Karaté Tiger 2

I just got the the NRNS trilogy today and watched "NRNS2". (I really only was looking to get the original because I collect van damme movies and of course it is his first action movie. But I was lucky enough to get the other 2 for free with it). I just wanted to write the IMDb fans of kung-fu and action flicks that that this was a decent low budget movie that gave me that feeling I haven't had in a while. that feeling of being a kid again and I wish I did see this one when I was a kid because it would of affected me even more. I felt like I had seen it before when I was watching it and was loving the low budget, bad acting you would expect from the time. this is a hidden classic for me now and im glad i watched it and now own it.

all you need to know about nrns 1 and 2 is.............

the fight scenes are wicked (even for today standards) speeding up the camera seems to be the staple of these movies (but it does make the action look hella good). And thats it....

good 80's nostalgia representing and now I cant wait to see number 3 (blood brothers)

No Retreat, No Surrender was a film about a dude who was having trouble fitting in at his new home after his dad got injured by the mob. He learns kungfu from the ghost of Bruce Lee and tackles a Russian martial arts champ at a tournament. The only thing this one has in common with that is a Russian being the big bad at the end. Oh, this one has Max Thayer too; granted, I do not remember him in the first film. This one has Cynthia Rothrock so point to this film! Granted, she kind of feels like a last minute add in...

So the story has a guy visiting an Asian country, at first seemingly to find an old chum (Thayer), but after running afoul of Cynthia he apparently has a fiance. She gets kidnapped so the guy finally finds his buddy and they make plans to rescue her. She has been kidnapped by a dude in a Russian camp. He is pretty tough, he obliterated Cynthia, but he kind of fought her unfair. Cynthia joins the heroes as a helicopter pilot and if she had a better fate I would have given this one a higher score.

The cast is good, as I have never seen the lead but he was pretty good; however, both Rothrock and Thayer are the two more charismatic leads. The lead Russian bad guy is good too, probably most known for his role as the killer alien in the Dolph film, I Come In Peace.

So it was enjoyable for what must of been a low budget action film. Plays more like a Rambo film during the ending scenes than anything found in the first film. Not sure why they tried to tie this one with that one, I guess they felt they needed a hook?

I didn't even know that they had made a part two and three for the 1985 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender". And it wasn't until now in 2024, as I happened to stumble upon the 1987 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" that I was made aware of parts two and three. Of course I opted to sit down and watch this 1987 sequel, and see what director Corey Yuen had to offer.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to see that it was Corey Yuen who directed the movie, as he usually have good movies to his name, so I actually had some expectations for this sequel, despite the fact that it was following up on a mediocre movie at best.

The storyline and narrative in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder", as written by Maria Elena Cellino, Roy Horan and Keith W. Strandberg, was watchable and entertaining enough for what it was. But keep in mind, the writers didn't really reinvent the wheel here, as it was a fairly generic and formulaic narrative. They opted to play it safe and bet on the traditional tropes of the action and martial arts movies from the 1980s and early 1990s. And I can't help but wonder if the writers had enjoyed the 1985 "First Blood Part II" a tad too much, as their script sort of had a Rambo-vibe to it.

The movie has a lot of plot holes and scenes where you just go 'why?'. Especially the scene where they scaled the waterfall. Why not climb up where there was no water, and thus no slippery rocks? It was just plain stupidity why that scene even came into existence. The scene where a guy is thrown into a hole with crocodiles was also pretty good, especially since you could see that it was fake plastic crocodiles bobbing about as the waves from the impact when the body hit the water made them bob up and down.

Why is the movie even carrying the "No Retreat, No Surrender" title? There is nothing connecting it to the original 1985 movie.

I can't claim that I found leading actor Loren Avedon to be a particularly great lead, as his acting was somewhat stinted. I was only familiar with Cynthia Rothrock, Matthias Hues and Nirut Sirichanya in the movie. And I never were much of a fan of Cynthia Rothrock back in the grand days of martial arts movies, so I wasn't particularly thrilled to see her name on the screen during the intro sequence. In general, though, I will say that the acting performances in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" were okay. Sure, you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian theater, but for an action movie of this type, the acting was fair. Well, for the most parts fair, actor Matthias Hues as the Russian leader was just cringeworthy, as his acting was laughably bad.

The movie does have a fair amount of action sequences and martial arts scenes, which definitely speaks in favor of the movie. Just funny how goons and henchmen always fire their weapon downwards, usually striking nothing but ground at the feet of where the narrative's heroes were just a moment ago.

The first fight scene with Matthias Hues against some local Thai fellow was one of the most laughable fight scenes I've seen in a long, long time. It looked as if Matthias Hues was performing some kind of strange ballet. It was such a comical scene, that it was hard to take it serious.

Visually, the movie was okay. I was especially much a fan of the amazing fiery balls of explosions that the fragmentation genades caused, and the sheer radius of aforementioned fiery fireball was also impressive.

So was "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" a great movie? Hardly so. But it was certainly a watchable movie, albeit a rather generic and formulaic one. But if you enjoyed the action and martial arts movies of the 1980s and early 1990s, then you should find some enjoyment in this 1987 movie. It was hardly an outstanding movie, and I doubt that I will ever return to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Corey Yuen's 1987 movie "No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This was originally intended to be a direct sequel to the first 'NR, NS' which launched the career of a certain Jean Claude Van Damme. However Van Damme pulled out feeling the film would not have furthered his career while persuading co-star Kurt McKinney to do the same. As a result, the story was changed with Tae Kwon Do expert Loren Avedon and Matthias Hues drafted in to play the American and Russian stereotypes.

The basic synopsis sees Avedon's character call in some friends in an attempt to rescue his Thai girlfriend, while strangely coming across a contingent of the Russian army (camped out in the Vietnamese jungle!) in the process, as well as a group of fake Shaolin monks. (Blame Keith W. Strandberg for the script!).

Surprisingly, for an American film, there are some well executed and imaginative fight sequences predominantly showcasing the excellent kicking skills of Avedon. This is clearly the influence of Yuen Kwai who was not prepared to concede too much to the American filming and time constraints. The finale, while inferior to the first films final reel, features Cynthia Rothrock as a hard-hitting, tough talking helicopter pilot (not a cop/CIA/FBI agent for a change!) showing some of the moves which made her name on the Jade screen. This movie is one of the only 80's flicks that uses her real voice! Loren Avedon did not follow Jean Claude's example and stayed on after this film fulfilling his 3 picture contract, notably with the decent third instalment of the NR, NS series: 'Blood Brothers' with the excellent Keith Vitali (Yuen Biao's opponent in 'Wheels on Meals') and I am surprised he was never used in a 'real' Hong Kong picture as he is clearly skilled and quick enough to have made a good screen villain.

Despite being a sequel, this has nothing to do with the first movie. There's a whole new cast, and a brand new plot. A quite good one, actually. No Retreat, No Surrender 2 is the perfect example of pure 80's fun. It has lots of really cool fighting, fun background music and almost everything else we all know as bad (but really entertaining) 80's action stuff. The last fifteen minutes of the movie are excellent. Movies with totally evil Soviet military bases are always fun! And Matthias Hues is perfect as an evil Soviet military. The last fight between him and Loren Avedon must be considered as a classic.

Same score as the first movie: 7 out of 10!