Sue (Louis Mandylor) convinces his pal French (Scott Adkins) to give up his inglorious bouncer job and come back to a life of loan sharking. It won’t be easy though seeing how they have to make three collections from three very tough customers in a span of forty-eight hours. The first mark (Death Wish 3’s Marina Sirtis) is a former flame of Sue’s, the next target is the manager of a boxing gym (Cuete Yeska), and the final collection comes from a hardass who owns a chop shop (Vernon Wells). Once French realizes he’s being used as a bag man for a vengeance-seeking underworld hoodlum (Ski Carr), he tries to split, which puts him at odds with his old pal Sue.
The Debt Collector was an OK DTV character study/actioner that had the benefit of being anchored by the two leads’ chemistry. The same holds true for this sequel, which is a noticeable improvement over its predecessor, thanks to a slightly better script and tighter pacing. Returning director (and frequent Adkins collaborator) Jesse V. Johnson makes the action sequences crackle by favoring unrushed editing choices over the fast-cutting style that ruin most DTV flicks. He also gives Adkins several opportunities to punch and/or kick the crap out of people, which is always appreciated.
Probably the most amusing thing about the movie is the way the two main characters brush off their apparent deaths in the first film. There’s some talk about lights at the end of the tunnel, loved ones welcoming them to Heaven, and a funny run-in with a cute nurse on the operating table. Mostly though, it’s all rushed through just to set up the new plot. I for one kind of liked the unapologetic disregard for logic in order to get the show on the road in a timely fashion. Johnson knew that Adkins and Mandylor were a good fit together, and he wasn’t going to let a little thing like death keep them separated.
While it stops short of being a full blown “good” movie, it’s entertaining enough to fit the bill for fans of Adkins. The wheel remains completely un-reinvented throughout, and it spins around well enough with very little wear and tear. The chemistry between the two performers is genuine, and the cherry on the top is their knockdown-drag-out alleyway fight that sort of pays homage to They Live while having its own style and energy.
The Debt Collector 2’s episodic nature is probably the only thing holding it back from kicking into gear. Sue and French collect from a different person every twenty-five minutes or so, and while their run-ins are amusing for the most part, they don’t really translate into fist-pumping audience-pleasing moments or laugh-out-loud comedic situations. However, it’s a big enough improvement over the original that I am hopeful we will see Adkins and Mandylor reunited to collect more debts in the near future.
AKA: Debt Collectors. AKA: Payback.
No comments:
Post a Comment