Comeuppance Reviews
Susan Morgan (Rothrock) has a happy life: she has a career as a successful female boxer, and her husband Sonny (Rudy) is a soccer star who plays for Jakarta. They live in a beautiful house, and they have a maid/friend, Sari (Esperance) who helps them out. But their lives are turned upside down when a gang of three thugs, led by the psychotic Diego (Drago) (his right hand man is Reb, played by Sam Jones) temporarily stash their stolen diamonds in their luggage at random, in order to evade detection, as well as cops, with the intention of picking them up later at their house. They do indeed show up at the Morgan residence, but Sonny claims he doesn't know where the diamonds are. After some unpleasant events, as well as some twists and turns, Susan decides to go after the baddies one by one and deal with them in her own way. Will she survive? And will her husband live to Socc again? We all know Billy Drago plays a bad guy 99% of the time, but here he outdoes himself, putting in an especially creepy, scary and weird performance. As his sidekick, interestingly named Reb, Sam Jones can't really hold a candle to it, but for an excellent Sam Jones baddie performance, check out In Gold We Trust (1991). Also, Cynthia Rothrock puts in one of her most powerful and emotional performances. One of the main problems, however, with Lady Dragon 2, is that it is very repetitive. There are so many scenes of Drago saying "I want the diamonds" and Rothrock saying "No", you can't help but think that maybe the structure of the plot could have gone another way. Considering the movie as a whole could have used some more Martial Arts fights, it would have made sense to have Cynthia fight more goons. But it doesn't quite work that way here.Director David Worth, who in a row directed Soldier's Revenge (1984), Kickboxer (1989), Lady Dragon (1992), Lady Dragon 2, and Chain of Command (1994), allows some interesting touches, such as the fact that Drago's gang wear shiny Jason-style hockey masks, and Sam Jones wears his with sunglasses. He even adds some horror movie-style touches at times to keep things lively, but the aforementioned repetition hurts things. With tighter writing and direction, and maybe a bit more energy and pep, and with less repetition and a shorter running time, Lady Dragon 2 could have been awesome - like a DTV action version of I Spit On Your Grave (1978). Alas, it wasn't to be. And to add insult to injury, there are some very cheesily animated muzzle flashes during the gunplay scenes. You can't help but wish for a little better this time around.We remain huge Rothrock fans, but we wouldn't recommend this one if you're just starting to watch her movies yourself, or want to turn a friend on to her work. For that we'd go with Honor and Glory (1993) or Angel of Fury (1991). If you want to watch this one later on, fine, but we wouldn't start with it.For more insanity, drop by www.comeuppancereviews.com
Destroyer Wod
I like American martial arts B movies. I am a big fan of Cynthia Rothrock, even if people say her American stuff is bad, some movie where really good for me, enjoy them a lot, like China O'Brien, Rage and Honor, the original Lady Dragon and others, i like this type of B action movies. But here, im sorry but this is uber crap from the get go. David Worth... its the guy that directed Kickboxer? How come he could do something like this? I mean OK he may not be the story writer but still... This is bad from the get go, the plot is stupid, the bad guys are bad caricature of villains, the music is probably the worst of them all, its a track that would fit to an old 60s horror movie... not a martial art movie of the 90s...A couple fight of Cynthia let me give it a 4... but damn i can't believe this is name after LADY DRAGON, the first one was a good movie, i loved it, even if it was cliché American kickboxing style movie, but thats what i like, but even for me, this is too much.I saw this movie on sale on ebay for like 50$ cause i guess its rare... yeah im glad i paid only 10 bucks, cause the seller didn't had the cover... i would had been so angry if i paid 50 for that... Cynthia is awesome, David Worth did kickboxer and even another movie i really liked... Honor. But this... is pretty bad... Man even Billy Drago i enjoyed him in other works like Demon Hunter, Charmed, and a few other movies, but in this... his character is so bad... Im sorry but EPIC FAIL for this one.
merklekranz
If you want to see Billy Drago and Cynthia Rothrock together, then "Lady Dragon 2" is your movie. The action begins immediately, with Drago and his gang stealing a valuable bag of diamonds from the "Mob". Hiding the diamonds in Rothrock's baggage, the gang follows her and her husband to Jakarta. When Drago can't get Rothrock's husband to turn over the diamonds, he kills him. The remainder of the film is Rothrock hunting down Drago and his men. A simplistic script does offer a couple of surprises. The whispering Drago is especially menacing in this movie, and his final fight with Rothrock, especially brutal. For an action film, "Lady Dragon 2 " delivers. "Don't worry, I'm going to take real good care of that new widow." (Billy Drago) - MERK
Artemis-9
I actually don't know the length of this film. It is a very poor one, and the tale of death, rape and revenge by the widow has been told so many times, both in major, and cult movies!... This film has two outstanding elements, though, that make it mandatory viewing for fans of Cynthia Rothrock: herself, playing her character to the hilt, despite she's surrounded by mainly C-grade professionals; and the most violent, well played, well filmed 3 minutes of women karate you possibly can have. Ring action is interspersed with the credit titles, and apparently non-related scenes - however, important to understand the following dramatic events. Therefore, you feel as if the actual ring time is longer than it is, and therefore adding to the strong, powerful scenes of karate - excellently played by sportswoman Cynthia and, no doubt, an Eastern black belt who has never been seen in movies before, or after - at least under that name.