Ringue de Fogo 2

Just your average Don "The Dragon" Wilson movie. They guy whose been in all those awful Cyborg Cop movies shows off more "underground street fighting with thugs" style that was so big in the late 80s and early 90s. Playing "Dr. Do-Good" Johnny, Wilson fights a bunch of evil jumpsuit thugs, muscle freaks, and dorks on skates as he tries to save his girl Julie from the evil champion of the underground fighting world, Kalin. So your basic "Double Dragon", "Final Fight" or any other punch-and-kick video game plot plus he's got his comical posse following him slowly and fighting everyone else he encounters. Don also has Sy Richardson as the wise old guy in the form of a disillusioned and always-angry black ex- soldier who wants revenge on Kalin. If this is your kind of movie, enjoy, otherwise.............RUN BEFORE IT GETS YOU!

Having just revisited the 1991 "Ring of Fire" movie, I opted to sit down and watch this 1993 sequel titled "Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" immediately after. And now in 2023 was actually my very first time to watch this sequel from director Richard W. Munchkin.

Okay, just what were writers Paul Maslak, Richard W. Munchkin and Steve Tymon thinking when they were concocting the script and storyline for this movie? The plot was so laughably weak that it could barely sustain the movie. And sitting through 94 minutes of this was like having stumbled into the discarded alpha level of the old Double Dragon game, the level that never made it past the initial coding stage. I mean, going underground and fighting through subterranean-dwelling martial artist groups to get to a final boss stage. It was just not working in terms of being proper movie material.

It should be said though, that it was nice to see the good guy cast return from the previous movie to reprise their characters in this sequel.

There were a fair amount of martial arts sequences throughout the 94 minutes, which definitely helped to make the movie watchable; but just barely so.

And what were the props department thinking when they were accessorizing and designing the costumes for the bad guys and the henchmen? They looked like they had just stepped off of a hardcore bondage set, wearing leather straps, chains and what not. It was just laughably bad to look at.

"Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" is without a doubt the weakest entry in the "Ring of Fire" movie franchise.

My rating of "Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Well... what can I say? It's fun... if you let it be fun. It's filled to the brim with well-choreographed fight scenes that are executed to perfection by professional martial artists... That seems to be the most true and innate value of this romp. The story seems to have been put in place primarily as a vehicle to get from one fight scene to another. Some moments of decent acting by the supporting cast will sneak up on you... as will some comedic moments provided by the comic relief. (The comic relief - physically - the smallest martial artist in the movie and naturally... portrayed in the film as the MOST girl-hungry!)

The score is fine but the film has a very fun soundtrack that winds up being featured on an underground radio station within the parameters of the story.. If you like this genre of movies you'll like this one as much as you would any other...

Too bad they didn't sell the soundtrack!

I guess accidentally stabbing your sister during a kickboxing match with Don "The The" Wilson does ease racial tensions, because everyone from the last film is buddies in this one! I guess they also forgot that Brad killed Johnny's cousin but hey the world keeps on spinning.

Don't worry about having to sit for an hour and a half while Don Wilson romances the ladies because this time some armed robbers have kidnapped her and taken her to an underground layer called Underground, so right from the get go Don is exercising those lightening fast feet by duking it out with gang after gang of homeless people while a DJ describes the action. Kind of like The Warriors, except the DJ here wants to give Don one in his tea towel holder.

So Don's going through this underground lair kicking everyone's arse's heads in while his mates Quan, Brad, Chuck (who seems to have gotten over Don stealing his girlfriend rather quickly) and ponytail guy mopping up behind him. And there's some bad guys who dress like they've walked off the set of Zardoz, great nineties hairdos, and the usual PM production values (people on fire, kickboxing, explosions…you know the drill). Oh, and there's a guy called Gimpy who likes blowing up stuff.

Fun all the way and everyone looks like they enjoyed making it, so this one's a given, if you like kickboxing films from the nineties starring Don "Corleone" Wilson.

"Ring of Fire II" may be a lot of things, but it certainly isn't lazy: in about 90 minutes you will see at least 3 giant explosions, 2 car chases, and more than a dozen fight scenes. And when you think the movie is over....NO! One more action scene coming your way. But what makes this one stand out in the sea of medium-budget action flicks is mainly its weird and claustrophobic setting: an entire underground system of tunnels and basements right below the surface of L.A., and an entire society, divided into gangs, living there by their own set of rules. The setting actually reminded me of "Alien From L.A." with Kathy Ireland, except that apparently most residents of THIS society spend their time extensively training in the martial arts! And if the gay subtext of half-naked men in leather isn't enough, there is also a gay radio announcer who openly comes on to Don "The Dragon" Wilson! Anyway, the violent fight scenes are occasionally impressive, and the explosions even more so. The film was followed by a very different in style sequel. ** out of 4.