I bought this movie Thanksgiving Day at a Hollywood Video that was liquidating their VHS stock on cover alone. I personally adore terrible movies, and just seeing the cover gives the viewer a huge hint that perhaps SnakeEater II: The Drug Buster is not a film that changed the industry. From the white guy with a pistol who looks like he's trying to be tough to the "street wise" black guy with a shotgun, this movie looks like a simple write-off as terrible. I mean, the black guy on the cover is named Speedboat in the movie. Speedboat. I can't make this stuff up.
So I popped in my copy of SnakeEater II tonight, and my first surprise was that there were no previews, and the movie began immediately. The second surprise was that that wasn't the only surprise.
My expectations for the movie lowered upon witnessing the title sequence (which looked like the title sequence for a Super NES game) and the opening scene, where Speedboat is working community service at a community center preparing for a dancing competition. Here, while we see the late 80s at their finest, Speedboat runs around the room and makes wisecracks to everybody, but then begins to play second fiddle once Jonathan "Soldier" Kelly (Lorenzo Lamas), who looks and sounds like a MacGyver clone, comes in the room to put Speedboat in his place. Suddenly, the film's plot kicks in.
This movie requires a high suspension of disbelief, of which the film's plot plays a key role in. The plot is that evil drug lords are selling spiked drugs, which are killing kids. Soldier then moves in to their hideout and kills them all. As Soldier was suspended from the police force, this gets him put into trial, and his lousy lawyer pleads insanity. This gets Soldier Kelly thrown into jail, where we meet the wackiest inmates this side of Con Air. The wacky inmates come in many varieties, but the most memorable one was definitely the perverted Evangelist, who delivers fiery sermons that soon devolve into nothing more than explicitly lurid sexual rants.
However, that is not to say that this movie sucks. In fact, it's quite a decent movie. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the picture, and I was even rooting for the good guys, which I seldom do. However, the best parts of this movie are the script and the acting. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but this is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. From the incredibly bizarre scenes (Kelly asks Speedboat for a cover van that is "inconspicuous", and he gets a Mystery Machine look-alike with a gigantic plumber fixture on top) to the laughably unrealistic dialogue (while sneaking around in a vent, Kelly happens upon an inmate sneaking back into the asylum wearing a Domino's Pizza uniform and holding a pizza. Kelly's reaction? "They need a traffic light in here."), SnakeEater II manages to be funnier than some comedies. Because SnakeEater II made me laugh so hard, it's hard for me to not recommend this movie. However, I cannot give this movie a high rating simply because what I found hilarious in the movie does not necessarily make a good movie.
So I popped in my copy of SnakeEater II tonight, and my first surprise was that there were no previews, and the movie began immediately. The second surprise was that that wasn't the only surprise.
My expectations for the movie lowered upon witnessing the title sequence (which looked like the title sequence for a Super NES game) and the opening scene, where Speedboat is working community service at a community center preparing for a dancing competition. Here, while we see the late 80s at their finest, Speedboat runs around the room and makes wisecracks to everybody, but then begins to play second fiddle once Jonathan "Soldier" Kelly (Lorenzo Lamas), who looks and sounds like a MacGyver clone, comes in the room to put Speedboat in his place. Suddenly, the film's plot kicks in.
This movie requires a high suspension of disbelief, of which the film's plot plays a key role in. The plot is that evil drug lords are selling spiked drugs, which are killing kids. Soldier then moves in to their hideout and kills them all. As Soldier was suspended from the police force, this gets him put into trial, and his lousy lawyer pleads insanity. This gets Soldier Kelly thrown into jail, where we meet the wackiest inmates this side of Con Air. The wacky inmates come in many varieties, but the most memorable one was definitely the perverted Evangelist, who delivers fiery sermons that soon devolve into nothing more than explicitly lurid sexual rants.
However, that is not to say that this movie sucks. In fact, it's quite a decent movie. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the picture, and I was even rooting for the good guys, which I seldom do. However, the best parts of this movie are the script and the acting. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but this is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. From the incredibly bizarre scenes (Kelly asks Speedboat for a cover van that is "inconspicuous", and he gets a Mystery Machine look-alike with a gigantic plumber fixture on top) to the laughably unrealistic dialogue (while sneaking around in a vent, Kelly happens upon an inmate sneaking back into the asylum wearing a Domino's Pizza uniform and holding a pizza. Kelly's reaction? "They need a traffic light in here."), SnakeEater II manages to be funnier than some comedies. Because SnakeEater II made me laugh so hard, it's hard for me to not recommend this movie. However, I cannot give this movie a high rating simply because what I found hilarious in the movie does not necessarily make a good movie.