Penitentiary II

Once again, we find "Too Sweet" struggling against his conscience, and the bad guys, to gain his freedom. After defeating his arch-rival, and gaining freedom: "Too Sweet" works himself into championship contention...he's reunited with his sister, who is married, and has a young son. As fate would have it...he must fight against the same man he defeated to end the first movie. Now, they each have risen in the rankings. You'll find the plot thin, the acting pitiful, and get a good laugh for nostalgia's sake.. You'll notice Mr.T, Ernie Hudson (the warden on "Oz"), and a few others...have your buddies over, break out the beer and enjoy. Its true entertainment value is how thinly veiled the plot and characters are. This movie, was BIG...back in the Blaxpo days. Essentially it rode the wave of the original. Leon Isaac had no talent, physique, or legitimacy as an actor. But , he did what most successful films do...run a sequel to milk the audiences thirst.

This sequel to the amazing 1979 prison drama "Penitentiary," is so unbelievably bad, that it damages the integrity of the original. "Penitentiary 2" has none of what made the first movie so good. Character development has been replaced with cartoon caricatures, smart humor has been replaced with toilet jokes, and any serious dramatic elements have been completely removed. Even the title is ridiculous; "Penitentiary 2" makes no sense because this is not even a prison film! It's just a cash-in on a very successful cult classic, that was loved both by audiences and critics.

This movie has Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone out of prison, and back on the streets. His parole requires him to continue boxing, as well as to stay out of trouble. That's not happening if "Half Dead" has anything to do with it. Too Sweet's nemesis from the first film has broken out of prison, and is on a mission to kill Too Sweet at any cost. Unfortunately, the characters that were so likable in the first film, are the opposite here. The original actor who played "Half Dead,", Badja Djola, had moved onto bigger productions, and smartly decided to stay far away from this mess. Actor Ernie Hudson takes on the role, and he plays the character as a one dimensional bad guy and it's boring. There isn't even an attempt at continuity with the writing; director Jamaa Fanaka replaces the likable, unforgettable character of "Seldom Seen" with a different actor, who portrays him as a gold chain-wearing jerk, who is only concerned with getting pussy. Any fan of the first film knows that character as a refined old guy, who listened to jazz and had a collection of classic literature in his prison cell..and that he had NO interest in the shallow, base vices of the outside world. In this way, P2 actually insults the first film. Aesthetically speaking, the difference is also extreme. While the first film had a nice, 70's vintage, independent movie style, this one looks like a cheap, tacky 80's nightmare. It's really amazing how different things looked in 1982, from just 3 years earlier. I think one problem comes from both the director, and Leon Isaac Kennedy, having become a bit jaded from their success. The innocence and humble, down to earth feel of the first movie has been replaced with an obnoxious, pessimistic energy. I love "Penitentiary" and think of it as one of the best prison movies of all time. That is why I hate this sequel. It is an insult to something great..

Now here's a weak link. The first "Penitentiary" is a classic of low budget filmmaking, a classic boxing movie and a classic of blaxploitation. The third is a classic of an entirely different stripe, a truly bizarre, off-the-wall cult movie that must be seen to be believed.

This second one, though? Perhaps we needed some kind of bridge between the first and third, so different are they, and so good for completely opposite reasons. It's hard to think of any other reason for "Penitentiary II" to exist.

In this one, Leon Isaac Kennedy of course reprises his role as Too Sweet, now out of jail. The movie has nothing to say about anything this time around and just goes through the motions of a sequel: obviously the first movie ended with a climactic fight sequence, and so too must this. Further we get some of the same characters repeated (aside from Too Sweet) though they are played by different actors and are apparently only in the movie for the call-back. An actor called Floyd Chatman made the character of Seldom Seen a force to be reckoned with in the first "Penitentiary". Here some other actor takes the role, but barely gets any screen time, and barely does anything other than appear for a few scenes.

Half Dead was the big bad guy in the first movie, and so too is he here, though his presence doesn't really make sense and is poorly explained. Now he is portrayed by the beloved character actor Ernie Hudson, whom audiences worldwide know as Winston Zeddimore from the "Ghostbusters" movies, and the cop from "The Crow". It's certainly unusual seeing him in a bad guy role - here he is a rapist and a murderer - but he could have done so much more with the part if they hadn't just made it a lame call-back to the first movie.

The only other actor in the movie I recognized is the immortal Tony Cox, who only has a couple of scenes but steals them nonetheless.

Oh, and of course, there's Mr T, who barely says or does anything, except for a fight scene at the end which follows the climactic boxing match and upstages it in terms of realism.

This movie was, more than anything else, boring. It seems to be running on fumes, like everybody involved knew there was no reason for it to exist, and were all just going through the motions.

Penitentiary II (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The second film in Jamaa Fanaka's trilogy has Too Sweet (Leon Isaac Kennedy) out of prison and living with his sister. He tries getting a new relationship going with a young lady but she's brutally murdered by the gangster Half Dead (Ernie Hudson). Deciding to do something positive with his life, Too Sweet starts taking boxing lessons where he hopes to become a champion.

The first film in the series was a rather insane and over-the-top masterpiece of cult cinema. The movie was highly entertaining but a lot of its entertainment came from how silly and bad it was. PENITENTIARY II is even campier and more over-the-top so if you enjoyed the first film then there's no question that you'll be laughing at this one. Everything that was so insane about the original is pretty much done here just just even more batty.

I'm not even sure where to begins but I guess the funniest thing about this picture is some of the really awful drama that leads to some of the biggest laughs in the film. The perfect example would be early on when Too Sweet is with his girl and her over-dramatic response to him trying to get some sex. The incredibly awful next scene involves Too Sweet breaking down crying and I dare anyone to watch this and not start laughing.

The film also has some pretty wild fights throughout, which is another major plus. There are quite a few bloody battles but strangely enough they aren't nearly as good as what we saw in the first film. Some other highlights include a dwarf (Tony Cox from BAD SANTA) trying to get laid. There's a sequence where former boxing champ Archie Moore comes out of no where for a cameo. Then there's another sequence where Half Dead pours potato salad on his woman only to then start eating it off of her! Kennedy doesn't give what you'd consider a "good" performance but he at least manages to hold your attention through the film. It was a lot of fun getting to see Hudson here in an early performance playing a nutty psycho. Then there's Mr. T who plays one of the trainer and yes, you get to see him and Hudson go at it in a great fight. Oh yeah, the previous mentioned Cox is also a blast. There are some really bad performances scattered throughout the film that add to the camp factor.

PENITENTIARY II is certainly an awful film on many levels but if you like this type of badness then dig in.

The current DVD release available for this title is NOT the same version of the film that was shown in theaters. The DVD distributor for some reason made cuts to parts of the movie. (In particular, Ernie Hudson's ambush of the girl in the shower.) The sequence may too brutal for more sensitive viewers, but that doesn't justify making cuts to the original film.) HBO broadcast the movie in it's entirety in the 80's, and the first VHS/Beta home video releases also contain the complete film.