posted
NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER II- RAGING THUNDER 1988
SYNOPSIS:
American, Scott Wylde travels to Thailand to visit his fianceé, Sulin. But when she is kidnapped, and Scott is framed. He enlists the help of old friend, and Vietnam vet, Mac, and tough talking, hard hitting chopper pilot, Terry, to aid him in his rescue mission to ‘death mountain’, deep in the Cambodian jungle, where Sulin is held captive in a soviet run prison camp. The trio encounters a lot of dangers on their way. And when they finally reach the camp. The stage is set for a deadly showdown with the brutal russian commander and his army.
TRIBUTE RANT:
The inevitable sequel to the 1986 KARATE KID rip-off. But a sequel in name only. There are no dojo’s, breakdancers or Bruce Lee’s ghost, this time around. This one leans more towards Rambo, than anything else. And the cast and characters are also quite different as well. Rumour is, that when director Cory Yuen arrived in Thailand for the first day of shooting. He was more than a little surprised to find that Kurt McKinney and Jean Claude Van Damme had been replaced with american taekwondo exponent, Loren Avedon and hulking german athlete, Matthias Hues.
Apparantly, Van Damme had backed out in the 11th hour, and advised McKinney to do the same. And thus we are treated to the stellar acting performances of Avedon and Hues, plus B-movie actor, Max Thayer and 80’s kickboxing babe, Cynthia Rothrock. None of whom, rakes in any acting awards either.But hey, these movies are not about the acting. It’s all about the action. And this one delivers enough cheesy 80’s vibe, slam bang action and martial arts mayhem to keep you satisfied.
Avedon and Rothrock comes off the best in the fast paced fight scenes, once again orchestrated with great aplomb by Cory Yuen and Meng Hoi. Rothrock was already a seasoned vet in Hong Kong style fight choreography, having worked with director, Yuen in such films as YES, MADAM and RIGHTING WRONGS. Plus, she was dating Hoi at this time, so it’s clear that he was keenly aware of her… ahem, flexibility, and knew how to make her look great on screen. Avedon, roped in at the last second, went on to kick *** in martial arts B-movie classics like NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER 3- BLOOD BROTHERS and KING OF THE KICKBOXERS. And he doesn’t dissapoint here either. There is also a cool appearance by old school kung fu movie veteran, Hwang Jang Lee. But he is sadly, criminally underused here, as he was one of the greatest kickers the genre has ever seen.
As mentioned, the whole thing is basically just another Rambo clone, with a thin story, bad acting and cool action. But it definitely has its moments. It is obviously very different from the first one. But still retains the same energy, and some of that indefinable 80’s charm that you just can’t put a price on. If you dig hyped up kickboxing action, jungle warfare, evil russians, killer monks, cambodian death camps with crocodile pits, heavy firepower, and guys in headbands, then this movie is for you.
However cheap and cheesy these Seasonal crossover flicks were, they certainly were a lot of fun. And while the team behind them may not have had the deepest of artistic visions, you can’t deny that they bent over backwards to entertain the audience. And that deserves applause, in my book.
Posts: 1278 | From: Denmark,Europe | Registered: Dec 2007 | Site Updates: 3
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
posted
Never seen it but killer monks and crocodile pits, i need this! Seriously, do you own the UK dvd´s Jay? I may just get parts 2 & 3 and if those are ok versions (no nunchaku cuts etc), i´m cool with them.
Posts: 7054 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2008 | Site Updates: 7
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Yeah, I have the UK versions of all 3, and I don't believe 2 & 3 are cut in any way. Part 2 is my favourite. But they are all great!
Posts: 1278 | From: Denmark,Europe | Registered: Dec 2007 | Site Updates: 3
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