Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)

The powerful chemistry of martial arts superstars Richard Nortonand Cynthia Rothrock gets another successful work-out in "Rage and Honor 2." Rothrock is reunited with Norton in Jakarta wheretheir characters target a banker who is laundering millions indrug money. Patrick Muldoon delivers an effective supportingperformance as the banker's suspiciously naive son. The movie'sintrigues reveal a struggle for a diamond fortune and unravel amaze of... traps designed to sidetrack the heroes. Plot twists andskillful combats make "Rage and Honor 2" a must-see sequel and aworthy addition to the remarkable Norton-Rothrock list of colloborative movie ventures. more

First and foremost, this is more of a Richard Norton vehicle than it is a Cynthia Rothrock flick. Secondly, it's not all that great: say what you want about the good production values, but it just doesn't have the oomph that a DTV fight flick needs to be entertaining enough to hold your interest following a bombardment of other low-budget movies doing their darndest in reaching for the stars. True, you could go worse with either of the martial... arts duo, but I'll be surprised to find a fan who lists this title on the top-ten list for either the Australian King of Kung Fu or the Miss Universe of Hong Kong action. The story: following the events of Rage and Honor, Kris Fairchild (Rothrock, Above the Law) has become an agent of the government, and is sent to Indonesia to investigate a large-scale illegal drug and diamond operation. While there, she is reunited with Preston Michaels (Norton, Mr. Nice Guy), who has his hands full warding off attacks from the drug dealers and becoming a father-figure to the son of a crime boss (Patrick Muldoon, Starship Troopers). It will take their combined efforts to topple a circuit running deeper and more sinister than they imagined. Like Lady Dragon, the Indonesian setting gives rise to a predominantly Indonesian cast, though they're largely a nameless bunch highlighted only by Frans Tumbuan ("Tropic of Emerald") and one-name wonder/Rothrock movie veteran Tanaka as among the more prominent bad guys. Rothrock and Norton bring some charm to the otherwise dry and impersonal script, but it's Patrick Muldoon who brings the most emotion to the film and is responsible for the cool little twist at the end of the film; that's not saying much, but you gotta take what you can find, here. The scope's admirable for a movie like this: the filming location allowed for some nice aesthetics and a decent car chase. Like its predecessor, though, "Hostile Takeover" really doesn't have anything cool or unique to it: the heroes are interchangeable, the villains are bland, the story has been recycled from countless other flicks and presented without gleam, and the action content is meh. Let me define "meh": there are about eight hand-to-hand fights, one car chase, and one kickboxing demonstration in the film; of these, the demo is very nearly the most impressive, since only about three of said fights rise to "average" on the scale of choreography and detail, and the car chase has no impact on the quality of the film - only its duration. The lackluster fighting may be due to that neither Cynthia nor Richard have any good opponents: blonde-haired thug Ron Vreeken would later win an award for his work as choreographer in Among Dead Men, but even though he's in arguably the best fight of the film, he brings absolutely nothing out in Norton and is more or less a buff punching bag who kind of looks like Matthias Hues. Cynthia gets to headbutt a man in the nuts and Richard wields a kayak paddle and lifesaver to lethal effect, but near and far, the fights just aren't cool enough. I bought "Hostile Takeover" on a tip from a fellow fan who, like some people, was lauding an entry of Cynthia's filmography that he hadn't even seen yet; when faced with a film as disappointingly bland as this, it's not surprising that some folks are too wary to take a chance and just buy a movie from Norton or Rothrock before talking about it. I wish I had my money back, but it's good to know that it'll be one less movie cluttering up my shelf before long. more

An exciting newcomer hits the big screen! Dan Kobb stars as ill-fated C.I.A. operative Stevens in this gripping tale of intrigue and love set in steamy Jakarta. Mr. Kobb's portrayal of the caring yet naive agent brought tears to my eyes, as I'm sure it will to yours.