfight victims don't appear to get hit, but just fall down, and not always at the perfect time. Very few visible wounds. And even though most of the movie is supposedly set in Hawaii, there's basically no true Hawaiian scenery. Just a bit of rainforest which could be lots of places.What I'm really trying to figure out is why it was called "Blackbelt 2". It doesn't even remotely compare to "Blackbelt" starring Don the Dragon Wilson, a true 5-star action/martial arts thriller. The hero played by Blake Bahner has just one more good fight near the end. His style seems to be to get the snot beat out of him, before rising from a near-coma to win the fight. I suppose that's a bit more realistic than one man taking out 7-8 without getting hurt, but it is not nearly as entertaining ... there's not much "fight choreography" in this film.Still a very good film worth watching in its own right. Good script and good acting from all characters.

And that makes for good TV for me. The video is 4:3. I prefer 16:9. The audio is stereo. I prefer 5.1. But really gets me is a good story with all the shooting, punching and kicking. Throw in a good chase scene and I am extremely satisfied. I would rather all that than the modern TV technology.