The world wasn’t exactly clamoring for a seventeen-years-later DTV sequel to Undercover Brother, but we got one anyway. Despite having some major reservations about the whole enterprise, it didn’t turn out too bad all things considered. While there are some huge missed opportunities here, I found myself laughing consistently throughout, and the social satire worked as well as could be expected.
Shortly after the events of the first movie, Undercover Brother (Michael Jai White) and his younger brother Lionel (Vince Swann) go to stop the evil Mr. White (Barry Bostwick) in his mountaintop lair. He gives them the slip, causes an avalanche to disguise his getaway, and the two brothers wind up frozen in the ice for sixteen years. Lionel eventually thaws out, and since Undercover stuck in a coma, he sets out to make his brother proud by stopping Mr. White’s son (Steven Lee Johnson) from taking over the world via his chain of coffeeshops.
The big stumbling block here is the casting of Michael Jai White. I’m not saying it was a bad idea. I’m not saying he does a bad job. What I am saying is that with his big afro, retro wardrobe, and badass demeanor, the whole things feels like the filmmakers wanted to do Black Dynamite 2, but couldn’t get the rights, so they just settled on making Undercover Brother 2 instead. The fact that he spends most of the movie in a coma is another rotten choice. It’s even more perplexing since he occasionally pops up as an Obi-Wan-style ghost to give his brother motivation. I’d much rather have seen him kicking ass than dispensing pep talks in a ghostly form. Don’t get me wrong. Swann does a decent job in White’s stead, but I can’t help but imagine how great this could’ve been if White had been in the driver’s seat the whole time.
The surprising thing about Undercover Brother 2 is that it contains a fair amount of laughs, so it’s not too hard to overlook some of its shortcomings. The biggest laugh comes when White learns his brother has been “cuttin’ bitches” and then we see him at work as a dog groomer. The social commentary is also fairly strong as the villain’s big plan is to control the world with a drug called “Woke” that causes its users to become overly socially conscious. Subtle? No, but it works. I mean the satire isn’t exactly Swiftian, but for a movie called Undercover Brother 2, it’s got more on its mind than you’d expect.
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