Angel 2
This second film in the Angel series quickly followed
on the heels of the success of the first Angel film. The Girls with Guns
genre was off and shooting and over the next five years there were a huge
number of them made. From the beginning though the genre was constricted
by low budgets and often the films had to be shot in lower cost locations
i.e. The Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. Much of the passion that
many fans have for this genre is centered more on the wonderful actresses
that perform in them rather than the often questionable quality of the
films themselves. These actresses Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Elaine Lui,
Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Cynthia Khan to name a few often put themselves in
true danger and were often battered and bruised for their trouble. They
could put on one hell of a show though and are thrilling to watch. What
they often put themselves through is a testament to their determination
and toughness and is a reason they still have legions of fans long after
the genre has slowed to a trickle.
Moon Lee, Elaine Lui and Alex Fong are back
for this second adventure which begins with them saving a kidnapped businessman
from a group of killers. After shooting the kidnapper in the head, Fong
kicks the businessman in the stomach which sends a live grenade flying
out of his mouth and Moon makes a shoestring catch and throws it out the
window in one motion. Willie Mays would have been proud of her! Afterwards
they decide that they deserve a vacation and go off to Kuala Lumpur for
some R&R.
Alex introduces them to an old college friend
of his named Peter who is a very wealthy businessman in Malaysia. Another
old friend joins them and the three men go out looking for women and trouble.
They find both sort of as the woman turns out to be a transvestite
and the boys have to fight off a transvestite gang to get out of the bar
in one piece. The girls hang around the pool having fancy fruity drinks
with umbrellas in them and Elaine begins to fall in love with Peter. Life
is good except for one small thing.
Peter harbors ambitions to overthrow the Malaysian
government and install himself as the leader. He has put together a small
army of men in the jungle and in his spare time he sits around watching
old footage of Adolph Hitler. Otherwise though a very nice guy! Elaine
stumbles on to the truth and is held prisoner by him in his jungle hideout.
Moon and Alex enlist another Angel, Karina, and loaded up with guns, blowguns,
crossbows, wrist projectiles and other instruments of destruction go in
to rescue her.
The last twenty-minutes is great stuff as they
take on Peters entire army and demolish his mad dream. Everything is blown
up, everyone shot its all great fun. One has to wonder of course how
this army was going to overthrow the government, as they cant even handle
three girls and a guy! Moon has one amazing stunt as she is high up in
a fifty-foot tree and they send a missile speeding her way and she jumps
out of the tree as it explodes and goes down and down and down some more
before they cut away. She crashes through the roof, rolls over and is ready
to fight again! I don't care if there is a mattress the size of Texas down
below, that still has to be a very scary jump.
This second Angel film does not have the same
amount of action as the first and its not as intense but its interesting
in the way that they take some time to try to development the characters
and make the action very personal. Though the bad guys could have used
some more fighting talent a Dick Wei or a Yuen Wah type would have
been good to see, the film is still quite entertaining for the most part.
My rating for this film: 7.0