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I first saw this one a couple of times, including on Spike back in 2007, around the time I was beginning the DTVC and they played all 8 of them over the period of about a week or so. Somehow, this slipped between the cracks, and I didn’t think about reviewing it back then, which I didn’t realize until just a few months back, and oops, I went looking for the post and it was nowhere to be found. No one that I knew had it, and Netflix does not have it anymore, so I eventually had to break down and buy it. For us here, this does signify our completion of the Don “The Dragon” Wilson Bloodfist Series. Friends of the DTVC who have beaten us to it: Cool Target Action Reviews, Movies in the Attic, and most recently Ty at Comeuppance Reviews.
Bloodfist II is the most authentic of sequels since Wilson reprises his role from part 1. In short, Wilson believed he was on his way to save a friend from a debtor in Manilla, but discovering an entirely different scenario awaits. He’s drugged, shackled and put to fight on some island. “Mr. Lu, I think I’d like to leave your island.” After getting into a fight, he dives into the ocean and escapes. He then returns to the gambler’s mansion to rescue his fighter buddies but gets caught again—this time in a battle with the guy’s roided out henchmen. The question is, does he win?
Bloodfist has always been packed with surprises, but this is a major twist for Wilson. While he fights the ‘roid heads, finds himself deep within the gambler’s compound, it almost feels like Bloodfist IV VIII, an ambush he fights his way out of. Sure, Enter the Dragon is arguably a classic, but Bloodfist II is just low-tier compared to it and I wouldn’t recommend anyone watch it.
At this stage, I see no problem with this being something you and your friends can watch for some fun as there are actually no dead spots or any plot to get in the way of the action.
This may be one of Wilson’s best. The training montages are absent like in the first one, and there is nothing in the way of a sequence of Wilson getting ambushed and having to kick ass his way out of it. I don’t know that there’s another action star who plays more innocent guys that get bullied by other guys so often. Take for example, Dolph or Seagal, they are usually cops or secret servicemen who go into dangerous places and fight their way out; Wilson seems to have a different role. He can’t go to the corner store for a six pack without someone trying to kick him. And every movie is like that too, it’s just expected that the old man with the walker hovering over Wilson when he is paying his mortgage at the bank so obviously knows what he’s doing and waiting to try and kill him.
Rina Reyes was cast as Wilson’s love interest, the woman on the inside assisting him. She is a blend of Kim Catral and Lisa Bonet which translates to being a scorching hot woman. She even wears silver spandex, which can be incredibly dangerous and straight up unflattering on the wrong figure but looks good on her. I checked on imdb, and as far as I can tell, she is still active, but for the most part, in the Philippines. Her exchanging “Intimate Moments” with Wilson was, for me, the most delightful scene of all. The way their hand’s women and men touched reminded me of the smooth jazz that started playing after their very romantic 6th grade like hypothetical kiss. Oh, and I guess they cut out the scene where Wilson passed her a note asking “Will you be my girlfriend?” which had two boxes labeled “Yes” and “No” underneath.
I’m always looking for the next movie to watch, even if I’ve seen it before because something great always seems to escape me. Maybe that is also the reason why I forget a lot of things, including important aspects of the movie while writing the review. For example, I completely overlooked Tim Baker’s character in the gym, where Baker states, “I only talk to fighters when I train,” and Wilson responds by jump kicking his punching bag off of its chains and into the sparring ring, where it strikes another one of the fighters in the back. That’s a I would rather not miss out on, and I am really glad I didn’t.
Baker was among a few impressive supporting actors, including Joe Mari Avellana who did not reprise his role as Kwong from part 1. I found Richard Hill, seen above, or Rick Hill as he prefers to be called, to be one of the more interesting characters. Can you see where I’m going with this? Rick Hill has the same name as Deathstalker Rick Hill. In the biography section of the DVD, they actually make this mistake, showing the picture of the guy above the guy who was actually in the film but then running off the list of accomplishments that the other Rick Hill had had in the industry. That’s quite a blunder. Who is responsible for verifying the correct Rick Hill is used? And in the larger scheme of things, does it really matter? Perhaps not, right? It does add some personality to the DVD though.
For some odd reason, Netflix doesn’t carry this, but you can get it on Amazon either new or used on DVD which renders the situation rather odd. In any case, if you are a fan of good old action films that are considered terrible from late 80s to early 90s, you are at the right place – and if you aren’t, are you sure you are on the correct blog?
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