A special effects man helps his girlfriend's ex, a cop, with a sting operation, where the ex gets killed. Something's off and he investigates with help from an ex-cop PI friend.
Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?
Stars:
Cameron Daddo,
Christina Cox,
Richard Waugh
Susy Conner accuses former employer, Gary Fitzgerald, of harassment and unfair dismissal for failing to comply with his sexual demands. Relating the incident to conciliation lawyer, Marion ... See full summary »
Meg, Pippa, and Hillary are sisters who grew up in Sorrento, a small seaside town in Australia. Meg, who has lived in England for 10 years has just written a criticially acclaimed novel ... See full summary »
When a Jane Chase, a young zoology student, is invited to assist anthropologist Steven Phillips with his experiments involving chimpanzees, mysterious events occur that all center around Phillip's super intelligent simian servant, Link.
Director:
Richard Franklin
Stars:
Terence Stamp,
Elisabeth Shue,
Steven Finch
John Preston is a British Agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the "special relationship" between the two countries.
F/X man Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown) is now a toy maker. Mike Brandon (Tom Mason), the ex-husband of Rolly's girlfriend Kim(Rachel Ticotin), is a cop. He asks Rollie to help catch a killer. The operation goes well until some unknown man kills both the killer and Mike.Mike's boss, Ray Silak (Philip Bosco) says it was the killer who killed Mike but Rollie knows it wasn't. Silak is involved with Mike's death, so he calls on Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy), the cop from the last movie, who is now a P.I., for help and they discover it's not just Silak they have to worry about.Written by
<rcs0411@yahoo.com>
Shot of helicopter flying and exclamations of non-pilot crook trying to keep it in the air. See more »
Alternate Versions
The scene in which Tyler converts an aerosol can into a "grenade" was cut by the New Zealand censors on the grounds that it might inspire real-life incidents of "copycat" behaviour. See more »
This is another of the countless sequels where it is evident that those who made it simply did not "get" what made the movie special. The tactical use of FX is still there, to an extent, but they try so hard to outdo the original, and it just winds up as a series of gags, most of them seeming like far more effort than they're worth, which is a backwards version of the minimalistic and incredibly effective use in #1. They're not that creative or entertaining this time around. Tyler now works as a toy-maker, although the only example of his craft that we see is a man-size sorta-robotic clown-doll, with the words "I will be extremely convenient" written all over it. He is yet again asked to help with his skills, and after initially declining, and... nothing else happening, he says "why not"(literally), since otherwise, there'd be no flick(and boy, that would be a shame). Dennehy returns, and is good as he always is, and frankly, his answering machine is probably the funniest bit in this entire thing. The humor is about decent. This has a bigger, complex plot. The cinematography and editing are average. Action is pretty nicely done. This does have suspense, however, the entire thing is nowhere near as engaging or thrilling. The director has only done one other thing that I'd even heard of at all, Psycho II, and that single fact sums it up so perfectly(though that one was considerably worse), I almost don't want to add anything to it. All I'll say is the following: They are both completely unnecessary 2nd entries in a series that never demanded such, and the true fans of either franchise ought to realize that they are ultimately not up to the quality level. I think it says a lot that I re-watched both this and the first after several years, and while I was recognizing almost everything about the latter as I saw it, I had nearly forgotten the content of this one. The DVD holds a theatrical trailer, potentially spoiler-filled. I recommend this only to those who want something like what they got before, and don't mind settling, trading down. 6/10
4 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
This is another of the countless sequels where it is evident that those who made it simply did not "get" what made the movie special. The tactical use of FX is still there, to an extent, but they try so hard to outdo the original, and it just winds up as a series of gags, most of them seeming like far more effort than they're worth, which is a backwards version of the minimalistic and incredibly effective use in #1. They're not that creative or entertaining this time around. Tyler now works as a toy-maker, although the only example of his craft that we see is a man-size sorta-robotic clown-doll, with the words "I will be extremely convenient" written all over it. He is yet again asked to help with his skills, and after initially declining, and... nothing else happening, he says "why not"(literally), since otherwise, there'd be no flick(and boy, that would be a shame). Dennehy returns, and is good as he always is, and frankly, his answering machine is probably the funniest bit in this entire thing. The humor is about decent. This has a bigger, complex plot. The cinematography and editing are average. Action is pretty nicely done. This does have suspense, however, the entire thing is nowhere near as engaging or thrilling. The director has only done one other thing that I'd even heard of at all, Psycho II, and that single fact sums it up so perfectly(though that one was considerably worse), I almost don't want to add anything to it. All I'll say is the following: They are both completely unnecessary 2nd entries in a series that never demanded such, and the true fans of either franchise ought to realize that they are ultimately not up to the quality level. I think it says a lot that I re-watched both this and the first after several years, and while I was recognizing almost everything about the latter as I saw it, I had nearly forgotten the content of this one. The DVD holds a theatrical trailer, potentially spoiler-filled. I recommend this only to those who want something like what they got before, and don't mind settling, trading down. 6/10