What does a sequel do to keep the juices running? Easy. You kill off a character. It's the quickest way to establish the story, the revenge in the grand finale and the big bad guy. That's the road 'Best of the Best 2' chooses to go down. I wasn't a fan of the cliche original, but this first of three sequels knows what is it and doesn't try to fight it.
Alex (Eric Roberts), Tommy (Phillip Rhee) and Travis (Chris Penn) returned home champs and set up a martial arts school. When a shady underground Vegas fight promoter Weldon (Wayne Newton) and his champion Brakus (Ralf Moeller) kill someone close to them, it's the boys duty to set things right. The top of the Korean team Dae-han (Simon Rhee) returns as a friend. Tommy turns to his grandma (Betty Calvalho) who raised him for a place to lie low and his estranged alcoholic ex-fighter uncle James (Sonny Latham) helps prepare the men for revenge.
Alex's son Walter now older provides the continued family element. Still training montages. Bonding. Redemption. 'BotB2' does the b-movie formula right. Solid editing, direction. The pacing is good. It doesn't drag. The action delivers both martial arts and gunplay with a good explosion. Patrick Kilpatrick shows up as a hired gun, Kane Hodder is a security guard in a cast full of fun faces. It's weird when a sequel turns out better than the original, but that's exactly the case here.
Alex (Eric Roberts), Tommy (Phillip Rhee) and Travis (Chris Penn) returned home champs and set up a martial arts school. When a shady underground Vegas fight promoter Weldon (Wayne Newton) and his champion Brakus (Ralf Moeller) kill someone close to them, it's the boys duty to set things right. The top of the Korean team Dae-han (Simon Rhee) returns as a friend. Tommy turns to his grandma (Betty Calvalho) who raised him for a place to lie low and his estranged alcoholic ex-fighter uncle James (Sonny Latham) helps prepare the men for revenge.
Alex's son Walter now older provides the continued family element. Still training montages. Bonding. Redemption. 'BotB2' does the b-movie formula right. Solid editing, direction. The pacing is good. It doesn't drag. The action delivers both martial arts and gunplay with a good explosion. Patrick Kilpatrick shows up as a hired gun, Kane Hodder is a security guard in a cast full of fun faces. It's weird when a sequel turns out better than the original, but that's exactly the case here.