Penitenciaría II

Once again, we find "Too Sweet" struggling against his conscience, and the bad guys, to gain his freedom. After defeating his arch-rival, and gaining freedom: "Too Sweet" works himself into championship contention...he's reunited with his sister, who is married, and has a young son. As fate would have it...he must fight against the same man he defeated to end the first movie. Now, they each have risen in the rankings. You'll find the plot thin, the acting pitiful, and get a good laugh for nostalgia's sake.. You'll notice Mr.T, Ernie Hudson (the warden on "Oz"), and a few others...have your buddies over, break out the beer and enjoy. Its true entertainment value is how thinly veiled the plot and characters are. This movie, was BIG...back in the Blaxpo days. Essentially it rode the wave of the original. Leon Isaac had no talent, physique, or legitimacy as an actor. But , he did what most successful films do...run a sequel to milk the audiences thirst.

The current DVD release available for this title is NOT the same version of the film that was shown in theaters. The DVD distributor for some reason made cuts to parts of the movie. (In particular, Ernie Hudson's ambush of the girl in the shower.) The sequence may too brutal for more sensitive viewers, but that doesn't justify making cuts to the original film.) HBO broadcast the movie in it's entirety in the 80's, and the first VHS/Beta home video releases also contain the complete film.

The only good thing I can say about PENITENTIARY II is that it's better than PENITENTIARY III, which was a soulless Cannon exercise redeemed only by the couple of really bizarre moments. In PEN II, the film is more down to earth, relaxed and "real" than Part 3. The film is still pretty much terrible but I like these junky "grindhouse" type of movies that they simply don't make anymore. The story doesn't make much sense, and by the time the second fight occurred, I completely lost track of what was going on. The last shot in the film reminded me of a Crumb comix. The funniest thing in this movie is the "villain" and his ho. The entire moment when they eat in bed is priceless!

Very predictable movie kind of a low budget film. But it was still worth the watch.

This film essentially begins where its predecessor left off with a man named "Martel 'Too Sweet' Gordone" (Leon Isaac Kennedy) having been released on early parole from prison due to his boxing skills. On that note, one of the conditions for his release is that he must report to a boxing promoter by the name of "Sam Cunningham" (Stan Kamber) and work with him for at least one year. The problem is, Martel doesn't particularly want to be a professional boxer and as a result he wants nothing to do with Sam. So, in the meantime, Martel has since moved in with his sister "Ellen Johnson" (Peggy Blow) while he contemplates what he wants to do in life. As luck would have it, he also meets his old girlfriend "Clarisse" (Eugenia Wright) and the two get back together again. Unfortunately, just as everything seems to be falling into place, an old enemy named "Half Dead" (Ernie Hudson) breaks out of prison and has only one thing on his mind--to settle an old score with Martel. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I honestly didn't care that much for this particular sequel due in large part to the manner in which the director (James Fanaka) kept cutting away from one scene to another during the main fight. This repeated technique made everything look much too cheap and totally diminished the overall effect. Likewise, I thought that the acting of Leon Isaac Kennedy could have used some improvement as well. Be that as it may, I simply wasn't that impressed with this film and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.