Shootfighter II

Ok. No law states that anyone appearing in a Martial Arts flick, must be endowed with copious amounts of acting talent. Most of those who appreciate these films, watch for the fight sequences, and how well they are done. I, myself, love a great actioner. The storyline with Bolo Yeung, and characters "Ruben" and "Nick", is easy enough to digest. As I mentioned, this is not Shakespeare. Yet, this "movie" has no excitement, whatsoever. The actors try, but the fighting sequences were as exciting as watching dust settle on a lampshade.

This, plus ho-hum production values, equals one movie that could replace SLEEP-EZE as America's main relief from insomnia.

Well, if you have seen the 1993 movie "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death", then you have essentially also already seen the 1996 sequel "Shootfighter II", because they were one and the same movie. Yup, that was the extend of what writers Greg Mellott and Peter Shaner mustered to do here, just tweaked the setting a bit, but the storyline was basically the same.

So the writing in "Shootfighter II" was lazy, really lazy. And that makes "Shootfighter II" a somewhat dull movie experience in comparison to the 1993 original movie. Sure, "Shootfighter II" was watchable, and especially so if you haven't seen the 1993 predecessor.

"Shootfighter II" sees Bolo Yeung, William Zabka and Michael Bernardo return to reprise their characters and roles from the first movie, and that was one of the reasons why "Shootfighter II" was bearable to sit through. And this 1996 sequel also sees Brett Baxter Clark added to the roster, as well as Marc Macaulay, so there are some familiar faces on the cast list.

The movie, however, had Joe Son playing Lance Stuart, the main villain in the movie. I am not familiar with Joe Son, but talk about a miscast actor for the main bad guy. He was not able to portray a serious character, much less be taken seriously as a villain, so that took away a lot from the movie.

There were some good enough fight scenes throughout the course of the 91 minutes that the movie ran for, and they definitely helped make the movie all the more watchable, no doubt about it. And when you sit down to watch a movie such as "Shootfighter II", then it is for the martial arts and the fighting, not for the acting performances.

The 1996 movie "Shootfighter II" is nowhere near as enjoyable as the 1993 movie, especially not if you have seen the 1993 movie. And I did watch them back to back.

My rating of "Shootfighter II" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.

For whatever differences they may bear, a large majority of second-tier (or lower) fighting movies like this have at least one thing in common, and it's that any notion of narrative is a light, thin pretense to showcase martial arts or some level of melee combat. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this; it's part of what makes them fun, even at their goofiest. In the case of 'Shootfighter II,' one rather wishes the plot were deemphasized even more, as the exposition that sends our trio of protagonists across the country is very bland, if not also questionable. Pretty much every story beat we get feels distinctly contrived, and there are flourishes adorning the feature that are outright gauche - chiefly, the WWE-like bombast and gimmicks that fighters display before and even during matches. In the grand tradition of many an "okay, sure" sequel, we get a few returning characters and cast members, and a new writing team and director.

Camerawork and editing is a little too exuberant during action sequences, somewhat reducing our sight of utmost visceral (and actual) impact as shots cut away early. We're also treated to a plethora of reaction shots from the audience, to an extent that's ham-handed and over the top. A vast preponderance of the dialogue and scene writing is pointedly overdone or cliched, and the plot is little more than perfunctory on a very basic level. Meanwhile, I don't know whether the flat, unconvincing performances are attributable more to inability of the cast, deficient direction from Paul Ziller, or some other combination of factors, but the acting here is less than inspired. For good measure throw in gratuitous nudity and a sex scene, and to some degree reduce the actual amount of fighting to fill the runtime.

Don't get me wrong, 'Shootfighter II' isn't completely awful. Yet it's undeniably one or two steps down (or more) even from its predecessor of three years prior. More to the point, it's a sequel that screams, dances, and flashes neon lights to let you know it's here, and it matters too - instead of, you know, possessing mindful craft and value that speaks for itself. It's a movie that's defined almost entirely by tropes, and tawdry, unnecessary inclusions that are intended to heighten our engagement, but instead only threaten to break it. Oh, and arguably even more so than in the first movie, Bolo Yeung mostly goes to waste.

It was never going to be great, but it could have been good. Yet 'Shootfighter II' doesn't make nearly enough effort where it would count the most, and tries too hard to compensate for it in the most ignoble of ways, down to the very end. Even if you're a diehard fan of someone involved, you don't need to go out of your way to see it; leave this for those who are too curious for their own good, and even then, only on a very, very lazy day.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Shootfighter II; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.75 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.00 Enjoyment: 1.25

TOTAL: 4.75 out of 10.00

I rebuked the original Shootfighter, though only slightly, for not possessing an original script. Well, in the sequel, the writers attempt to add intrigue and stratagems. Sadly, neither the writers nor the director makes the film intriguing or engrossing.

The concept of the story is adequate. A police detective, having lost his son to an illegal "Death Match" Shootfight, enlists the help of a few martial artists to bring the killer promoters before the law. It only needs Master Shingo to hear that his brother is running the show, to offer him and his students help. So, off to Miami go Ruben, Nick, Master Shingo, and Shark. Since this martial arts flick has taken a slight detour into the thriller genre, there are a few twists in the tale. However, these suffer heavily from being much-used deceits. So when Detective Rawlins warns his stool-pigeon that if he crosses him, there will be trouble, you're waiting for the cross to come. And, in fact, most things in this thriller are predictable, and that's sad. They had a chance to create a solid and fresh story. What the audience receives, once again, is regurgitated leftovers.

The direction is worse than the original film. At least in that picture, the director knew how to shoot the fight scenes to make them engaging and exciting for the viewer. Paul Ziller, however, doesn't manage to hit the same highs. Most of the action sequences and chases are by the book and are rather dull - Considering the steady pace of the movie, it's not unexpected.

It would have helped massively had they not hired Chase Randolph to play Detective Lew Rawlins. For one thing, he's a Swiss-Cheese walking and talking. His performance lacks the skill, and he is cheesy to the max. I constantly wished one of the fighters would knock that grin right off his mug. Sadly, that never happens. The worst thing is everybody else is okay, so his acting deficiency is obvious, making it more of a distraction and hindrance to the viewer.

If you've watched and enjoyed Shootfighter, then feel free to check out the sequel; you'll probably enjoy it. Though, if you haven't, I'd recommend the original over this tiresome film.

Please feel free to visit my Holding Out For A Hero and The Game Is Afoot lists to see where I ranked ShootfighterII.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Now, this is my kind of movie, 80's/90's cheesey martial arts film with not very good acting, bad lines but some decent fight scenes.

I won't go too much into the story (revenge etc etc) to avoid spoilers.

I love films like King of the kickboxers, shootfighter 1, China o Brien etc so I know what I'm getting heading into this sort of movie.

The first issue as stated by others is the lack of blood, the first movie was decent with the amount of blood and gore etc

The second issue and by far and away the worst for me is Joe Son, from what I hear he's not a nice guy for real but he is a terrible actor and I absolutely despised him, needed something more along the lines of Tong Po to add a bit of fear but this Son guy was just a joke.