You thought he was dead… You were wrong. Dead Wrong.
Review:
Let’s skip the plot and start off with the action, because holy shit, what an explosive opening scene! Terrorists being machine gunned from a jeep by other terrorists, falling off buildings in slow motion and otherwise being squibbed. This feels very much like the opening of The Expendables 2. Did Stallone watch Cyborg Cop 2? I bet he at least read the cheat sheet.
Topless narcotics production line, again! And barely after the opening credits roll. Firstenberg really knows how to give the punters what they want. Ten cop cars from the DEA show up, aided by Jack (David Bradley) on his motorbike, to take out the leader Strix (Frank Notaro, Merchant of Death). Jack shoots up the room guns akimbo and captures Strix, but his partner is killed. Strix is sentenced to death but "escapes" death row with help from a government agency called the Anti Terrorist Group (ATG). When Jack finds out, he has revenge on his mind.
It seems the cyborg development line is still going. It even looks like the same set as the first film, but the armaments of the units are vastly improved. And lo and behold, Strix has been reborn a cyborg known as Spartacus. Putting a psychotic bad guy into a metal casing, where have we seen that before? Hell, even the opening titles looked like Robocop 2, so this should come as no surprise.
Then comes the most obvious plot device in this film. The cyborgs are controlled by a wrist band - whomever has the band, has the power. When the chief scientist gets jiggy with his secretary in the lab, the band falls off only to be claimed by Spartacus who now commands a squad of cyborgs and takes over Universal Soldier-style! Gotta say, they look a bit cheaper this time. Rubber chests that just look like shirts, and ridiculously over the top mechanical hands. On the plus side, Spartacus has much more personality than the cyborgs in the first film; similar to Zagarino's cyborg in Shadowchaser II. Though I've never heard a cyborg say "son of a bitch" so much.
Jack eventually tracks down the cyborgs and we get a great scene demonstrating their Minigun and rocket launching hands. Not only that but cop cars get launched, a petrol station explodes and Jack gets launched across the street like a water balloon. Sam Firstenberg strikes again!
Jack takes a welding torch to one of the 'borgs and screws with its brain so much it starts talking like the cyborg in Bruno Mattei's Robowar! (“ON TARGET ON TARGET RECEIVE RECEIVE.”) That made me smile. For the final fight with Spartacus, Jack teams up with the attractive CEO of the ATG and jointly infiltrates the lab to put an end to the experiment. Strix goes down yelling "you son of a bitch" until finally fried with electricity. Shocking!
Cyborg Cop 2 is just as good as the first film. David Bradley kicks arse yet again, and Firstenberg blows everything up. Good times.
In an abandoned warehouse shootout in a hostage situation, DEA agent Jack Ryan (David Bradley, American Samurai, Operation Delta Force) kills the bad guy using forbidden techniques leaving him disgraced and unemployed.
His brother Phillip (Todd Jensen, Operation Delta Force, Ninja) is on a drug bust mission that sees John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark) as robotic scientist Kessel with his remote control kamikaze model planes that explode on contact. The mission goes bad with most of Phillips' team killed in massive explosions, Kessel picking Phillip for his next experiment. Jack receives a microtape from Phillip saying he's in trouble, which sets Jack on a rescue mission to the Caribbean.
Jack meets hot stuff reporter Cathy (Alonna Shaw, Double Impact) who gets tied up in his adventure whilst evading local authorities. Can Jack find his brother before he's turned into a CYBORG COP?
"Watch your ass, Jack. This ain't Cleveland, man!"
This one is lots of fun. Bradley in a leather jacket gets to use his impressive kickboxing skills a few times, shoving one dude through a car window and kicking more than one in their respective joy departments. There's some seriously heavy artillery on display as well, with as much messy automatic gunfire, dynamite and squibs as the best Canon film - this is a Sam Firstenberg (American Ninja, Avenging Force) film after all. There's even a sweet car chase to Beverly Hillbillies music.
But the best action is the final infiltration of Kessel's base. Bradley is really on fire in this one; it might even be his best. So much brutal machine gun action, and close up shotguns to the face. No questions, no chances, just blammin’. He also rides a mean motorcycle just like Lorenzo Lamas.
Speaking of impressive, Shaw's assets make an appearance at the hour mark after her repeated flirting with Bradley. There's even a drug lab where all the women workers are topless (for some reason). I guess Firstenberg is just a fan of the mammary.
John Rhys-Davies is absolutely chewing the scenery in Cyborg Cop in his Hawaiian shirt, barking at people or conversely offering them tea. Obviously he’s having a great time being the bad guy. He's also trying something with his accent but I can't pick what. Maybe going for a Caribbean flair? Either way, 95% of what comes through is Pure Davies.
The cyborgs in the film may not be up to James Cameron's standard, but they are definitely Great Value. The operation scene where the limbs are replaced is pretty effective, as are the demonstrations of their strength. The pasty-white makeup not so much, but I got a good laugh out of Robo-Phillip saying "BACK. IN. ACTION."
I can't believe Cyborg Cop has been relegated to cheap full-screen DVDs from dollar stores. I demand a three disc deluxe Blu-ray set of Cyborg Cop!
When hard-boiled agent Nick Adams (David Bradley Cyborg Cop, American Ninja V) loses his partner in an undercover prison operation gone bad, he swears to infiltrate the prison and find the killer. With only his martial arts skills to protect him against Warden Pike (Charles Napier - The Manchurian Candidate, Extreme Honor) and his brutal goons, Nick must fight to stay alive and find justice for his friend. As he gets closer and closer to revealing the truth, he is thwarted at every turn and soon he finds himself held prisoner, stripped of his authority and freedom. Now there is only one way out -escape.
Movie Review:
Hard Justice is a pretty damn fine take on the prison action movie, along the same lines as Jean-Claude Van Damme's Death Warrant, though like all good 80's action movies (or 90's action movies trying to be an 80's action movie), we start with a shootout at an illegal weapons bust. A helicopter flies over the cityscape as the movie's logo HARD JUSTICE clangs into place, almost identical to the opening of Die Hard with a Vengeance. Outside a warehouse a black car pulls up and the occupants get out, carrying a suitcase.
Inside the warehouse a Japanese guy with slicked back hair wearing a suit (Yuji Okumoto as Jimmy Wong in an obvious gangster getup) waits to complete a weapons trade. Suddenly, David Bradley bursts through the roof dangling from a rope from the helicopter and demands answers from Wong along the lines of who his supplier is etc. Not one to give in easy, Wong and his associates fire their illegally acquired machine guns at Bradley. There is some awesome slow motion jumps through the air to avoid exploding grenades and some guns akimbo with pistols, but the highlight is Bradley laying sideways on a moving conveyer belt taking out fools with a shotgun as he glides along!
Having taken out everyone in the room (he thinks), Bradley takes the time to survey the damage atop the roof of a car. Jimmy not dead yet hurls a grenade at the car. Bradley in an "oh shit" moment runs (again in slow motion) along a line of carefully arranged car tops as the cars explode in sequence behind him! Wong then tips a fuel barrel over, lights it and runs. Bradley notices, has another "oh shit" moment and (yet again) slow motion jumps from a window as the building explodes. Pure gold. Wong manages to get a female hostage and taunts Bradley at gunpoint. Wong orders Bradley to drop his weapon, which he does, but turns around first and balances it on his foot. At the right moment he flicks around, kicking the pistol back into his hands and fires hitting Wong - but Wong had already dropped a grenade and the hostage is killed. This becomes relevant at the films climax.
That was one sweet opening. So much action it was almost exhausting, but that would be lame so I'll just say it was awesome. Bradley goes home on his motorbike to his wife who says that his best friend and colleague on the force Mani was killed in prison whilst undercover. When he goes see the body Bradley gets all emotional and demands an autopsy, even though the guy was killed by 37 stab wounds. He also wants on the case, but he wants to also go undercover to the prison and completely off the radar.
It's all pretty standard prison fare from here. Bradley is lined up with the other new convicts and is introduced to the warden (Charles Napier) and his second in charge, Mr. Riggs, with his nightstick "The ugly stick". As soon as he enters his cell, Bradley has a fight with his room mate Mr. Clean (ironic because, like, he's really messy) over the bunk. He pulls out his American Ninja and American Samurai skills and kick-boxes the bald behemoth to the head asserting himself as the alpha male (grunt) but not after taking a smack into the steel bed frame (ouch). The two decide they are mutually awesome and become friends. Bradley saves Mr. Clean from being shivved on the way to breakfast, but he still gets picked on by the regular Asian duo of thugs, Lee and Chow. Bradley has a bit of a smack-down with them but Mr. Riggs intervenes with his Ugly Stick.
I've actually not seen JCVD's Death Warrant yet, it's been on my 'to watch' list for ages, but I've read that Hard Justice is quite similar to it - JCVD being an undercover cop trying to solve a mystery inside the prison - to the point of being a remake. There are also parallels to Sylvester Stallone's Lock Up, a movie I have seen; a corrupt warden, the alternating friendly inmates and thug inmates, lunchroom beatings, the prison snitch getting killed etc. There is a hilarious fight scene between Bradley and the brothers Lee and Chow. Bradley is trying to get on with his laundry room duties when the two start picking a fight. After a few rounds of fisticuffs Bradley throws the two into the washer and turns it on with the line - wait for it - "Clean up your act." Brilliant!
With the help of Mr. Clean, Bradley tries to get information on the murder of his colleague and goes to see the resident knowledge-base, Galaxy 500. It's never explained how he got such a ridiculous name but he does have a ridiculous attitude, probably due to his ridiculous name. He reveals that Mani wasn't killed by another inmate, but he was killed for knowing too much about a weapons deal happening within the prison walls. Mr. Riggs pays off some inmates to mess up Bradley and Mr. Clean's room which leads to some babbly emotional conversation between the two, but before they can get the tissues out a new arrival is admitted to the prison - Jimmy Wong. Knowing he is in too deep and his cover will be blown, Bradley pleads with the warden that he is actually an undercover cop but it falls on deaf ears. Well, not deaf ears really, corrupt ears. The warden sends in Wong and his mates to thrash Bradley in the shower in an honestly unfair towel vs. chain fight.
The quality of the acting is pretty good all around with David Bradley being the only minor let down, but he makes up for it with his fighting skills. I've seen him described as the poor mans Steven Seagal but he really is more of a JCVD to my eyes. It all culminates with a prison riot and escape as you would expect, with even the warden getting in on the guns akimbo: "I WILL HAVE ORDER!". Plenty of explosions and Bradley gets another shot at Jimmy Wong in a hostage scenario.
Special mention has to be given to Professor Toru Tanaka - you will recognise him as 'that guy' from a many 80's action movie, especially Subzero from The Running Man - who briefly makes an appearance as "Cookie", another thug of Lee and Chow's. The guy stands there in the lunch hall looking ominous and Bradley gives him a single punch to the chest. With a creaking sound of a tree falling, Cookie hits the deck to thunderous applause from the other inmates. Champagne comedy!
The Video:
The video for this is pretty average at best and really shouldn't be. I have seen other reviews with better screenshots than mine. The Reel/Ninth Dimension R4 release looks polished from the cover presentation but the movie itself is washed out and abundant in greys instead of blacks. There is even some macro-blocking in fast scenes. Worse still is I find out afterwards that the movie was shot in widescreen and the R1 DVD put out by Image Entertainment is 16:9 enhanced. I still enjoyed the movie but the presentation left a lot to be desired.
