Bullet Points: Best of the Best II
I am not sure there is a movie that has come more highly recommended to me in the history of Bulletproof Action than 1993’s Best of the Best II. Multiple people in my circle of friends suggested (or in some cases demanded) that I watch. Honestly I didn’t even need that much outside coaxing… I personally wanted to see the movie because I had seen the original and I had seen the other two sequels in the franchise so it only made sense in my mind that I needed to see the one movie in the franchise that I missed out on.
After years of waiting for Best of the Best II to show up on any of the streaming services to no avail… After years of waiting for a Good Samaritan (or filthy Internet pirate) to upload an English copy of the movie to YouTube to no avail… I finally managed to get a DVD copy, that despite being an overseas release was playable for me, so I could see what all the hype was about…
- 200 Feet Below: The original Best of the Best was a very Rocky-esque sports based drama with the action centering around the competition between the United States and South Korea, even the bar fight was seen as a team building exercise. But it was obvious almost from the moment the movie started that Best of the Best II was going to be much different in tone as a high class underground fighting circuit known as The Coliseum is introduced. And when I say underground it is literally 200 feet under the Las Vegas Strip. We are also introduced to the owner and undefeated champion of The Coliseum, Brakus, played by Ralf Moeller. Moeller even got the “Introducing” credit even though he had already starred in both Cyborg and Universal Soldier, although Brakus was easily the most prominent role he had up to that point.
- Danke Schoen: I want to thank the producers of Best of the Best II for their decision to cast Wayne Newton as Mr. Weldon, the manager of The Coliseum and more importantly the master of ceremonies for all the fights. Wayne Newton, who already had some previous action movie experience in Licence to Kill, is the personification of Las Vegas and the perfect hype man… what the hell does any of this have to do with the original Best of the Best? Well, Chris Penn’s Travis Brickley is back and he is competing in The Coliseum and doing quite well for himself that is until he gets to his fight with Brakus and has his neck snapped… I should probably mention that young Walter Grady (Edan Gross reprising his role) witnesses the whole thing since he conned his “Uncle Travis” into sneaking him in.
- Alex and Tommy: Three Bullet Points in and I am finally talking about the stars of the movie, Alex Grady (Eric Roberts) and Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee). When Walter tells his dad what he saw, Alex and Tommy go from dojo proprietors teaching the next generation of martial artists to borderline vigilantes. Alex and Tommy waste no time visiting The Stock Exchange (the dance club above The Coliseum) and talk to Weldon about their boy Travis… Weldon feeds them a story that Travis had his bell rung, but walked out on his own two feet with a bimbo on his arm… which in no way jives with Walter’s account of what happened. The next day when Travis is found dead in the river and the police rule his death an accident… Alex and Tommy are full fledged vigilantes!
- Planting the Seeds: Alex and Tommy are back at The Stock Exchange and they are pissed… Brakus ends up tossing Alex like he was yesterday’s garbage, but Tommy comes to his friend’s aid and smashes Brakus’ face into a mirror… drawing first blood and putting a scar on the face of the narcissistic Brakus. This leads to a battle with the entire Coliseum security team with Alex and Tommy battling their way out… Brakus now wants to square off with Tommy in The Coliseum and wants Alex and Walter dead. So it is no surprise when some gunmen show up at the Grady household and nearly carry out Brakus’ orders. This incident forces our heroes to seek refuge elsewhere… and that elsewhere is an Indian Reservation with the woman who raised Tommy and who he refers to as Grandma.
- Unhappy Reunion: While Tommy is ecstatic to see Grandma again, he is not happy to learn that Grandma’s no good son James (Sonny Landham, Predator) is back in the picture. Tommy has never forgiven James for stealing Grandma’s money… one of the many bad decisions James has made in his life. Now James has an opportunity to redeem himself and prove he is more than a worthless drunk, because he is one of the few men on Earth who fought Brakus and survived. James can teach Tommy what he needs to know to defeat the seemingly undefeatable Brakus… this leads to some training montage action and even a visit to a sweat lodge where Tommy can go on a vision quest. But James really redeems himself when The Coliseum security team track down Tommy and there’s a shoot out on the reservation between James and Weldon’s hired guns, ending with James going down in a blaze of glory. Unfortunately it appears that Brakus’ wish is about to come true. Tommy is snatched up and on his way to give Brakus his dream match… and as far as Tommy knows, all his friends and loved ones have been murdered.
- Tonight at the Coliseum: Tommy is entered into the Coliseum competition and I was a bit surprised that Brakus didn’t forego the Coliseum traditions and let Tommy jump the line and face Brakus right then and there. Instead, Tommy has to run the gauntlet and defeat two opponents back to back to set up his fight with Brakus the following night. But Brakus won’t be the only one with a fight on his hands that night… the security team is going to have to deal with the very much alive Alex Grady AND Dae Han (Simon Rhee reprising his role from the original) and it is chaos inside and outside The Coliseum! And when it is all said and done The Coliseum is closed!
All the hype I heard about Best of the Best II was completely true! It is now my favorite entry in the Best of the Best franchise and a movie I am glad is now part of my physical media collection. Phillip Rhee is one of the more unsung action heroes of the era and I really wish he would have been in more movies than he was. Ralf Moeller is exactly what you want your monster villain to be, Brakus’ ego was as big as his imposing frame. But the MVP of this movie is Mr. Wayne Newton… he had the shady, money hungry promoter character down pat and spending as much time in Vegas as he has, he probably had a lot of personal experience to pull from… I wish Weldon would have returned for one of the other sequels, but instead Tommy found himself battling white supremacists and Russian mobsters.
Some of you may be thinking that I forgot to mention Eric Roberts… but I did not forget, it was an intentional snub because to me Eric Roberts was the weakest link in this movie and not really likable either. In the scene where Alex confronts his sportscaster girlfriend Sue MacCauley (Meg Foster, Masters of the Universe) moments before she was about to go on the air this is especially true. Now I get that Alex was upset, but he wanted Sue to go on live television and say that Travis Brickley did not die in an accident like the official police investigation stated, but instead was murdered by Brakus. Sue refused because she knew her ass would be fired for reporting a story that was not run by her superiors AND one that there was no concrete evidence of (I don’t think “Walter said so” is going to hold up). Alex then storms off all pissy and it was at that point I was done with Alex Grady in this movie.
I’m about done with this review, which means it is time for some Bonus Bullet Points…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Sonny Landham puke, then Best of the Best II is the movie for you.
- Familiar Faces: Apparently one of the qualifications of getting hired at The Coliseum was being a familiar face to action fans… Patrick Kilpatrick (Death Warrant and Riot) played Finch, head of security for The Coliseum… Among those who reported to Finch were Gus played by Mike Genovese (Code of Silence and Showdown) and Sick Humor played by Nicholas Worth who will always be Cartier to me from Action Jackson and anytime I see him in any movie, I wish that Carl Weathers would show up and run him over with a car… Brakus’ main squeeze, Greta was played by Claire Stansfield who I remember from both Drop Zone and Sweepers.
- Two Buck Quote: “The buck stops here, bucko!” – Finch
