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US SEALS 2
Directed by: Isaac Florentine
Starring: Michael Worth, Sophia Crawford, Karen Kim, Damien Chapa
Synopsis: Navy SEAL Ratliff (Chapa) enjoys his work a little too much and is beginning to worry his friend Kasey (Worth), after he executes an arms dealer they were meant to take alive. Things get worse when Ratliff rapes and kills the wayward daughter (Kim) of their sensei, who commits suicide out of shame. Three years later, Ratliff pops up again, kidnapping a nuclear scientist and forcing her to help build two nuclear warheads. Kasey is charged with putting together a rescue team but there is a catch - the kidnapper's base is a disused chemical weapons facility saturated with Methane - one discharge of a weapon and the whole place would explode...
Review: Most of us will have had a cursory look through the bagain shelves in Woolworths and other stores and probably come across a lot of movies distributed by Hollywood DVD, one of the cheapest looking companies out there. You may have seen their logo on such movies as Shark Attack! Octopus! and Shark Attack 2 etc. Well this is one of those. However, amongst all the wooden acting and dull scripting are some very, very good action scenes. This movie is much in the vein of such 80's classics as American Ninja, full of some excellent fight choreography put together by a member of Jackie Chan's stunt team, Andy Cheng (who also stars as one of the badguys).
It's a shame that the script isn't more polished (there are some dreadful lines of dialogue) and that the actors didn't have more chemistry together. Michael Worth carries the movie on a little charisma and some slick moves, while Sophia Crawford shows she can still kick butt and take names. Karen Kim has an odd dual role, playing twin sisters - one is a wayward playgirl, the other the dutiful daughter following her father's footsteps. She carries off her moves with style. One other character of note is Dr Jane Burrows, played by Kate Conner. She is the second least likely nuclear-physicist, after Denise Richards in The World is Not Enough! The macguffin of having the area saturated with methane of course means that the only weapons used are edged blades - mostly swords and rather large daggers. This gives Andy Cheng carte blanche to let loose with some great action, including a 100-on-6 fight to the death as our team slices and dices its way through a mercenary army.
There is one aspect of this movie which almost pushes it into parody. Nearly every move made by any character is accompanied by a "SWOooSH!!!" sound. I know it annoys some people but I found it very amusing!
Verdict: Not so much an Unseen Classic, more of a Guilty Pleasure. There is definitely a hidden gem underneath all the grime, but there is a lot of grime. If you happen to be walking past the bargain bin, have a little dig round for this. 5 Out of 10 (MikeOutWest)
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