{"id":3878,"date":"2011-12-06T14:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T19:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3878"},"modified":"2011-12-06T14:07:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T19:07:06","slug":"film-maniac-cop-2-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3878","title":{"rendered":"Film: Maniac Cop 2 (1990)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>M<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Excellent\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label: First Look\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: October 23, 2007<\/p>\n

Genre: Action \/ Horror \/ Crime \/ Exploitation<\/p>\n

Synopsis: The Maniac Cop returns, befriends a serial killer, and adds to the misery of New York City’s finest.<\/p>\n

Special Features: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

As a general rule, most sequels tend to pale compared to the original, but there are exceptions, and while the makers of Maniac Cop 2<\/strong> do regurgitate two chunks of material from the first film<\/a> [M<\/a>] \u2013 the opening dock crash where Matt Cordell (the eponymous maniac) supposedly dies), and Cordell\u2019s recollection of being convicted, then led through prison, and later stabbed by inmates in the shower \u2013 director William Lustig and writer \/ producer Larry Cohen pull off a small miracle by making a slightly different, but equally awesome follow-up.<\/p>\n

Cohen brings back several prior characters \u2013 major and minor \u2013 and even pulls a Psycho<\/strong> twist by getting rid of two important figures early into the narrative \u2013 but the story remains true to its B-movie origins and plays up the surreal aspect of a brain-damaged cop who returns for further revenge even though he\u2019s still rotting from incipient decay. The fact he remembers his name is remarkable, but it\u2019s also part of the amusement as Cordell, in need of a hideaway after some high-profile kills, finds shelter via a serial killer named Turkell (bear-faced Leo Rossi, fresh from Lustig\u2019s Relentless<\/strong>), who \u2018saves\u2019 pretty girls from prostitution and stripping by cutting their throats.<\/p>\n

While Turkell thinks he\u2019s found a kindred spirit he can control in Cordell, Cordell seems to sulk and ponder His Great Purpose until a spectacular finale where he regains independence from Turkell, gets his name cleared after blackmailing the mayor, and is again supposedly killed in a manner that makes a sequel impossible.<\/p>\n

The police storyline has leads Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) and Teresa Mallory (now engaged) \u2018replaced\u2019 on the case by Det. McKinney (Robert Davi, fresh from Predator 2<\/strong>) and police shrink Susan Riley (Claudia Christian), while the city mayor (Michael Lerner) sends a gauntlet after Cordell before further carnage ensues.<\/p>\n

Lustig\u2019s production was blessed with a great cast of character actors: Paula Trickey plays the film\u2019s titillation epicenter, a stripper almost killed by hairball Rossi; Clarence Williams III and Danny Trejo play goofy inmates; Charles Napier has an amusing bit as a reality show host; Marco Rodriguez literally reprises his role of a greasy convenience shop robber from Cobra<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1986); and Sam Raimi upgrades his prior Maniac Cop<\/strong> cameo from street reporter to newscaster.<\/p>\n

More so than in the first film, the sequel contains even more superbly choreographed car stunts which have stunt men & women maneuvering out-of-control vehicles through dangerous obstacles, yet causing a high quotient of vehicular mash-ups; and there\u2019s Cordell\u2019s fiery prison walk – an amazing pre-CGI sequence. (It\u2019s hard no to believe Dario Argento wasn\u2019t inspired by the bravura stunt to riff the concept of an unstoppable fiery man in Mother of Tears<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s script boosts the wise-cracking humour quotient, and it\u2019s a slick & simple narrative with nary a dull spot. Jay Chattaway\u2019s score is more orchestral this time (sometimes evoking a bit of Jerry Fielding\u2019s harmonic style), and the great main title sequence was designed by Pablo Ferro (!), better know for To Live and Die in L.A.<\/a><\/strong> (1985), The Thomas Crown Affair<\/a><\/strong> (1968), and Dr. Strangelove<\/strong> (1964).<\/p>\n

Lustig would immediately follow-up with Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence<\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1993) and make two more feature films \u2013 uncredited work on The Expert<\/strong> (1995), and the Cohen-scripted Uncle Sam<\/strong> (1997) – before retiring from feature filmmaking and concentrating on his home video company, Blue Underground<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0M<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ M . Film: Excellent\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: n\/a Label: First Look\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: October 23, 2007 Genre: Action \/ Horror \/ Crime \/ Exploitation Synopsis: The Maniac Cop returns, befriends a serial killer, and adds to the misery of New York City’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[877,918,921,874,879,873,917,876,875],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-10y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3878"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3899,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions\/3899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}