That the movie was filmed on location in Thailand, giving us glimpses of all the swell sights therein of one kind or another, helps to wash over some of the indelicacies that present. Indelicacies like an early dinner scene that somewhat reeks of the same racist cultural disrespect as an equivalent infamous sequence in 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'; what readily feels like a very conventional action-thriller plot; and a lead performance from someone (Loren Avedon) who, bless his heart, showed greater capabilities with martial arts than with acting. True, anyone sitting down for a title of this genre, from this timeframe, should already be well aware of what they're getting into - and I do, and did. All this is just to say that 'No retreat, no surrender 2' quickly comes across as generally unremarkable, and one can only halfheartedly hope as they watch that something will arise to inspire greater engagement.
Ham-handed, deficient, or mundane in varying ways, there is much about this feature that purveyors of The Action Flick will recognize. We get snappy quips in the dialogue, sunny exposition that turns sour, the unprepared protagonist, the supporting character that is more than first meets the eye, moments of unexpected danger to our heroes that require daring-do, near-synchronous timing in the course of events that's pure movie magic - and expansion of a simple premise into a much more Big Picture narrative. Max Thayer, as Mac, looks like a young Richard Dean Anderson (think first-season MacGyver), Cynthia Rothrock looks even younger than her 30 years in 1987, and Avedon looks fresh-faced and wide-eyed (that is, "deer in the headlights") from start to finish. None of this is to say that 'No retreat, no surrender 2' isn't enjoyable, but unless one has a specific reason to seek it out, there's no urgent need to add it to your watch list.
If my words so far seem blasé, let me offer some concrete opinions. The feature is filled with a bounty of tropes, to the point that they feel forced and self-indulgent. The same goes for some cues in Corey Yuen's direction, and in some of the light humor. That the only major female character is second fiddle is not unsurprising; that Rothrock's "Terry" is subjected to sexism in the writing - some dialogue, the way she's treated generally, her role in the narrative, and her relative capabilites - is frankly tiresome, and disappointing. As much as the movie works to weave its Small Story into a Big Plot, that larger tapestry is, oddly, quickly deemphasized. On the other hand, this has no illusions about being something it's not: 'No retreat, no surrender 2' is at best a second-tier low-grade action flick, made not for big dreams of any kind but for suitable genre entertainment. With that said, too, I admire the effort - the production design and art direction is quite fine, the filming locations are pretty terrific, and from a basic technical standpoint, I think the construction here is good, though unexceptional. No, the acting isn't particularly sharp, but nor does a movie like this require Shakespearean eloquence. Importantly, the action scenes are done very well, whether we're talking guns and explosions or martial arts, and I appreciate the contributions in the stunt work. And even if the details mostly fail to wholly enrapture, the core concepts in the screenplay are sound enough.
A bit of especial cleverness at the climax offers some of the spark that had been missing from the title for all the rest of its length, if a little too neat and tidy as a contrivance of this style of film. All the same, there's a lot of passable but less than noteworthy content we get for the first 80 minutes that does much to cement an impression long before the highest value manifests. I want to like 'No retreat, no surrender 2' more than I do, while also assuming I'm being too generous in my assessment. You could do a lot worse as far as action films go - but then, you could also do a lot better. Ultimately, so long as you don't mind the more tactless aspects of the production, this is a modest slice of highfalutin fun that serves it purpose. Don't go out of your way for it, but grab a drink and a cozy seat, press "play," and call it a night.
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