Best Of The Best II

BEST OF THE BEST II finds three members of the team--Alex (Eric Roberts), Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee), and Travis (Christopher Penn)--running the East-West Martial Arts Academy in Las Vegas. Alex is raising his 11-year-old son Walter (Edan Gross), while beginning a relationship with local KXRT-TV sportscaster Sue (Meg Foster). Travis has been moonlighting dangerously in no-rules kickboxing death matches, glamorously emceed by the smarmy Weldon (Wayne Newton) in a glitzy, secret underground arena beneath the Stock Exchange nightclub. Both establishments are owned by the hulking Brakus (Ralph Moeller); any challenger who wins three consecutive big-money matches gets to face off against Brakus, with the winner taking ownership of the clubs. Travis wins his three bouts but is defeated and brutally killed by Brakus, and Walter witnesses the event. Brakus's henchmen attempt to kidnap the boy, but Alex and Tommy Lee spirit him off to the homestead of American Indian Grandma (Betty Carvalho), who raised Tommy Lee. Deciding to beat Brakus at his own game, they quickly rehabilitate Grandma's real son, the alcoholic James (Sonny Landham), and he supervises their rigorous training.

Brakus's thugs invade the farm and burn it, killing James and abducting Tommy Lee, who is allowed to fight his three matches (which he easily wins) in order to face Brakus. Dumping Walter with Sue, Alex, and visiting Korean cohort Dae Han (Simon Rhee) storm the Stock Exchange, arriving in time to watch Tommy Lee's bloody trouncing and killing of Brakus. Weldon, always with an eye on his job security, proclaims that the Coliseum now belongs to Tommy Lee, who announces that "it's closed."

For all the activity, there's not much plot in Max Strom and John Allen Nelson's screenplay, and much of what is there is unbelievable. For instance, the otherwise intelligent Alex stupidly tells Brakus that Walter witnessed Travis's murder, and the boys clean up the pitifully strung-out James unrealistically quickly. Director Robert Radler (who also helmed the first picture) gamely attempts to keep things moving, and stages most of the mayhem decently. The martial arts battles are expertly choreographed by Simon Rhee (Dae Han), and his brother Phillip's moves are often spectacular, although he doesn't seem to have any acting skills. Roberts is a formidable actor (STAR 80, RUNAWAY TRAIN, LONELY HEARTS, FINAL ANALYSIS) too often stuck in B-movie routines like this, as is Foster, who looks smashing in a smart new hairdo framing her blazing blue eyes but has a negligible role. Ralph Moeller (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER) makes a fierce villain and looks like a pumped-up Schwarzenegger clone, complete with similarly impenetrable accent. Wayne Newton, his character's effete bloodlust always subservient to showbiz savvy, looks to be having a ball here; in one scene he uses breath spray after kissing one of Brakus's bimbo blondes.

BEST OF THE BEST II embodies several trends in '90s action films: for all the overt violence, there's not a cop in sight, and Alex and Tommy Lee don't even consider going to the police with Travis's murder, instead deciding on their own personal revenge. Perhaps what's most frightening is the film's casual attitude toward the Coliseum's big-spending and betting, richly attired spectators, gleefully screaming for and enjoying the murder of defeated kickboxers. (Violence, profanity, adult situations.) leave a comment