A team from the United States is going to compete against Korea in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. The team consists of fighters from all over the country--can they overcome their rivalry and work together to win?
Director:
Robert Radler
Stars:
Eric Roberts,
James Earl Jones,
Sally Kirkland
A group of Russian mobsters have stolen a huge supply of paper for printing U.S. currency, and are now flooding the market with conterfeit bills. When one of the mobsters decides to give ... See full summary »
Jason Stillwell, a Bruce Lee fan, is beaten numerous times and trains from the ghost of Lee. Jason then must use his newly acquired skills to save Seattle from a crime syndicate, whose top ... See full summary »
Director:
Corey Yuen
Stars:
Kurt McKinney,
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
J.W. Fails
In an underground fight club, blackbelt Travis Brickley is killed after losing to the evil martial arts master Brakus. Travis' death is witnessed by Walter Grady, the son of his best friend Alex Grady. Alex and his partner, Tommy Lee, vow to avenge their friend's death by defeating Brakus and shutting down the fight club.Written by
Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>
The man who was stabbed with the pencil (Kane Hodder) was also the same man famous for playing Jason Voorhees in four Friday the 13th films (7, 8, 9, and 10) See more »
Goofs
In the arena Tommy Lee fights Khan who is with the nunchakus. Lying on his back, Tommy does a hop-up to kick Khan. In the first shot, it is clear that Tommy is rolling to his back after the kick. In the next shot, he does the same move but jumps to his feet instead. See more »
The 18-rated UK release of this film had 1 minute 31 seconds pre-cut by the distributor. The cuts are as follows:
The duel between Tommy (Philip Rhee) and the Asian, ponytailed gladiator has been severly shortened for the U.K prints. A lengthy segment of the fight in which the gladiator uses two pairs of silver nunchakus is missing.
The scene lasts twice as long in the uncut version, which has been shown in the past on Sky. The version currently screening on Bravo, however, appears to be the same as the video except for an extra shot of James (Tommy's native brother) having his finger blown off - which isn't in Sky's print.
I wasn't really a huge fan of the original BEST OF THE BEST. It came across as an adult version (but nonetheless family friendly) version of THE KARATE KID, complete with a team of adults competing in a karate championship. The stakes were low and there wasn't a whole lot of excitement to be had. What would I make of the sequel? The good news is that this is a VAST improvement. BEST OF THE BEST 2 jettisons the family-orientated nature of the first film to provide a bloodthirsty, hard-hitting sequel which plays out as a riff on Van Damme's KICKBOXER. There's an illegal fight tournament, death at the hands of a monstrous opponent, and revenge in mind. There's even some '90s-style B-movie action outside of the ring, complete with bloody shoot-outs and the like. It's a heck of a lot of fun.
Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Chris Penn all return from the first film, although Roberts and Penn have relatively limited screen time. Rhee is the real star here and he holds his own in a series of brutally violent fight scenes. I love the over the top sound effects and explicit violence of these '90s fight flicks and BEST OF THE BEST 2 doesn't disappointment. The German Ralf Moeller (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER) makes for a convincingly tough opponent and the film as a whole is replete with violence and beatdowns.
The supporting cast contains appearances from a number of familiar faces, not least the unmissable Meg Foster (THEY LIVE) who contributes a cameo. Sonny Landham (PREDATOR) has a small but violent role as the man who trains the team. Simon Rhee, Phillip's real-life brother, also returns from the original, and Wayne Newton (LICENCE TO KILL) plays a weaselly fight promoter. Personally, I was more than happy to see Patrick Kilpatrick (ERASER) and Nicholas Worth (GABRIEL KNIGHT 2: THE BEAST WITHIN) in minor roles as thugs.
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I wasn't really a huge fan of the original BEST OF THE BEST. It came across as an adult version (but nonetheless family friendly) version of THE KARATE KID, complete with a team of adults competing in a karate championship. The stakes were low and there wasn't a whole lot of excitement to be had. What would I make of the sequel? The good news is that this is a VAST improvement. BEST OF THE BEST 2 jettisons the family-orientated nature of the first film to provide a bloodthirsty, hard-hitting sequel which plays out as a riff on Van Damme's KICKBOXER. There's an illegal fight tournament, death at the hands of a monstrous opponent, and revenge in mind. There's even some '90s-style B-movie action outside of the ring, complete with bloody shoot-outs and the like. It's a heck of a lot of fun.
Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Chris Penn all return from the first film, although Roberts and Penn have relatively limited screen time. Rhee is the real star here and he holds his own in a series of brutally violent fight scenes. I love the over the top sound effects and explicit violence of these '90s fight flicks and BEST OF THE BEST 2 doesn't disappointment. The German Ralf Moeller (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER) makes for a convincingly tough opponent and the film as a whole is replete with violence and beatdowns.
The supporting cast contains appearances from a number of familiar faces, not least the unmissable Meg Foster (THEY LIVE) who contributes a cameo. Sonny Landham (PREDATOR) has a small but violent role as the man who trains the team. Simon Rhee, Phillip's real-life brother, also returns from the original, and Wayne Newton (LICENCE TO KILL) plays a weaselly fight promoter. Personally, I was more than happy to see Patrick Kilpatrick (ERASER) and Nicholas Worth (GABRIEL KNIGHT 2: THE BEAST WITHIN) in minor roles as thugs.