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Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance
USA 2015
produced by Mathew Karedas, Rich Mallery, Aprile Lanza Boettcher, Chris Faulisi, Michael P. Blevins, Gregory Hatanaka, Bai Ling (executive), Narumi Inatsugu (executive), Benhur Shervan (executive), Bogdan Szumilas (executive), Courtney Karedas (associate), Scott Stevens (associate), Telly Wong (associate), Joseph Kelbie Williamson (associate), Brent Baisley (co), Marc Edward Heuck (co), Herter Lou Sebastian (co), Shane Ryan (co), Robbie Augspurger (co) for CineRidge Entertainment, Cinema Epoch
directed by Gregory Hatanaka, guest directors: Matt Cimber, Peter Palian
starring Mathew Karedas, Mark Frazer, Bai Ling, Kayden Kross, Tommy Wiseau, Cranston Komuro, Laurene Landon, Melissa Moore, Mel Novak, Lexi Belle, Nicole Bailey, Mindy Robinson, Shane Ryan, Hana Yuka Sano, Jesse Hlubik, Matthew Mahaney, Joe Estevez, Lisa London, Gerald Okamura, Joycelyne Lew, Braxton Davis, Kristine DeBell, Thomas J. Churchill, Joselito Rescober, Lloyd Gregory, Ewing Miles Brown, Nicole D'Angelo, Mike Malloy, Bogdan Szumilas, Noah Inatsugu, Misty Stone, Ralph Garman, Robbie Augspurger, Tom Gleason, Kevin Barile, Marco Rocha, Davis Chong, Courtney Karedas, Brooke Jost, Johnny Mask, Dawna Lee Heising, Naoyuki Ikeda, Howard Fong, T.L. Young, Rachel Cooper, Charlotte Stokely, Alicia Monet Caldwell, Gregory Hatanaka, Jin Kelley, Jimmy Williams, Ramzi Abed, Craig Robert Bruss, Jeffery Kobes, Michael P. Blevins, Craig C. Chen, Brebt Baisley, Mike Boyd, Brandon Boyd, Jerry Olson, Autumn Bailey, Tina Rogers, Dave Robinson, David Ramrod Rogers, Thom Downie, Joseph Fondreist, Michael Mileusnich, Douglas Nickey, Elizabeth Thomas, Troy Butcher, Edwin A. Santos, Amy Xianglin Shi, Pheagy Hill, Andrew Baldino, Kenneth Gowen, Elena Bellyart, Tyler Shi, Vanessa Rose Parker
written by Rich Mallery, Gregory Hatanaka, Tony T.L. Young, based on characters created by Amir Shervan, music by Toshiyuki Hiraoka, special effects by Mark Fenlason, fight choreography by Kevin Barile
Samurai Cop
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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It's been 25 years since Marshall (Mathew Karedas), known as the Samurai
Cop, has quit the force after his wife (Kayden Kross) had been killed
in a yakuza execution, to study and practice eastern philosophy. But these
days, LA has a yakuza gangwar at its hands, with three clans fighting for
superiority, each trying to be even more wicked than the others. So of
course it's only a matter of time until Marshall's former partner
Washington (Mark Frazer) asks him to rejoin the force - which Marshall
turns down of course ... until ninjas attack his super-secret hide-out. It's
not as if Marshall's return would go unnoticed, as he and Washington get
into a huge shootout even on their plane to LA, and once in LA, they seem
to get into ambush after ambush, pretty much helping them keep trail of
their adversaries while their own investigations fail to bring up too many
results. But while all that's going on, Marshall also finds new love, a
girl who's his killed wife's splitting image (and thus also played by
Kayden Kross) ... and who's only eventually revealed to be a yakuza spy
trained on him. Eventually, Washington is suspended from the force, and
Marshall goes rogue (as he's known to), and he learns of "the
complex", a place where he'll have an opportunity to fight all three
yakuza clans one on one - which sounds suspiciously like a death trap, but
Marshall wouldn't have it any other way ... You may think of
the original Samurai Cop
whatever you do ... but even if this sequel from a quarter of a century
later shares a great many actors with the first one, it's its very own
ballgame - and a low budget genre fan's dream, featuring a busload of
genre names in bigger and smaller roles, starting with scene stealing Bai
Ling as head of one of the clans, Mindy Robinson as her direct adversary,
filmmaker Shane Ryan as her choleric Japanese henchman who doesn't look
Japanese at all, Joe Estevez as chief of police, Laurene Landon as
Washington's sometimes partner, Kristin DeBell as coroner, pornstar Lexi
Belle as yakuza hitwoman, legendary bad guy Mel Novak, Dawna Lee Heising, and ... I've probably
forgotten a busload, but all these people alone make this fun to watch
already, especially since it seems they had great fun on set, and that
really translates into the film - and that's really the major achievement
of Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance: It's so much fun to watch!!!
While the first movie was pretty much standard low budget action fare,
this movie, while far from being a blatant spoof, doesn't take itself very
seriously, is light-footed in approach, and knows about the ridiculousness
of some of its scenes. And while the plot might not be very easy to follow
(and it stands to reason if the whole thing even makes perfect sense on
repeat viewing), it's really more of a hanger for one over-the-top
sequence after the next. Seriously, it doesn't matter if you liked or
hated the original Samurai Cop,
if you know any of the names named above, and if you are into genre cinema
at all ... it's impossible not to have fun watching this one!
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