La vengeance de l'ange

"Avenging Angel" is a worthy, but different sequel to "Angel". The same seedy Hollywood Boulevard locations, are again used to great advantage. Betsy Russell plays "Angel" this time,and along with her street comrades, Rory Calhoun and Susan Tyrrell, they go after the mobsters who killed their friend, Lt. Andrews ( Robert F. Lyons). Karin Mani has a brief, but memorable nude shower scene, Robert Tessier is a helpful tattoo artist, while Ossie Davis plays a police captain. The movie has moments of welcome humor, especially relating to springing Rory Calhoun from a sanitarium. Sure the violence is cartoon-like, but "Avenging Angel" is entertaining, and that's really all that matters. - MERK

Having just sat through the subpar 1984 movie "Angel", I still opted to carry on with the 1985 sequel "Avenging Angel". Though, I have to admit that I didn't exactly harbor the biggest of expectations to the movie.

Writers Robert Vincent O'Neil, Joseph Michael Cala and Sandra K. Bailey put together a script and storyline that was even less entertaining and enjoyable than the script for the previous movie. The narrative in "Avenging Angel" felt random and disjointed, as if the writers were working individually on parts of the storyline without speaking to one another, and it made for a wobbly narrative.

Rory Calhoun, Steven M. Porter and Susan Tyrrell returned to reprise their characters from the 1984 movie "Angel", so that was nice. There were a few other familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Betsy Russell, Frank Doubleday, Liz Sheridan, Barry Pearl and Ross Hagen. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

"Avenging Angel" was far from an overly entertaining or enjoyable movie, and it was a struggle to sit through the prolonged 93 minutes that the movie ran for.

This is definitely not a movie that will grace my screen a second time.

My rating of director Robert Vincent O'Neil's 1985 movie "Avenging Angel" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Wow, Molly Stewart, AKA former prostitute 'Angel', sure has changed in the three or four years since she quit hooking on the Boulevard: now played by Betsy Russell (replacing winsome Donna Wilkes, star of the first film), she's gained a couple of cup sizes, developed longer legs, sports an impressive perm, and is training to be a lawyer, thanks to the help of her guardian, Hollywood vice cop Lt. Andrews (Robert F. Lyons).

Molly's new life goes on hold, however, after Andrews is shot dead by gangsters; teaming up with her old pals, aging cowboy Kit Carson (Rory Calhoun) and lesbian landlady Solly Mosler (Susan Tyrell), she once again walks the sleazy sidewalks of Hollywood as Angel, this time looking for revenge.

For this cheesy sequel to his 1984 exploitation movie Angel, director Robert Vincent O'Neill throws any sense of realism in the nearest side-alley dumpster, opting instead for a much campier approach, his eccentric misfit characters even more exaggerated than before, his villains ridiculously reprehensible, and the violence about as cartoonish as it gets.

The film begins promisingly enough, with a car full of gangsters loading their weapons while heading downtown to 'off' a big-breasted undercover cop (who is busy taking a shower, natch!), a blaring Bronski Beat soundtrack giving everything that delightfully tacky 80s vibe. When the killers make their move, they blast their victims in the guts, resulting in some messy squib-work. Unfortunately, after this impressive opening, everything gets rather too comical for my liking (Rory Calhoun riding a gurney like a rodeo champ, as Angel and Solly bust him out of a sanitarium being the most cringe-worthy moment).

Still, even though Avenging Angel lacks the gritty edge that I generally look for in my vigilante/revenge flicks, and gets really, really dumb towards the end, the ever present sight of the delectable Miss Russell in a series of tight-as-you-like outfits, including a very sexy nurse get-up, makes the film just about bearable (no nudity from the star, but hey, I've always got her 1983 film Private School for that!).

Here's a more racier, livelier product, than the well intentioned, melodramatic, dull, tamed vehicle that preceded it. Four years on, Angel has a new life, champion runner/lawyer. The murdered cop who saved her in the first one, is the catalyst which drives her back to LA, to track down, and kill the nasty culprits, a mob organization, greedy land developing SOB'S, who are taking down Hollywood Boulevard with whole new plans, set for the streets. We are reunited with some old characters and new ones, including a key witness, and glitter man, who aids Angel and her avenging team to hunt down these cruel people who like to play rough, not just on the streets You never get bored in this, and AA, is an unintentional slick pic in the Angel series, and the movie has pump and testosterone flowing through it, the legendary Calhoun proving he is a real saviour and cowboy in the finale, and I was glad, he stayed aboard for this one, as I was with Tyrell's foul mouthed Solly. Slick B grade camp, as bright as the lit up neon of the city streets. A lot of funny, with some roll eye moments too, doesn't hurt here.

What surprising elements redeemed the original, especially during its exciting climax, are nonexistent here. Even the wacky street characters are like something out of a TV show. Shopping Cart Sally? Johnny Glitter? The action sequences never improve from the opening, while the replacement Angel is nice to look at with zero depth. A lot of embarrassment captured onscreen demonstrates that a rushed sequel is most often a lost cause.