Martial Law II: Undercover (1992) (V)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Kurt Anderson

Writers:

Richard Brandes (writer)
Pierre David (story)

Release Date:

9 September 2003 (Finland)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

The mandate is clear. Zero Tolerence.

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Independent Film

Cast

Jeff Wincott	...	Det. Sean Thompson
Cynthia Rothrock	...	Billie Blake
Paul Johansson	...	Spencer Hamilton
Evan Lurie	...	Tanner
Charles Taylor	...	Dobbs (as L. Charles Taylor)
Sherrie Rose	...	Bree
Billy Drago	...	Captain Krantz
Deborah Driggs	...	Tiffany
Conroy Gedeon	...	Jones
Kimber Sissons	...	Celeste
Leo Lee	...	Han
Max Thayer	...	Captain Banks
John Vidor	...	Sonny
Nicholas Hill	...	Jorge
Dagny Hultgreen	...	Kristine Richards

Also Known As:

Karate Cop
Martial Law II

Runtime:

91 min | Norway:87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R (original rating) | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | USA:R | Australia:M

Company:

M-L Partnership

Movie Connections:

Followed by Mission of Justice (1992/I)

Watchable low budget martial arts action

I watched this last night after flicking a coin between this and some cheapo nonsense about mummies and I'm pretty glad that I did. Its not exactly rocket science, but delivers good fun throughout, and though the choreography is lacking in comparison with say, the work on Hong Kong productions, it is still surprisingly decent and showcases the able stars quite nicely. On the good side we have Jeff Wincott and Cynthia Rothrock and the main bad characters are played by folks called Paul Johansson and Evan Lurie. The former two both put in decent enough performances, well decent enough by the standards of this kind of film. Wincott has a certain mindless charisma and a good line in rapid pummeling fists, while Rothrock, who I believe was so,e sort of kick boxing champ back in the day has an ample measure of charm and some great legwork. The two main bad guys are fairly decent fighters too, though unfortunately are ferociously bad actors, with some of the most wooden line delivery that I have seen in any film for quite while. This, combined with the thoroughly generic plotting stop the film from getting too interesting or rising above mindless fun, but this is still worth a watch for action fans. I could have done with a bit more brutality and the ending is too abrupt but overall this is perfectly pleasant for a no brainer martial arts action fix.