Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)

I love this movie so much

You won't be disappointed!

Just perfect...

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Rothrock and Norton reprise their roles as Kris Fairchild and Preston Michaels in this sequel that is superior to the original film.Kris is now a CIA agent who is sent to Jakarta to go undercover in a bank to investigate the money laundering of Gerald Andrews (Soucy). Meanwhile, Preston works in a run-down bar and does a lot of boxing on the side. For some unknown reason, he takes on a spoiled, unlikable, arrogant student, Tommy Andrews, the son of Gerald. As it turns out, Gerald is working closely with nefarious gangster Buntao (Tumbuan). There's also a cache of diamonds at stake in the ensuing gangster wars, with Kris and Preston caught in the middle. They'll have to use their teamwork and fighting skills to get out of this mess...Rothrock and Norton are always pleasant to watch, both individually and together. There are some nice fights in this film, and, as always, you can actually see the action with no stupid tricks or fast cuts. There was some cool inventiveness as well, as Norton beat up a baddie with a raw fish, leading to perhaps the first "fish-fighting" scene in recent memory. For as awesome as Rothrock and Norton are, Patrick Muldoon is as lame. Well, his character as a preppy jerk is pretty effective. Maybe it's not Muldoon, it's Tommy Andrews who the audience will not like. Buntao is more likable.Also we have Ron Vreeken as the classic heavy/bodyguard, the man they call "Blondie". I guess they couldn't get Matthias Hues. Vreeken was last seen in the Norton vehicles Deathfight (1994) and Under the Gun (1995), so they must be buddies. He was also seen in Hurricane Smith (1992).Director Guy Norris, presumably no relation to the Norris family that produced Chuck, Aaron and Mike, primarily is known for his stunt work, having been the stunt coordinator on countless films, including Day of the Panther (1988) and the aforementioned Hurricane Smith. It was a wise choice to put him in the director's chair because he understands action and delivers plenty of it to the audience, leading to the rare improvement for a sequel.You can rarely go wrong with Rothrock and/or Norton, as this golden-age-of-the-video-store action movie amply proves.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I've seen most of the movies on Cynthia Rothrock's filmography, and I have yet to see a movie of hers that is actually good. I will admit that this particular effort isn't as bad as some of her other films (like 24 HOURS TO MIDNIGHT), but all the same I found this movie tough to sit through at times. It is filmed entirely in Indonesia, but the locations chosen are almost all so generic that one might swear the movie was filmed in Los Angeles. Those who rent this movie with the feeling you'll get to see Rothrock kicking a lot of butt will be disappointed. Her fights aren't that spectacular (actually, *none* of the fights in the movie are exciting), and she doesn't have that many fight scenes. In fact, at times Rothrock's character seems to be an afterthought - she appears somewhat less in the movie that you might think. But the biggest fault of the movie is that it's really dull at times, fairly lifeless and unenergetic. You can safely skip this one.

The previous comment has it 99% right. This film works, although maybe it works more for those of us who have seen many films that have not worked (observation: films in this genre all seem to work when Richard Norton is in them).An added bonus with this film for guys like me, is that it does have a few select moments of "so bad it is good" (such as the acting level of the under-cover CIA agent, Tommy's father and one of Buntao's henchmen) SPOILER ALERT: but fear not, all get killed ...The one percent that the previous comment fails to mention (although a couple others have, but in an inaccurate way) is the acting of Frances Taumbaun in the role of Buntao (I'm sure I have mis-spelled his name, and I could correct it simply by back-clicking, but alas I am at work and well, just let me get back to the point ...)At first viewing, Taumbaun may seem as though he were over-acting, maybe first thru 10th viewing ... but trust me when you get to that coveted 11th viewing of any true martial arts movie fan, you will then begin to realize that he is actually a very good actor. In fact, despite being a big Richard Norton fan it is Taumbaun who ALMOST steals this movie 11th-23rd viewings. Dare I say it: I love this guy. Rage and Honor III should be made with Buntao coming back for some revenge.Seriously, I'll write it. Anybody want to shell out some dough? Lets bring back Norton, Taumbaun and of course Cynthia Rothrock and complete this trilogy!

***SPOILERS*** Let's start with the "good" of this film--the serviceable acting of Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton. The rest of the acting is awful (this isn't aided by the atrocious script). The worst culprit is the villain, Buntao, the head of an Asian crime syndicate (played by Frans Tumbuan). I was laughing my head off as he was expressing his "fury" over having lost a bunch of money; horrid performance. Patrick Muldoon isn't much better, and his "it's a hostile takeover" line (that's the remainder of the title of this film) was delivered about as badly as one could do it. There are no other main characters, but no other actor/actress distinguished him/herself in this film. We next come to the plot. This should tell you all you need to know: In the original "Rage and Honor," Cynthia Rothrock, who plays Chris Fairchild, was a teacher in the inner city. Now, she's a C.I.A. agent (or was it some other governmental agency--sorry, but this film was so bad that I don't even remember). Hmmm...I can imagine what that C.I.A. application process was like. Interviewer: What past job experience do you have? Chris: I was a teacher. Interviewer: Okay; you're hired! I only give it a "2" because of some decent acting and a nice plot twist at the end (though we know that Tommy (Muldoon), the secret villain, will be caught).