FORMAT: DVD
Director George Erschbamer reteamed with stars Michael Dudikoff and Lisa Howard for this entertaining sequel. Now, the two rival bounty hunters Jersey and B.B. have gone into business with each other. Not only that, but they’re dating and have even moved in together. However, juggling work and a relationship has gotten the best of them, so they decide to split up. Meanwhile, a kingpin played by Tony Curtis (!) gives his hotheaded underling (Steve Bacic) one week to kill Jersey, which naturally results in a lot of fistfights, chase scenes, and explosions.
Dudikoff and Howard’s easy chemistry carries over quite seamlessly into this more or less immediate sequel. It’s kind of a shame they didn’t make more movies together. Curtis (who alternately shows up wearing a bad wig or an even worse hat) is only in a few brief scenes, but it’s always amusing seeing him turn up in something like this. Bacic is kind of annoying as the upstart wannabe gangster, but that kind of works to his advantage.
Whenever the pace threatens to flag or the plot looks like it’s going around in circles, Erschbamer tosses in a solid fight sequence or a memorable death (my favorite was the harpoon gun scene) to keep the movie’s head above water. The highlight is a fight scene at a car wash which plays as a slight reworking of the chop shop fight in the first film. Instead of all the mechanics knowing Kung Fu, all the car wash attendants are beefy Mafia thugs. There’s also plenty of humor like the funny scene where Howard winds up dressed like a dominatrix and the faux-Spaghetti Western opening. Overall, Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball is just as good, if not better than its predecessor.
The angry police captain (Claire Riley) gets the best line of the movie when she tells Dudikoff, “This is America! The bad guys have more rights than you do!”
AKA: Hardball.
No comments:
Post a Comment