Fuerza delta 2

Aside from its propagandistic aspects (it seems to argue that America has the right to invade any foreign country in the name of "law and justice"), this is a standard, brainless actioner, with lots of explosions and large-scale stunts, but not much excitement. Billy Drago, as the slimy villain, is the film's only redeeming factor. (*1/2)

Let me put it forward. I didn't think all that much of the original, and that's exactly the same on this one. However for some enjoyable, light-headed entertainment it passed the buck for me, compared with the first outing. The two films couldn't be anything but different though. The first featured heavily on political terrorists, as this one plays out more like a comic-book revenge story with the drug cartel in his sights. Even though he's still apart of 'The Delta Force', this time Norris goes it alone, and tackles South American drug lords led by an impressively juicy and vicious Billy Drago bad guy performance of utter evilness and slime. Norris' personal, easy-going turn, is less mechanical to his first showing of the McCoy character.

Now this one was full-throttle from the get-go, and looked like it had a sizable budget. The gritty action is furious, and at times unpleasant. Just look at some of those remarkably creative stunt works involving an intense rock climb and thrilling sky dive. Some of the potent camera work neatly dons some sharp angles, and works in the jungle locations to great effect. There are explosions. Big ones. Numerous ones. Norris is that hard to kill, that they use a grenade launcher to stop him. Alas with no prevail. And you gotta love the inter-cutting slow-motion. Aaron Norris (yep Chuck's brother) directs by throwing caution to the wind, and while it's not first-rate handling and freshly organised. He demonstrates enough to keep you watching, and lets it tick along. The material is the real weak point. The bloated screenplay is covered with coincidences, and dialogues are fairly leaden. The rest of the performances are a can of worms. John P Ryan gleefully hams it up as Gen. Taylor and Richard Jeckal skews in as a determined DEA Agent. The beautiful Begona Plaza is appealingly good too.

I was expecting worse of this sequel. Pure tempo-laced b-action fun, where the cold stare of Drago steals the show.

The original Delta Force was a classic. There was no surprise when its sequel was greenlit. However, if the rumours on the internet are to be believed, it suffered from numerous rewrites and had plenty of people with different ideas as to how it should play out. Not only that, but actor, Lee Marvin, died during parts 1 and 2, therefore taking him out of the entire sequel, obviously.

So, we're left with the square-jawed baddie-killer, Chuck Norris, all by himself, packed and ready to take on the next wave of faceless henchmen and thugs.

And he does okay. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what's missing from the second Delta Force. On the surface everything appears to be there: Chuck, action, fight scenes, outrageous stunts, explosions, evil bad guys - it's all there. But, despite it all, there still feels like there's something missing.

This time, instead of Middle Eastern terrorists, we have Columbian drug lords (who follow every stereotype of South American cultures ever) who have kidnapped a load of DEA agents and, not only that, but they've only gone and murdered Chuck's best friend and his family. Hence Chuck better dust his beard down and kill absolutely everyone he meets. Which he does.

It's all good harmless fun (if your definition of 'harmless fun' is 'killing thousands of people in gruesome and fiery ways), but, for some reason, definitely feels lesser to its predecessor. If you enjoyed the first, you'll probably enjoy the second, too. But, if you're new to the franchise, I'd advise checking out the first one before you sit down to this.

Delta Force colonel Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris) and his super secret military unit The Delta Force are called back into action due to the activities of a ruthless cocaine kingpin named Ramon Cota (Billy Drago). Cota is well protected, and seemingly untouchable, making him a very arrogant adversary. His empire has just kidnapped a couple of Federal agents, including Scotts' associate Bobby Chavez (Paul Perri). Also along for the ride are a gung-ho general (John P. Ryan) and a young woman (Begonya Plaza) who wants revenge.

Chuck and his filmmaker brother Aaron serve up more of the same in this sequel. It's got plenty of gunfire and explosions and enough of a body count (but not very much gore) to satisfy undemanding action genre fans. Having the enemy be a drug kingpin certainly does make the story topical. A lot of the characters are disposable types, but the actors all fit nicely into their roles. It does help to have old pros like Ryan ("Runaway Train") and Richard Jaeckel ("Grizzly") among the supporting cast. Ryan makes the most of the situation. Cast in one of his rare good-guy roles, he delivers a jovial performance and chews on the scenery a bit. Drago (Frank Nitti in the "Untouchables" feature film) once again offers a master class in supremely oily villainy. This creep is just pure evil, and can't die soon enough. People will also notice character actor Mark Margolis ('Breaking Bad', 'Better Call Saul') as a crooked general in league with Cota.

What could have been a more interesting set piece, when Scott is required to scale a mountain in order to reach Cotas' lair, isn't as satisfying as it could have been, but at least it offers something fresh in an otherwise formula plot.

Adequate pacing and a truly excellent, rousing score by Frederic Talgorn help to make this an agreeable diversion for action fans.

Six out of 10.

An unfortunate, misjudged and misunderstood film that could have been something great but only clings to the bottom-rung of respectability. For a start, it has an unashamedly awful and truly despicable villain who oozes evil from every stinking orifice. When eccentric bad guys are not hammy, they are Ramon Cota (a sickening performance by villain's villain of choice and villain of the week Billy Drago).

Cota is a Columbian drug lord, who ships massive amounts of cocaine into America. He kills DEA agents with unnatural glee, murders pregnant women, tortures people to death in a gas chamber, rapes women, murders their husbands, murders sick babies and uses their bodies to smuggle cocaine - you get the picture, this guy is lower than minus infinity.

In a rare opportunity to catch him, Colonel Scott McCoy (the ever-bearded Chuck Norris) kidnaps Cota in mid-air and drags him into court only to watch him leave with virtually no charge. More DEA agents are kidnapped and it's up to Chuck to rescue them from death. So he heads off to the fictional South American country of San Carlos for some mighty kicking-of-ass. Killing Cota is not his mission, rescuing the DEA agents is, but you know that Cota is going to get what he deserves (with a little bit of slightly unsubtle philosophy from Norris).

The script is generic and by numbers. Never before has a movie been so strictly routine, but there are some real cool action scenes and so much melodrama that it could fuel EastEnders for a decade. The direction leaves a lot to be desired. If someone other than Chuck's brother had made this, we would have a hugely enjoyable film on our hands. Instead plot holes, illogical moments and a general feel of immaturity bog it down.

The action ranges from Norris flying through the sky, swinging through the jungle, falling off cliffs and dodging rockets. The main problem with the direction is that Aaron Norris uses the logic, "If it is in slow motion, then it is cool." He wants to drag out every bloody detail, every death dance and every penetration of every bullet. It's a shame Delta Force 2 isn't hyper-kinetic, because the slo-mo becomes very noticeable.

Chuck Norris' methods are also highly questionable. For a man who moves at 48 frames per second he sure does lay waste to thousands of Drago's henchman very well. And beating up the new Delta Force recruits to train them in the deadly arts is just bizarre.

General Taylor (John P. Ryan), a character so relentless gung-ho and over-the-top that he really should be in a pantomime, is McCoy's boss and he enjoys himself way too much when he tags along on the mission to blow away zillions of nameless henchman from a helicopter that is so indestructible and equipped with a never-ending supply of ammo you wonder why the REAL Delta Force doesn't use this thing over in Afghanistan. Ryan certainly did wrap himself in the American flag for this character. But hey, it worked for Stallone with John Rambo.

The single spot-on aspect of the whole movie has to be the strong and rousing musical score by Frederick Talgorn. If the rest of the movie was as good as this, then everything would be different. Instead Delta Force 2 is a mixed bag. There is a good film here, desperate to get out, but you have to claw your way through to find it.