Bullet Points: Lady Dragon 2
A few months back I happened upon a copy of 1993’s Lady Dragon 2 on Laserdisc at one of my favorite spots here in Northeast Ohio, The Exchange. The movie starring Cynthia Rothrock is an in name only sequel to 1992’s Lady Dragon (which also starred Rothrock).
After finally cracking it open and giving it a spin, there was only one thing left to do with Lady Dragon 2… review it, Bullet Points style!
- Let’s Get It On: The action begins at the Los Angeles International Hotel Ballroom. It is there that the pride of Pittsburgh, Susan “The Golden Angel” Morgan (Cynthia Rothrock, China O’Brien) is defending her UKA Middleweight Championship against Delores “El Diablo Ardiente” Hernandez… Elsewhere in the hotel, Diego and his two heavies Jack and Reb (Sam J. Jones, Fists of Iron), put on some shiny silver Jason Voorhees masks and steal diamonds worth $25 million dollars from some high ranking members of the Luciano Family at the behest of their cartel boss… Back in the Ballroom, “The Golden Angel” has successfully defended her title and remains queen of the UKA (that’s United Karate Association for those in the know), much to the delight of the crowd on hand including her husband, soccer superstar Sonny Sumarto… who is about to become a diamond mule and he doesn’t even know it!
- Destination Jakarta: After the fight, Susan and Sonny immediately make their way home to Jakarta where Sonny and his team have a big game against Kuala Lumpur. What Sonny doesn’t know is that Diego slipped the briefcase of diamonds into Sonny’s luggage and checked the tag on the bag, so they knew who it belonged to and where it was headed… Diego, Jack and Reb then book a flight to Jakarta and show up at Sonny and Susan’s place looking for their merchandise…. they end up stabbing Sonny in the leg, attacking Sari the maid and worst of all, they rape Susan… Sonny and Susan end up in the hospital, Sonny’s soccer career is over and there’s more trouble on the way…
- God Works in Mysterious Ways: Once Sonny and Susan return to their home and start the long healing process, Sonny (who is now wheelchair bound) admits to Susan that he has the diamonds Diego and his crew were looking for… but he thought it was a “gift from God” so he could help his people… Susan is outraged. She wants Sonny to turn in the diamonds, but he refuses… A bit later when Sonny is home alone, Diego, Reb and Jack return, once again asking Sonny where the diamonds are. Sonny continues to say nothing… he is then tormented and has to watch as Diego and crew destroy his home and eventually kill Sonny when he doesn’t tell them what they want to know. Now Susan will become the target for Diego…
- Angel of Fury: It is now time for some revenge and Susan wants to dish it out herself… When Captain Anton of the local police shows up at Susan’s house, asking if she would come down to the police station and see if a Colombian National that they picked up is one of the men who attacked her and Sonny. That Colombian National was in fact Diego… but Susan acts if though she has never seen him before… Later that night, Diego calls Susan at home and the war between Diego and Susan begins… Diego shows up at the house again and has a sexual encounter with Sari the maid…. Susan dons a Marilyn Monroe like costume and lures Jack into a fight in an elevator, that leads to Jack’s demise… But nothing tops Diego and Reb digging up Sonny, putting him in a wheelchair, placing a soccer ball on his lap and bringing Sonny’s corpse home for Susan to find.
- Pittsburgh Steeler: Next up on Susan’s hit list is Reb. That means we get a Cynthia Rothrock vs. Sam J. Jones battle, where she beats him flat (literally) with a shipping container… That only leaves Diego… After Diego sets a trap for Susan involving her maid, we get a near Mad Max level car chase between Diego and Susan that leads right into their final battle at a steel factory, the perfect setting for a Pittsburgh native like Susan Morgan. And who doesn’t love a good industrial theme showdown?!?!
Lady Dragon 2 is a borderline action thriller with the “chess game” between The Golden Angel and the vile Diego. Of course you aren’t going to have Cynthia Rothrock in your movie (especially back in 1993) and not take advantage of her martial arts expertise… so there was still plenty of ass kicking to go around to give the Rothrock fans what they wanted.
I don’t think anyone can argue that casting Billy Drago as the main villain in Lady Dragon 2 was anything but a smart move. Drago was one of those “born to be bad” kind of guys and his Diego has to go down as one of Rothrock’s most memorable adversaries.
How memorable with this set of Bonus Bullet Points be? Only time will tell…
- The Name Game: Lady Dragon 2 was released as Angel of Fury in Canada. Which is confusing because Rothrock starred in another movie named Angel of Fury, which was a redubbed and recut version of the Indonesian action movie, Triple Cross.
- Triple Duty: David Worth of Kickboxer fame was the director, cinematographer and he played the UKA’s ring announcer.
- Favorite Quote: “I bet that lady has not seen her husband that stiff in a long time!” – Diego, in reference to the whole Sonny corpse thing.
- Product Placement: Pizza Hut was a proud sponsor of the United Karate Association and I couldn’t help but feel like Union Bank helped finance the film for some reason.
- World’s Safest Parking Garage: One of these days I plan on writing down all the parking garage scenes I have ever seen and then ranking them by level of danger. I can tell you with confidence that coming in dead last on the list will be Lady Dragon 2, since nothing happened other than a stand up meeting between Diego, Reb and Jack discussing the importance of getting the diamonds for their cartel boss, Eduardo.
