Johnny Long is back to doing what he does best and that's cleaning up the New York streets of its scum. This time he's all geared up with the flame-thrower set on exterminate. When he's not flaming street gangs. He spends time with his dancer girlfriend and that of an old army buddy. Although things get real personal, when Johnny's girlfriend is brutally beat up by a power hungry gang lord of the streets, known as X. This really tips Johnny over the edge and drives him to revenge.
Don't you just hate when you get through watching a movie to realise it was heavily cut, as it doesn't go as long as it's advertised on the video case (which by the way has a great cover art work). Well, that was the case here and I couldn't hide my disappointment of it. I'm not a massive fan of the original, but I was still interested in seeing the sequel after reading how much crueler and nihilistic it is in its actions. Sure, that would have been great, that's if I saw it that way, but I didn't. The deaths scenes were cut down and some (like the always mentioned subway scene and Johnny's girlfriend beat-up in the park) I didn't even get to see. Those moments where choppy as hell and had me going "What on earth just happen?!" Even the film's final standoff between X (a dreadfully juicy turn by Mario Van Peebles) and Johnny Long comes on too early in the story and then drags on for ages. Until it meets its murky conclusion.
In all, it's a very inferior sequel that turns into an embarrassingly, vapid cheese-fest in the tradition of the Death Wish sequels ( namely part 3). There's no foot grounded in reality compared to the original and it comes off like an action comic fantasy. Thanks to Peebles and his laughable bunch of roaches. Robert Ginty (and his placidly stiff nature) is back as Johnny the Vietnam VET turned vigilante. On this occasion he brought with him his welder helmet and the trusty old flamethrower (the iconic picture found on the poster of the original) to clean up the dirtily decayed and crime-riddled streets. When he gets mad. Vicious punks and petty thieves better watch out! As he appears from nowhere (like a ghost) to wipe the floor. How they don't notice someone dressed like this until its to late, goes beyond me. Imagine the noise he would be make carrying all of this and how hard it would be to swiftly maneuver with it!
The mangled story is basic and skips a lot stuff that happened in the original and heads its own direction well kind of ah, yeah its derivative. How could the cops go from knowing who the exterminator is at the end of the first feature to be at square one in the follow up? Who knows? I don't. While, there's nothing much else going on in the thin material to derail the main focus off Ginty's character and emotional build up. Still cluttering up the pace are redundant fillers (give me some break dancing) and an over-plus of scene-stealing Van Pebble posing and preaching his "He is the street" speeches. Just proving how much of a bad-ass he is. Poor Van Pebble, because he comes across as extremely wretched and too fruity looking to invoke that presence.
Mark Buntzman's no-nonsense direction is ineptly junky (great campy slow-mo pieces), but he makes decent of the gritty and beat up look of the New York surroundings. It's not as prominent, say like the original, but Bob Baldwin's grounded photography gives it that rough edge. On the other-hand, the progressively clunky score by David Spear is a manipulative piece of mess. There's an explicit vibe created, but sadly its more comic style than nastily exploitive. Nonetheless it's still fun and creative in its set pieces.
There are moments of ridiculously stupid and roistering fun evident, but make sure you get your hands on the uncut version.
P.s. Watching the uncut version (shockingly on Pay TV?!) was a much better experience. The subway sequence was rather unsettling. Shonky, but amusing comic action.
Don't you just hate when you get through watching a movie to realise it was heavily cut, as it doesn't go as long as it's advertised on the video case (which by the way has a great cover art work). Well, that was the case here and I couldn't hide my disappointment of it. I'm not a massive fan of the original, but I was still interested in seeing the sequel after reading how much crueler and nihilistic it is in its actions. Sure, that would have been great, that's if I saw it that way, but I didn't. The deaths scenes were cut down and some (like the always mentioned subway scene and Johnny's girlfriend beat-up in the park) I didn't even get to see. Those moments where choppy as hell and had me going "What on earth just happen?!" Even the film's final standoff between X (a dreadfully juicy turn by Mario Van Peebles) and Johnny Long comes on too early in the story and then drags on for ages. Until it meets its murky conclusion.
In all, it's a very inferior sequel that turns into an embarrassingly, vapid cheese-fest in the tradition of the Death Wish sequels ( namely part 3). There's no foot grounded in reality compared to the original and it comes off like an action comic fantasy. Thanks to Peebles and his laughable bunch of roaches. Robert Ginty (and his placidly stiff nature) is back as Johnny the Vietnam VET turned vigilante. On this occasion he brought with him his welder helmet and the trusty old flamethrower (the iconic picture found on the poster of the original) to clean up the dirtily decayed and crime-riddled streets. When he gets mad. Vicious punks and petty thieves better watch out! As he appears from nowhere (like a ghost) to wipe the floor. How they don't notice someone dressed like this until its to late, goes beyond me. Imagine the noise he would be make carrying all of this and how hard it would be to swiftly maneuver with it!
The mangled story is basic and skips a lot stuff that happened in the original and heads its own direction well kind of ah, yeah its derivative. How could the cops go from knowing who the exterminator is at the end of the first feature to be at square one in the follow up? Who knows? I don't. While, there's nothing much else going on in the thin material to derail the main focus off Ginty's character and emotional build up. Still cluttering up the pace are redundant fillers (give me some break dancing) and an over-plus of scene-stealing Van Pebble posing and preaching his "He is the street" speeches. Just proving how much of a bad-ass he is. Poor Van Pebble, because he comes across as extremely wretched and too fruity looking to invoke that presence.
Mark Buntzman's no-nonsense direction is ineptly junky (great campy slow-mo pieces), but he makes decent of the gritty and beat up look of the New York surroundings. It's not as prominent, say like the original, but Bob Baldwin's grounded photography gives it that rough edge. On the other-hand, the progressively clunky score by David Spear is a manipulative piece of mess. There's an explicit vibe created, but sadly its more comic style than nastily exploitive. Nonetheless it's still fun and creative in its set pieces.
There are moments of ridiculously stupid and roistering fun evident, but make sure you get your hands on the uncut version.
P.s. Watching the uncut version (shockingly on Pay TV?!) was a much better experience. The subway sequence was rather unsettling. Shonky, but amusing comic action.