Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Christopher Penn, as well as director Robert Radler, return from the 1989 martial arts cult classic in a standard tale of vengeance. However, despite its simplistic theme, Rhee’s performance drives the film in high gear as a pretty decent sequel.
After they have taken on the best fighters from Korea, martial artists Alex Grady (Roberts), Tommy Lee (Rhee), and Travis Brickley (Penn) have returned and have opened a martial arts school in Las Vegas. While Alex and Tommy continue to build on their friendship, Travis has been spending his nights competing in a high-stakes underground tournament known as the Coliseum. The Coliseum is run by Weldon (Wayne Newton), a nightclub owner who thrives on the rigors of fighting with his current champion Brakus (Ralf Moeller) believing in the theory of being a true warrior without the use of guns.
When Travis is practically forced to babysit Alex’s son Walter (Edan Gross), Travis takes Walter to the Coliseum, where he is set to take on Brakus. During the fight, Travis is bested by Brakus and as a result, gets his neck broken by the hulking giant, leaving him dead. Walter witnesses Travis’s death and attempts to tell Alex and Tommy. At first, Alex and Tommy are unsure until they find Travis’s body the next day at a nearby river. While the police rule Travis’s death an accident, Alex and Tommy are not convinced and an attempt to confront Brakus forces them to go on the lam.
Hiding out with Tommy’s adopted grandmother (Betty Carvalho) and recluse cousin James (Sonny Landham), Alex and Tommy, with the support of Walter, begin to endure training under James, who has been revealed to have taken on Brakus in the past, in hopes to eventually take on the giant. When Tommy finds himself kidnapped by Weldon’s goons, Alex and Walter narrowly escape with Alex needing assistance to rescue Tommy from a good old friend of theirs.
There is something when seeing the original BEST OF THE BEST (1989). While the general audience may have seen the film as just another martial arts film, the film actually proved to be more than just a martial arts action film. It was more of a dramatic film that revolved around the members of the U.S. Karate Team. You actually show both sympathy and empathy for the team members, specifically Alex and Tommy, who have gone through personal struggles to succeed.
However, for this sequel, it somehow reverts back into a basic martial arts action film with the theme of revenge. While it may be a delight to see Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Christopher Penn return to the spotlight, it may just be viewed as just a basic action film. However, there is just something that makes this just a tad more than a basic action film and that could be because there is just something there, and that something may in fact be director Robert Radler. With Max Strom and actor John Allen Nelson handling the screenplay for the film, Radler directs the film to bring a sense of emotion over the film’s characters, something that should be more or less a trademark of his, especially after seeing these two films and his follow-up, SHOWDOWN (1993).
While the first film highlights Alex and Tommy’s personal struggles, there is more than just revenge for a friend’s death that triggers the film. We learn that Alex has moved on since his wife’s passing and has found a girlfriend in sports anchor Sue, played by Meg Foster. Tommy has replaced one brother with another, as we learn that he is now close with the fighter who accidentally killed his brother. Simon Rhee, Phillip Rhee’s real-life brother, returns in this installment to a capacity as Dae-Han, as well as pulling off double duty as the film’s action director once again. Meanwhile, we learn Tommy has an extended family, yet struggles to have a relationship with his adopted cousin James, played by Sonny Landham. James is seen as a recluse who drinks because of past demons and once Tommy and Alex train under him, James’s demons begin to disappear and finds a spirit in them that he once had and in a way, feels a sense of redemption through his new “students”.
The film has two antagonists, Weldon and Brakus. Weldon is the brains of the operation and is played by Vegas’ veteran himself, Wayne Newton. Newton plays it off as if he is being himself but with a thirst of blood through fighting. Meanwhile, German-born powerhouse Ralf Moeller, coming off his roles in two Jean-Claude Van Damme films, CYBORG (1989) and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1992), looks menacing on the screen as Brakus. Despite his limited ability in the martial arts department, he does very well here under the tutelage of Simon Rhee. Moeller would go on to play Conan in the short lived television series from 1997 to 1998 and recently, tried his hand at comedy in the Broken Lizard film BEERFEST (2006).
As with the first film, Simon Rhee does not disappoint with the film’s fight sequences. He has the ability to make non-martial artists look good on screen and unlike other action directors, he rarely, if at all, needs the use of any wires or computer effects to show it. He has the willingness to show the limits of the cast when it comes to the action scenes. Eric Roberts and Christopher Penn look as if they continued their training after the first film and look good on-screen while Phillip Rhee is truly the highlight reel of the film, showcasing both his taekwondo kicking skills as well as some hapkido moves. As mentioned, Ralf Moeller looks quite believable, bringing a reminiscene of how Hong Kong-based Corey Yuen made another German-born powerhouse and at the time non-martial artist, Matthias Hues, look good in NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER 2: RAGING THUNDER (1987).
In the end, BEST OF THE BEST 2 may not be as good as the original due to its simplistic theme of revenge, but there is something with director Robert Radler’s style of emotional depth that makes this a worthy sequel.
by Albert ValentinRelated Topics:
Best of the Best 2 (1992) • Eric Roberts • hapkido • Phillip Rhee • revenge • tae kwon do • tournament
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