MARTIAL LAW 2: UNDERCOVER (1992) ** ½

Jeff Wincott replaces Chad McQueen as karate-chopping cop Martial Law.  This time out, he gets promoted to detective.  On his first day on the job, his friend, a fellow detective, is killed by dirty cops who are in the pocket of a sleazy businessman named Spenser (Paul Johansson).  Martial Law gets his girlfriend/partner (Cynthia Rothrock) to go undercover as a bartender in Spenser’s nightclub to collect evidence.  Together, they get justice for his buddy and bring the bad guys down.  

Martial Law 2 is a decent enough Kung Fu flick that plays almost like a remake of the first movie.  However, it feels like a step down in just about every regard.  I like Jeff Wincott a lot, but he doesn’t have the same swagger that McQueen brought to the role.  Another stumbling block is that the villain is really weak this go-round.  I know it’s hard to top David Carradine, but Johansson isn’t intimidating in the least and makes for an instantly forgettable villain.  I did like the fact that they cast the usually villainous Billy Drago as Wincott’s Yelling Captain, although the casting kind of tips off what happens with the character later in the film.  (I could’ve done without seeing him participating in a softcore sex scene too.)  We also get a bit part by Subspecies star Denice Duff as the dead cop’s widow.  

The overly familiar plot wouldn’t have mattered if the action wasn’t such a mixed bag.  I liked the opening sequence where Wincott goes undercover dressed as a bum and disrupts a biker gang from making an arms deal.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Rothrock, who’s disguised as a hot dog vendor, shows up to back up her partner and Kung Fu some bikers.  Wincott’s big barroom brawl with the gang later in the film is also kind of fun.  

Director Kurt (Bounty Tracker) Anderson handles the fights in a capable manner, but overall, they lack the panache of the first movie.  Even the underground fighting scenes are weak when it comes to choreography and execution.  The best sequences are the ones in which Rothrock gets to kick a little ass.  That’s mostly due to her spunky performance than the staging of the fights though.  In the end, Rothrock’s charm is nearly enough to carry Martial Law 2:  Undercover across the finish line.  I just wish she had more to do throughout the rest of the film.  

Mission of Justice (which also starred Wincott) was a sort-of sequel that was released later in the year.

AKA:  Karate Cop.