Angel of Fury

This has to be one of the most spectacular cases of aiming high and missing by a mile.

In the early 90s, a slew of actors tried to break into action stardom in the post-Cannon movie world. Among hopefuls like of Daniel Bernhardt, Thomas Ian Griffith, Jeff Speakman, Jeff Wincott, Oliver Gruner, Gary Daniels and others, there was a lone female martial artist: Cynthia Rothrock. After some Hong Kong movies with amazing stunts, her American films were notable for much less impressive stuntwork, low production value and lots of cheese (like the meme final fight in Undefeated). Her early American films were usually low budget LA movies that tried to make her a star and are notable for aiming well beyond their means.

Lady Dragon 2 is probably the weirdest example among them.

Rothrock plays the martial arts champion wife of a diminutive South American soccer player who somehow sees himself as a popular leader in a corrupt impoverished country. Yes, it's that weird. They live in a mansion with a housekeeper, but somehow, when the soccer player comes across some Diamonds stolen by a ruthless criminal from the Italian Mafia (was the screenwriter doing too much coke?), he takes them to "help his people". Naturally the bad guys show up.

And what a bad guy we get: Billy Drago! He dials up his usual schtick to 11. It's a weirdly fascinating mix of gangster, psychopath, sexual pervert and rapist, effeminate wimp, and southern hillbilly. It's a ridiculous performance, and the director glues the camera to him whenever he's on screen and gives him ample time to do knife tricks, moan into the phone, give death glares or do feminine dances and gyrations. It's not a great performance, but... it's a performance.

After the initial attack and a murder, he waltzes in and out of Cynthia Rothrock's house whenever he pleases. The police even apprehend him, and he still does it. Goes right back to the murder scene, and even starts doing obscene phone calls to Cynthia Rothrock or playing pranks with a dead body (not gonna spoil that scene). The police at one point offer to keep one officer there for protection, but of course Cynthia Rothrock says no. We're supposed to think it's because she's a badass, but really it's because they lacked the budget and the script was tripping over its many plotlines already.

The writers throw everything they have at the screen: rape, ill begotten gains, stealing from the mafia, class differences, economic hardship and growing up in poverty, self-sacrifice, betrayal, vigilantiism, the police having to let criminals go for lack of evidence, martial arts, rape, sexual harassment and a brief horror scene. It's INSANE.

Cynthia Rothrock doesn't have many fights, but the ones she has are overdone. Whether pinned between a random weirdly yelling chinese swordfighter and other armed goons, or between someone with a gun and someone with a car, none of it makes sense, but it's plenty violent and stupid. Very entertaining.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack, as so often in early 90s movies, hampers the enjoyment. It's an incessantly loud melancholic synth score, melodic, with some weird military drums. It sucks the tension right out of scenes that would feel pretty intense with a more fitting soundtrack. This soundtrack feels more like for a noir movie.

As you can see, none of the puzzle pieces fit together. But you'll rarely be bored. Mostly due to Billy Drago.

A good choice for bad movie night.

Action queen Cynthia Rothrock gets one of her most serious and mature roles after her departure from working in Hong Kong film, with Angel Of Fury - also known as Lady Dragon 2 but with no connection to the first except for its star and its director, David Worth. Having also directed the great Kickboxer with Van Damme as well as Chain Of Command with Michael Dudikoff, Worth also worked as DOP on Bloodsport as well as many other Hollywood flicks!

But even with credits as long as your leg, Angel Of Fury is still just an above-average movie, playing it safe on many technical levels. Although US backed, the majority of it was shot in Indonesia (much like Lady Dragon) and stars a number of local actors, one of which is George Rudy who plays Rothrock's husband. He suffers at the hands of the camp but great Billy Drago and his men, who torture him for some diamonds and rape his wife in front of him. One of Drago's men is the towering Sam Jones, who is totally miscast in this role as a big-stupid-boy who just knows how to smash things up and fire guns.

While the production design and direction may be a little dated and average against today's standards, things are saved by a menacing performance by Billy Drago and our very own Miss Rothrock, who turns in one of her better acting gigs and still looks great in the action scenes. Yes, its far from what she was delivering in her Hong Kong films, but the fights are still pretty entertaining to watch and don't disappoint. One of the highlights being the fight involving 3 guys versus Rothrock towards the end.

Personally, I found that it was around this time (possibly a year or two later), that Cynthia's films and career started to take a slide and unfortunately, never got back on track since, and while she always suffered from a bad run of costumes and hair-do's in her Hong Kong films, I have to say that Cyndy looks great in this role. She fits the part well, pulling off a tidy performance as a widow scorned who's out for revenge. It was great seeing her back alongside someone like the late Drago, who had also starred with her in Karate Cop (aka Martial Law 2: Undercover), which allowed for more intensity between them on screen here having formed that friendship in the past.

I do like Angel Of Fury. It's not a film you would want to watch over and over again due to its slow pace and dark nature, but it does entertain. Although the score is very nineties in a Hollywood kinda way, the sound design isn't all that great, often missing an opportunity for creating more tension or impact in the right moment...

This is Cynthia's 'big-girl' film, and I do wish she had gotten more of this type of thing (albeit with a stronger director). There are a few moments in Angel Of Fury that surprised me, such as when her exhumed husband appears at home sending her into melt-down, and Drago's death at the end. But hey, it is a thriller after-all..!

Overall: An underrated (albeit, flawed) thriller with a great performance from Rothrock, both in the action and acting department.

This could have been one of the best Cynthia US American movie if the fight between Rothrock and that fat thug was better and if there was a fight between billy drago and Cynthia at the end of the movie.Lady dragon 2 has nothing new to offer: has the same story like the first movie with rothrock seeking revenge for the killing of her husband.she uses her martial arts knowledge for killing the bad guys.this movie is improved instead of the first lady dragon movie because the chief villain:billy dragon played much better than Richard Norton,the fight scenes were better and is a lil' bit thriller in some moments.the fight from the elevator was so sexy and rough.Cynthia is very convincing as tough woman who is seeking for revenge.so in my opinion it was a pretty good movie.enjoy

If you want to see Billy Drago and Cynthia Rothrock together, then "Lady Dragon 2" is your movie. The action begins immediately, with Drago and his gang stealing a valuable bag of diamonds from the "Mob". Hiding the diamonds in Rothrock's baggage, the gang follows her and her husband to Jakarta. When Drago can't get Rothrock's husband to turn over the diamonds, he kills him. The remainder of the film is Rothrock hunting down Drago and his men. A simplistic script does offer a couple of surprises. The whispering Drago is especially menacing in this movie, and his final fight with Rothrock, especially brutal. For an action film, "Lady Dragon 2 " delivers. "Don't worry, I'm going to take real good care of that new widow." (Billy Drago) - MERK

In the new and moderately improved sequel to David 'Kickboxer' Worth's original Rothrock-starring action-distraction 'Lady Dragon', our plucky, punch-happy heroine returns once more to avenge the murder of her beloved husband by a gang of heartless, mask-wearing killers led by the glacial, stone-hearted villainy of B-Movie kingpin Billy Drago. We see Susan 'The Golden Angel' Morgan strut her entirely strut-worthy stuff in the ring making hard work of an enjoyably rough, slam-bang bout as the exquisitely evil Diego (Billy Drago) callously wipes out three wealthy goombah's for their plentiful diamond booty.

Having only barely survived this awful Diego-led home invasion, the ignominy continues as the frantically murderous obsession over the ownership of the contraband diamonds merely increases the terrible levels of ensuing violence. Choosing blunt street justice over the uncertain vagaries of law, this 'Angel of Fury' must initially get down an' dirty in the scum-clogged bowels of the city in order to 'flush out' the diabolically foul perpetrators and take them out one by one.

While 'Lady Dragon 2' isn't by any stretch of the imagination a top-tier Rothrock skull-rocker, since it focuses mainly on sleazy theatrics than relentless 'Undefeatable' style Kung Fun overkill, but there are a few stand out bravura sequences of righteous skell annihilation, which capitalize strongly on Cynthia Rothrock's quicksilver punches and devastating Roundhouse kicks to enormously cinematic effect! I have always found Rothrock to be a dynamic and hugely engaging screen presence and certainly no less so as vengeful Susan 'The Golden Angel' Morgan, and when she inevitably unleashes her signature lightning-fast flurry of titanic Thug trashing, tibia terminating terror it is ALWAYS guaranteed to be a next level boss beatdown!

There's some additionally joyous incongruities on display here which playfully elevate the formulaic proceedings, namely Sam 'Flash Gordon' Jones's singular decision to zestily play his lunk-headed bully boy Reb as a bizarrely perma-cackling cartoon super villain, making for a weirdly satisfying buzz-cut creepozoid that ultimately proves no match for the sinfully savage Cynthia! Much like the powerhouse star, 'Lady Dragon 2' is generously top loaded, saving all the groovy goodies for last, as even a lesser Rothrock actioner is far better than most at their best. I had a B-Movie blast watching Cynthia 'sticking' it to the deliciously diabolical Diego and hopefully other Rothrock fans might get no less of a 'kick' out of watching 'Lady Dragon 2' than I did!