Retro Review: No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder (1987)

No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder 
1987
Cast: Loren Avedon, Mattias Hues, Max Thayer, Cynthia Rothrock, Hwang Jang-Lee

Genre: Action Martial Arts

Plot: A martial artist, his arms merchant buddy and their pilot stage a rescue in Indochina

'War Movie First, Martial Arts Actioner Second'

Part 2 bears no resemblance to the events of the previous No Retreat, No Surrender as none of the characters from the first film return. The Thai-based production plot follows a character named Scott who arrives in Southeast Asia and sees that his girlfriend gets kidnapped, just as they were about to spend the night together in a swanky hotel; with the help of his pal, Mac, female Terry, the trio head off to Cambodia and to battle it out with some Russian bad guys.

No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder was originally intended to be the direct sequel to 1986's No Retreat No Surrender, but Jean-Claude Van Damme pulled out feeling that the vehicle would not have propelled him onto latter success, with costar, Kurt McKinney following suit afterwards. Because of that, the story and characters were changed with Loren Avedon and Mattias Hues drafted in as replacements, with the hulking German Hues playing a Russian; Raging Thunder also acts as Avedon's main billing on a movie.

Unlike the Kickboxer series of films, the No Retreat, No Surrender streak commences with an okay film, bland second film and a very good third movie with each instalment, action-wise; beginning with the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle, the combined films are more competent, enjoyable in contrast to the former. The acting as ever is corny in places, the story is far less entertaining and probably the biggest sin Raging Thunder commits is to have one of the biggest female martial arts movie stars Cynthia Rothrock killed off towards the end. Yes, Cynthia fights, but not as often as one expects, which is disappointing.

No Retreat, No Surrender 2 is 90% war movie, 10% martial arts actioner and with a run time of almost 1hr 45 mins, the story is so padded and yet most of it is drone-worthy stuff. The film would have been better if it had ditched the war setting, stale story and opted for a more contemporary straight forward action martial arts approach.

Final Verdict:

Three years on, the third movie did everything right and better than this second instalment, and whilst Avedon can be decent as an actor with an okay script, fights-wise, he shows how agile and skilful he is, yet it is unfortunate that the action comes in very short bursts.

The fight between Avedon (with the aid of a stunt double) and Mattias Hue was the highlight, but besides that, No Retreat, No Surrender 1 and 2 are easily skippable and with that, I'd stick with the third outing.

Overall: 

Retro Review: No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers aka American Kickboxing
1990
Cast: Loren Avedon, Keith Vitali, Joseph Campanella, Wanda Acuna, Rion Hunter
Genre: Action Martial Arts

Plot: Rival sons of a slain C.I.A agent seek martial arts revenge on an international terrorist

'A Fun Kick-Ass Romp'

Made in Hong Kong, this low-budget martial arts action affair is a tasty treat.

When their ex- CIA agent father is brutally murdered in the hands of terrorists led by the peroxide Franco whose son was killed by the dad, two squabbling brothers attempt to put their differences aside to avenge his death. Casey Alexander is a CIA operative, with a younger sibling, Will who is a karate instructor and two couldn't be any more different from one another, personalities-wise.

The third film in the franchise, this one is without Hong Kong action choreographer and filmmaker Corey Yuen's involvement: he of whom helmed other martial arts gems in Yes Madam! starring Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh and 1990's She Shoots Straight . The action in Blood Brothers is swift, due to the quick editing, and is reminiscent of many 1980s and early 1990s Hong Kong martial arts films, and impressive with some brilliant fight scenes & stuntwork as both Avedon and Vitali (& their stunt doubles) show off their agility and fight choreography. The script is a little corny in places and there is some overacting as well, yet No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers knows how to entertain in the action stakes and when it does so, it's worth seeing alone especially.

Some sexist language such as ''b****'' is uttered a few times, which was unpleasant, but besides that, this was a really good watch. Blood Brothers opts for a different approach in contrast to the previous films with the sibling rivalry theme that treads similar waters to that of another action martial arts flick, Double Impact starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, who plays the dual roles of twin brothers. The villain reminds me of the one played by Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner . Loren Avedon ( King of the Kickboxers) returns from the last film with Keith Vitali (Revenge of the Ninja, Wheels on Meals) playing a smug-assed cop with a penchant for flashy suits, who also beds attractive women and the two exhibit an impressive array of kicks, punches, spins, flips, as well as shooting. The relentless third and final act as the brothers do battle with Rion Hunter is a corker. 

It is, however, problematic when it comes to the portrayal of the women in this film, as they are presented as attractive types parading alongside a swimming pool in a bikini as such and is also a tad homophobic as illustrated in one scene with the use of terms 'f**got' and 'queer'. 

The line uttered by Rion, 'can you smell it? Not unlike roast pork' earns a chuckle, however. 

When it comes to B-movie action flicks, NRNS3: BB is very, very good. I'm reviewing and watching these in reverse order, and alas, I enjoyed this instalment. There is not a single scene where I switched off and the runtime at under 1 hour, 40 mins is ideal. 

It has that high-tempo, high octane Hong Kong martial arts-feel, which is a plus for me, and it shows through the production, as well edited as it looks, and the entertaining quality of the martial arts scenes. It looks very early '90s and yes, the acting may not be high-class, but you don't watch these films for the acting but for the action and fight sequences. With that, Blood Brothers is a certifiable action film worth tracking down for fans of the genre, in particular martial arts movies. 

Final Verdict :

Far better than many American-based martial arts films of this type, but primarily because the action fight choreography is equal to many Hong Kong equivalents and given it is a Hong Kong martial arts movie shot and filmed in the U.S., No Retreat No Surrender 3 is a fun, solid, action-packed romp that doubles up as a guilty pleasure fest and showing that U.S, or be it Western martial arts films, with some effort, can stand alongside their higher tier Chinese and Hong Kong counterparts. 


Overall:

Retro Review: Mo' Money (1992)

Mo' Money
1992
Cast: Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Stacey Dash, Joe Santos, John Diehl
Genre: Romantic Comedy Crime-Drama
Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $40 million

Plot:  A con artist manages to find a job at a credit card company & falls in love with one of his employees. However, he finds himself drawn into a world of crime

'Scattered, confusing, tonally all over the place'

A petty crook & street hustler has grown sick of his risking his life for the sake of a $50 con job and enticed by a fellow female coworker, he finds himself a job in the mailroom and is later embroiled in a credit card scam involving the head of security at Johnny's firm.

Mo' Money is marred by a confusing tone, a conflicting plot and the script is certainly debatable. When the film shifts gears in the last third and turns dark & it turns into a good guy versus bad guys action flick, for the most part, it was relatively okay. It had some moments (the action climax was by far the highlight), but it lacked a focus and due to the tonal and genre shifts, the story wasn't consistent, & as fully engaging and good as it should have been.

If this was solely a rom-com, Mo'Money would have worked, if this was an action flick, I could see it working as well; if this had been a pure comedy, it needed better jokes and humour, which this offering was in short supply of. They just needed to choose one of these genres that best suited the story. Mo' Money got through by word-of-mouth due to the success of the song, 'The Best Things In Life Are Free' by Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson. Mo-Money was also Damon Wayans' first major feature movie outing, after being cast opposite Bruce Willis in Tony Scott's The Last Boy Scout, one year before. It appeared that with Mo Money, the film tried to mode and market Wayans as an Eddie Murphy-type. 

The mish-mashed genres and tonal shifts worked better in the similarly-ish Grosse Pointe Blank of 1997. Additionally, as a product of its time, Mo' Money was released months after the far superior, Boomerang with Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry, which whilst plot-wise is slightly different to Mo'Money, was a tad more classy, and all-round was more-if not so much as refined as a Black-based romantic comedy. Whereas Mo' Money seems a bit of a bungling affair, and Wayans and MacDonald wanted to aim for more, but it turns out they did a bit too much; I couldn't take the main villain seriously, and he just wasn't threatening enough, the love story with Stacey Dash is throwaway, the complicated story and tonal shifts, which never made a lot of sense, didn't hold my attention for long periods and it is just, so incredibly scattered there is no joining up of the dots when it comes to ideas in relation to the story. Though performance-wise, Marlon Wayans (who came in as a replacement for A Different World's Kadeem Hardison) did well in a supporting role to his elder brother, Damon.

Final Verdict: 

Peter MacDonald doesn't have a particularly notable track record as a director (Rambo 3, Neverending Story 3, Legionnaire with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Super Dave), whilst producer-wise, I enjoyed 1989's Tango and Cash. And yet in Mo' Money, it shows his dearths behind the camera, whereas Damon Wayans's script needed a lot more work, as well as tinkering.

In contrast to 1992's other offering, Boomerang, it appears as such that Mo' Money acted as the hipper, more street-cred cousin for Black rom-coms; yet unluckily, film-wise, it is so far wide off-the-mark.


Overall:

Retro Review: Curly Sue (1991)

Curly Sue
1991
Cast: John Belushi, Kelly Lynch, Alisan Porter, John Getz, Fred Dalton Thompson
Genre: Comedy- Drama
Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $33 million 

Plot: A homeless man and his young companion, who survive by conning people, meet a woman who may need them even more than they need her 

'Not Great, Not Deep, But A Surprising Watch For A So-Called Early '90s Flop'

When I first saw the TV ad for this movie, it gave off the impression that it might be a slapstick comedy, but much like with Home Alone with John Hughes at the helm, I thought this was going to be a mawkish type of movie. Whilst the story could have been better developed, Curly Sue was nonetheless a surprising and cordial watch.

The tale in Curly Sue centres on two con artists and street hobos, Bill Dance portrayed by James Belushi and Alisan Porter as 9-year-old Curly Sue, Bill's adopted daughter; Bill enjoys scamming people out of their wealth by faking deaths and passing out on the street to gain people's attention. Together, with he and Sue, rather than steal from the rich, the pair sneakily filch cash out of the rich through trickery and deceit. When they pull off a scam on an attorney, Grey, she becomes concerned about the welfare of Sue and Bill and the pair undergo a transformation: a la Pretty Woman-style. Soon, Bill falls in love with Grey, whilst Grey's so-called boyfriend, Walter goes out of his way to spoil the party.

A comedy-drama written, directed and produced by John Hughes, famed for Home Alone, Curly Sue is noted for being the last film Hughes wrote and directed, & one that tanked and sank without a trace, 11 months after Home Alone made millions. After the release of this movie, Hughes retreated from directing and turned his attentions to producing and writing credits with films such as Home Alone 2, Dennis the Menace, Baby's Day Out, Disney's '90s remake of Flubber and the live-action version of 101 Dalmations. Opening to negative critical reviews, the comedy-drama still managed to make over $33 million in North America. It is considered by many as the low point in John Hughes' career.

Some of the slapstick humour feels out of place at times and is a bit corny and whilst he is at his best when he is anarchic, here Hughes takes a cue from Chris Columbus when he attempts to dredge up the schmaltzier side of things and echoing his saccharine feel.

Many seem to take a loathing to this one, but and although it's not great I thought it wasn't too bad, whilst there is certainly room to explore other ideas the film needed to touch upon a little more.

A rags to riches tale, the film takes Pretty Woman's premise, minus the hooker thing and throws in a cute kid and some slapstick. This is John Hughes' PG version of that film.

James/Jim Belushi is at his most emphatic and endearing than I have seen him in many of his other films, as he sells himself as the fatherly-type and whilst it can be a little cloying, especially towards the end, Curly Sue was still watchable. Is it great? No. It felt like it needs more, but I wouldn't say I disliked it. I didn't care much for Alison's Sue (played by Porter), the little girl or paid much attention to her, whilst Kelly Lynch surprised me and the role she had here had a bit more depth than many of the others she has taken on, before and after this film. Lynch's best moments in the film were in a handful of scenes when her character is required to react and to be explosive in serious mode when she does so, Lynch is convincing. Although one would question that her characters' transformation, Grey from aggressive ice queen to a heart of gold - kind of girl that catches Bill's eye seemed too sudden.

Final Verdict: 

A John Hughes formula movie where the formula doesn't (quite) work, though Curly Sue could have helped had the story delved into the aspect of the culture clash between the rich and poor since there is a potential in that aspect of what might happen when the homeless move into the home of an affluent person, whose motives aren't necessarily materialistic. That, and there is very little in the way of conflict and tension to contend with, which the film needed more of. 

As a quasi-romantic comedy, it tries to veer in that direction with Bill and Grey; however, there isn't much in the way of development and the characters' attraction towards each other in that respect, whereas the comedy is few - yet scattered and is flimsy.

Granting all this, the film tries to keep the story going and moving forward and with that in mind, even if Hughes didn't or doesn't intend to make it to be particularly groundbreaking, Curly Sue is not a complete and sheer loss on me and that it is a tad watchable for me to get behind it. 

Overall: