Silk 2

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the film on MGM/UA video cassette.

Hawaiian actioner "Silk 2" has an all-new heroine, but it's business as usual in the chasing-around department. This is a mnor video title from Roger Corman's Concorde stable.

Monique Gabrielle, mis-advertised as former "Playmate of the Year" (she was a Penthouse mag model, not a Playboy gatefold girl), takes over the title role of a Honolulu cop from Cec Verrell in a drastic contrst of body shapes and hairstyles.

She's out to solve the mystery of missing Japanese scrolls that no-goodnik Jan Merlin is using as part of an insurance scam at his art museum. Along the way she teams up with friendly tourist Maria Claire and bland action hero Peter Nelson.

Pic's high point is a self-homage by Filippino director Cirio Santiago to his 1974 classic "TNT Jackson", with Gabrielle having a high-kicking martial arts fight in topless format, just like Jeanne Bell did so long ago. The slow motion sex scene of Gabrielle and Nelson in bed is shot in blurrr-o-vision, however.

Since Cec Verrell didn't reprise her role as Silk(She was doing "Hunter" playing Iris in the episode, "City Under Siege"), so another actress has taken her place as the tough cop. This time around, it's a case of counterfeit scrolls. She gets supported by regular people who help her avenge her slain partner. A art expert, and a college student who is traveling. They were unwilling at first, but they have proved themselves by helping the cop.

There was more sex appeal in the film than the first one. Makes it less boring. The action is still there. So nothing was lost in the film, but getting the scrolls was only the challenge. Mild to say that.

2 out of 5 stars.

In my eyes, silk 2 provided an outstandingly fun watch. I was thoroughly absorbed in the plot from start to finish. Set in Hawaii, Silk is the policewoman who singlehandedly takes on a ring of criminals cashing in via art-insurance/black-market scandal.

The illustrious criminal 'Mr Gish,' whose smooth talking antics are played to a tee by Jan Merlin, gets me every time.

But he doesn't stand a chance. Out to get him is Jenny 'Silk' Sleighton, a cop who has had more than her dose of tough times recently (and not without the aid of her compatriots the beautiful Holly and handsome Tony) who stand up and fight for whats right in this underworld of lies and fraudulent art-bandits.

All I needed, in order to know that I was going to enjoy this movie, was to see silk in the very beginning, determined to save a group of innocent people from terrorists holding them under siege.

Why? because (in Silk's words): 'crime doesn't pay'!

With grit determination we see Silk make a run for it past the baddies, smash the window and basically go in and shoot them all.

That is why I found this movie so absorbing and great to watch from the very outset.

She was like watching an elastic cat doing gymnastics and shooting all the baddies; Silk is a legend!

But when her partner can no longer follow the case of an old 'pal' (as a favor) any longer, silk takes over and it is non-stop actions-ville. We see explosions, car chases, and humor as well (the fun tourists - "Whats green and swims around in water"?) But most importantly, there is a meaningful plot; someone is stealing real artworks and destroying them for the insurance/black-market value and then lying to the public about the fraudulent copies. I was positively glued to my seat! Tony as a man with the courage to 'speak up' is introduced to Silk in a way where they can both join forces and get to the bottom of things.

So, if you like a movie that's worth a few laughs, hasn't an over-emphasis on realistically conveyed editing and with dialogue and stunts that leave you laughing until your shoelaces untie themselves, this is for you! Sit down with a bowl of popcorn or whatever you like and watch genius flash by your very eyes.

So SILK 2 is a sequel to a film starring Monique Gabrielle as an ass-kicking female cop tacking down criminals in the Philippines. I've never actually seen that film, but this sequel must be one of the cheapest and most obscure movies in the career of prolific Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago. It's very much a typical cop film of the 1980s, with nods to the likes of COBRA as Gabrielle tackles corruption and criminality at the highest levels. There's a small amont of action, a lot of bad dialogue and wooden acting, and a totally gratuitous shower sequence which scream queen Gabrielle manages to be wooden during.

This movie was really bad: Monique Gabrielle is my favorite scream queen of all times (one of my favorite women on the screen, in fact), but her too brief shower scene is not enough to heaten up a terribly boring actioneer, too slow and too talky for his own good.

Monique looks beautiful as always and she tries hard to be an actress (she has a very sexy voice), but it is not good enough to be a tough cop as she should be in this movie.

All in all, a waste of time from start to finish