1/15/2024 0 Comments Martial law movie denzel![]() I found a copy of it at the local record store- for $8 used! Are you serious? Amazon has it for $5, but when you throw in shipping, that ends up being $8 too. There's one Lurie film I've been trying to get for a while, called Guns and Lipstick, which also has DTVC Hall of Famer Wings Hauser, and another DTVC fave Joe Estevez. Ever since I saw him in American Kickboxer 2, I've been hooked, and though he's never matched that stunning performance, in Martial Law II, at least he's solid. You just never know with him, because some film makers don't understand the awesomeness they have at their disposal when they cast him. We all love Evan Lurie here at the DTVC, and I was glad that he had a pretty sizable role. Haven't seen it, so I don't know how big of a part he has. Wincott is currently in theaters in the new Denzel film, Unstoppable. On a side note, I know I'm the Direct to Video connoisseur, but Mr. I mean, when you see the name "Jeff Wincott" in the opening credits, or on the box, this is what you're looking for, and when a film can deliver on it's top billed star like that, it just makes the whole movie watching experience so worth it. Everything you love about him is in full effect here, from the mean mug and the Bogie-esque snarl, to the Toronto/New York accent, to the great one-liners that are more sick attitude than toolishly clever, to the most important aspect, the great fighting. I'm not sure where we'll go next with her, because we have so many options, being not even halfway through her 40+ film DTV oeuvre, but for right now, we'll bask in her awesomeness in Martial Law II. Whereas in part one she was more like Chad McQueen's moral support, here she was a very capable and contributing partner, and provided the sensibility and levelheadedness in contrast to Wincott's fire and brash demeanor. ![]() They do do a better job giving her more and nicer looking fight scenes, so I liked that. You'd think with her being the one holdover from the original, she'd be the lead this time, but the film actually does work better with Wincott in that role, so I'm fine with it. We start where we always start, with the film's Hall of Famer(s), and for Martial Law II, that would be Cynthia Rothrock. There were other things I loved too, like the smooth jazz in the montages and other bumpers, some of which featured pretty rockin' sax solos and perhaps one of the best uses of a shotgun ever in the denouement. Plot exposition, when it was there, was short, well performed, and bled seamlessly into the action. Each fight scene built on the one before it. As far as what made it awesome, I don't know where to begin. Wincott kills it, Rothrock is solid, you gotta love John Sears and Evan Lurie as your baddies, plus you have Billy Drago as a cleancut police chief, meaning his creepiness is a little more subtle and Sherrie Rose, Leo Lee, and James Lew all play members of Sears' gang. Every fight was great, every actor turned in great performances, nothing was wasted, nothing was left on the table, and I left totally fulfilled. This is what I'm talking about right here. Not only can they, but they can do it with ten kinds of awesome on top. Can Wincott and Rothrock kick enough ass to prevail and get their dead buddy justice? At the same time, Wincott snoops at his police precinct, thinking some of his fellow cops are dirty, including his chief, Billy Drago. That's why he has Rothrock, a kickass cop with a background in tending bar, infiltrate Sears' club and see what's up. They don't like Wincott snooping around and asking questions, and Sears' hatchetman, DTVC fave Evan Lurie, has it out with him, blowing Wincott's cover. When Wincott's buddy dies of an apparent drunk driving accident, Wincott is suspicious, and his suspicions land him at a night club run by one of the greatest heels of all time, John Sears from 90210, making the step up to full-on baddie. Martial Law II is something of a sequel, only instead of Chad McQueen, we have a too sweet Jeff Wincott and an equally awesome DTVC Hall of Famer Cynthia Rothrock. Anyway, I thought it would be necessary to do Martial Law before I reviewed its sequel, which I did a few weeks ago, and now, here we are with this one. I vaguely remembered it, and my vague memories tell me that all of these 1990s DTV actioners are awesome, so I didn't think much of it, but knew it was worth going over again if Kenner felt it deserved a mention like that. Anyway, I gave him something of a preliminary proposal of what I was thinking about, and he gave me a counter proposal, so-to-speak, of the films that he thought I missed, and Martial Law II was one of those films. A while back, I mentioned something to Kenner at Movies in the Attic about a potential Top 10 DTV Movies of the 90s post, which would definitely be a large undertaking, considering what a huge decade for DTV the 90s was.
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