Lady Dragon 2

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.

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!

Not a lot of thought was put into the plot here, unless the writers have never seen any other movie before in their lives. But you don't care about the plot do you? I didn't think so. The only reason to watch a Cynthia Rothrock movie is the fighting. But there's not enough to satisfy here. But I guess she's getting up there in years now. Some of the special effects are hilariously bad. The car stunts are all shown in fast-forward so you have this jerky effect going on. But you can't beat Billy Drago for the bad guy (like in every movie he's in?). And explosions and gun fights are always fun. All in all, I recommend this for late night brainless entertainment, but only if it is on free TV.

This movie called in USA as Lady Dragon 2 but the real name is Angel of Fury. There was a movie called Angel of Fury in USA so they had to change the movie name to Lady Dragon 2 . In Europe " Angel of Fury " is still the name of this movie .C.Rothrock "Queen of b-kung-fu video movies" had a great performance in this movie. Billy Drago is the bad guy in this movie and he has also a good performance.The story is cliche but the real fans of C.Rothrock will love this movie, like me.Great kicks and punches from C.Rothrock.If you like C.Rothrock you will enjoy this movie .Do not rent this movie if you are looking for serious movie to see !!!