No Surrender Cinema: Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence
As you can tell by recent No Surrender Cinema entries, I’m a sucker for tradition. Over the summer, I took you to several tropical destinations that were rife with turmoil. Just last month, September’s movie focused on the scourge of schools everywhere (even though the Bullies in question were certainly not high school tough guys). Now, we’re here in October, aka Halloween season, and this month’s movie selection not only continues a tradition started here several years ago, but ends it as well. The past two Halloween’s here were spent in the company of a Maniac Cop, and this entry into NSC history covers the final chapter in the saga of the killer cop that won’t stop. Let’s see how Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence closes the chapter on Matt Cordell!
You may recall that during the climax of Maniac Cop 2, Matt Cordell was cleared of his crimes thanks to the work of Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi). If you didn’t recall that, don’t worry, because Badge of Silence has you covered. Part Three begins with a “Previously, on Maniac Cop…” introduction that uses both text and scenes from the prior films to fill in the backstory. We get full coverage of Cordell’s path of destruction, covering everything from the Maniac Cop’s path of destruction (including the epic sequence where he laid waste to an entire police station in Part 2) up to the clearing of his name and proper burial. Astute viewers may recall that at the end of Maniac Cop 2 Cordell punched through his coffin and grabbed his badge (is that the Badge of Silence?) leaving us to wonder when we’d see Matt Cordell again. Well, he’s back, and I’ll be honest, I have no God damn idea why.
Apparently, the cliffhanger ending to Maniac Cop 2 was not to tease viewers that Cordell could return to dispense some undead justice again in the future, but rather due to a voodoo curse. That’s what the introduction to this film is telling us, at least. It turns out that a man named Houngan has an affinity for the dark arts, and uses his abilities to bring Cordell back to life. Not only that, but Cordell is inexplicably indebted to Houngan, which seems awfully nice of him. The man just had his name cleared after a murder spree that spanned across two films, and can’t even rest in peace for more than five minutes? I’ve been more upset if I get woken up early from a nap! Especially since there’s no clear reason why Houngan decided to do this. It would be one thing if he had Cordell acting as his heavy, sending him out into the world to do his bidding, but after their initial encounter, Houngan pretty much stays hidden away as Cordell sets out to do what a Maniac Cop does best, but reminds him that he’s only back because he wants to be, and that’s a strict rule of voodoo that comes into play later on.
Elsewhere in the city, McKinney is enjoying some quality time at the shooting range, which might excite those seeing this film for the first time into thinking that we’ll get a glorious massacre in the vein of Part 2’s police station rampage. No such luck, as this scene serves to introduce Kate Sullivan, a fellow officer that McKinney considers to be a little sister to him. It’s pretty obvious that something bad is about to happen to her, and that’s exactly what happens when she responds to a robbery call at a local pharmacy. Speed freak Frank Jessup (beloved character actor Jackie Earle Haley, known for his portrayal of Rorschach in Watchmen and for filling Robert Englund’s shoes as Freddy Krueger in the reboot of A Nightmare On Elm Street) has taken a hostage and locked himself in with her, but not after putting a few bullets into responding officers. The cops come up short, but a pair of wannabe tabloid journalists are on site and continue to film the incident (rather than get help), and are there to witness Kate crash through the skylight and attempt to save the hostage. After taking Jessup down, it’s revealed that the hostage was a decoy and was in on it with him, and the exchange of gunfire leaves the decoy dead and Kate clinging to life. Knowing that they could spin this story to make big bucks, the journalists make it look like “Maniac Kate” used excessive force and killed an innocent. This is not something that sits well with McKinney, nor is our titular character happy with the situation.
This is where Maniac Cop III takes a wide left turn; it’s not about Cordell cutting a path of vengeance through a frightened city again…it’s a LOVE STORY. Yes, hulking brute killer zombie cop Matt Cordell has taken a liking to Officer Sullivan, and does not like the fact that she’s being framed. THEY HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON! This is the impetus for Matt’s murders, a spree that begins as he’s staring pensively outside the hospital. When a passerby starts mocking the police force and saying that Kate got what she deserved, he’s hurled into the air and filled with a few bullets before he hits the ground. That’s the kickoff for the chaos, as Matt stomps towards the hospital with his sights set on Kate.
It’s inside the hospital that we round out the rest of the cast and get introduced to characters who may or may not make it to the end of the movie. There’s Dr. Myerson (Doug Savant of Melrose Place fame, channeling many aspects of Melrose character Dr. Michael Mancini for this role), who cares less about Kate and more about banging the female staff. Paul Gleason shows up as some type of bureaucrat looking to cut the cord on Kate quick so that the can save the city some money. Robert Forster is the doctor who is agreeable to it, provided that Gleason’s character can get him Knicks tickets. Why do I feel like it’s going to become very fitting that they’re all working the graveyard shift? The only one who seems to have any sympathy for the situation is Dr. Fowler (Caitlin Dulany), and she and McKinney begin to bond while everyone around them acts like an asshole. Naturally, those bad attitudes are going to make them all fodder for the Maniac Cop, but his main focus is still becoming the man(iac) of Kate’s dreams. Literally.
Yes, literally. The film provides us with a sequence of Kate dressed as a bride, walking down the aisle. She appears uneasy, and unsure of what’s going on, while older people dressed as police officers stare blankly at her. Once she gets to the alter, she holds hands with the groom…guess who! This is enough to snap Kate OUT of her vegetative state temporarily, something that is witnessed by McKinney (at her bedside, holding her hand) and by Cordell, who is HIDING IN THE SHADOWS OF HER ROOM. The cop who looks like Lou Ferrigno’s big brother, with a mutilated face from two movies’ worth of action, manages to sneak in undetected. Did this voodoo awakening give him new ninja powers that I’m unaware of? Someone call Sho Kosugi, stat!
Though Cordell adds more bodies to his kill count (the tabloid guys, Myerson, and Dr. Powell), his goal of getting Kate out of the hospital is helped by none other than Jessup. Cordell provides the junkie with a loaded gun, and after rounding up a few more ne’er do wells, they attempt to take over the floor while Cordell walks off through the underground tunnel system with Kate. Of course, they didn’t count on McKinney being a badass cop who’s already in a shitty mood, and he dispatches of the threat rather handily in a fun little sequence that involves him rolling down the hallway on an unmanned hospital gurney. With the bad guys blown away, McKinney now has to set out after Cordell (who it took him some time to realize was actually back) and stop his evil plan from unfolding. Once McKinney and the Maniac Cop come face to face again, it leads to a battle for Kate’s soul that takes them from Houngan’s hideaway and out onto the streets for a fiery finish that features McKinney (in an ambulance resembling the Ghostbusters Etco-1) attempting to vanquish the Inhuman Torch, Matt Cordell.
Badge of Silence is easily the most divisive film in the entire trilogy. Most people enjoyed the first film, and loved the sequel. The third offering is a bit of a mess, no thanks to behind the scenes issues that caused director William Lustig to walk off the set with the film unfinished. This could explain why the film pads a lot of the early portion with clips from the previous films, and why the plot bounces back and forth. There’s also not much to Matt Cordell this time around. For a Maniac Cop, the kills are few and far between, though the ones he manages to squeeze in (such as killing Myerson with a defibrillator and melting Powell’s face with an X-ray machine) are fun to witness. There’s also a hell of a cast here, arguably the best in the entire trilogy, but Forster, Gleason, and Savant are glorified cameos. It’s Davi who does all the heavy lifting as McKinney, and he does the gruff cop act well. These guys could sleepwalk through a 90’s action movie and have it be better than other offerings from the period, but with directorial disputes and the like going on (Lustig is on record stating his hatred for this film in a documentary included on the blu-ray release) it’s no wonder Maniac Cop III couldn’t get much out of the cast.
On-set drama and fickle fans aside, I don’t hate this film, but it’s not what I wanted from my Maniac Cop. The love story aspect is OK if that’s the spark that lights Cordell’s killer fire, but the voodoo curse angle and weird spirit world connection that Cordell and Kate have is better fit for full fledged horror. If they let Cordell just slay his way to her and then deal with the consequences I could buy it. Instead, we have an antihero who can’t take no for an answer (it’s made clear that Kate’s spirit wants nothing to do with him, putting Cordell in the afterlife version of the Friend Zone) and in the climax he tries to kill the same man who risked his own life to help clear his name. I don’t ask for much in my films, but at least keep the character development of Matt Cordell consistent! Then again, we’ve all had that girl that makes us do stupid things, so maybe it’s Kate that can be blamed for Cordell going off the rails.
Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence is now available on free streaming courtesy of Tubi (as is Maniac Cop 2, which got my highest recommendation in last October’s No Surrender Cinema). It’s also available on a blu-ray which features the R rated and unrated versions, as well as a half hour long documentary detailing the issues that the film was faced with. Although this film buried itself by trying too hard, there are some specks of gold to be seen (Cordell’s kills, Davi’s badassery, and Savant’s cocky doctor being the highlights). Though the final moment of the film gives us a creepy cliffhanger, this was the last we saw of Officer Matt Cordell. Though I don’t think this movie is as horrible as some say it is, I can agree that the Maniac Cop definitely deserved a better sendoff.
