Martial Law 2: Undercover (sometimes titled Karate Cop) is an action crime flick and a sequel to Martial Law from 1990. It’s directed by Kurt Anderson, who was a producer in the first one, and stars Cynthia Rothrock and Jeff Wincott. Rothrock is the only returning lead from the first film.
Detective Sean Thompson (Wincott) and cop Billie Blake (Rothrock) team up to solve a dangerous case. Billie goes undercover at a nightclub in order to infiltrate a criminal organization that might have been responsible for the death of one of Sean’s colleagues but the bosses are guarded by powerful martial artists the heroes must face.
Surprisingly an improvement over the first movie. The story doesn't really work as a whole because it's so disjointed and muddled, but every little vignette and action sequence works quite perfectly as a small highlight that you do enjoy watching the film even if the glue that sticks it together isn't really that rewarding.
The choregraphies are top notch and not only do the fight scenes have their own beginning, middle and end but they sometimes work towards a crescendo and end in a very interesting punctuation blow to finish the sequence (like Rothrock breaking the leg of a mugger after beating all of his group) that gives it a more interesting flare not expected from one of Rothrock’s typical American films. So it's ultimately sort of creative.
The flaws from the first film, and most of the other nineties Rothrock films quite honestly, are there still but not to a higher degree. This time, the cinematography becomes quite good looking sometimes and the events do unfold in relatively engaging ways, making it of higher quality than usual.
If you are up for a worthwhile early nineties martial arts effort this one can be quite entertaining for you. Recommended for genre fans.
There was a third movie in the franchise but it has nothing to do with Rothrock and it changes concepts altogether.
Two weeks ago I reviewed the French buddy cop film titled Sirens. Well, guess what? Now we have another female buddy cop comedy from France, this time we will take a look at Nice Girls, directed by Noémie Saglio. Saglio specializes in comedies like Connasse, Princesse des cœurs, I Kissed a Girl, Baby Bump(S) and the TV series The Hook Up Plan.
The movie is about Léo (Alice Taglioni), a reckless and down on her luck policewoman from Nice, France (get the title now?), who just lost her brother and fellow police officer Ludo, who was shot while getting entangled in the schemes of corrupt upper class crooks. Now she wants to investigate the case but the blondie is forced to work with a meticulous German detective named Mélanie (Stéfi Celma), who she doesn't get along with initially.
Nice Girls is like a bigger budget version of Sirens, both sport the same type of tropes and plot beats but while I do like Sirens I think Nice Girls is a few steps above it if we are talking about production values, cinematography, tone balance and screenwriting. The characters are about as strong and the comedy is more constant, as well as the action, an element that was mostly missing in Sirens.
Léo is the typically dirty, careless, tough and semi-sleazy streetwise cop who often breaks the law in order to catch bad guys in the name of justice. Taglioni is good in this role and sells it perfectly, always messy and disheveled but still looking good in her ragged and filthy outfits. Mélanie is a decent counterpart to Léo, always confident and playing by the book but capable when the time calls for it. Stéfi Celma delivers a good-natured performance.
Predictably, these two different personalities clash and eventually after some bonding time they manage to become close. However, unlike in Sirens, their relationship isn't solidified in forced hang out scenes but through the rapidly moving plot development and via character interactions during action and dialogue sequences. The fast pace certainly helps make the movie more agile too.
When it comes to comedy it brings out the usual raunchy type of humor, sex jokes, racist jokes, getting-hurt-in-the-crotch jokes, pussy jokes, fart jokes, slapstick and physical comedy as well. I enjoy such cheeky humor so it wasnt bothersome to me, it's also good that this is all very diluted, it knows when to stop when things are about to turn unfunny and to drag, they thankfully avoided the pitfalls of modern raunchy comedies by never being too insistent in it's nastiness. The occasional gags are clever and many of the jokes are subtly set up only to deliver an effective punchline or callback minutes later.
The political ideas are smartly implemented and they never become obtrusive, touching upon relevant subjects without being didactic or having it affect the immersion. The characters are often kind of pathetic and morally unwashed, but they redeem themselves by the end. It begins with a very misguided attempt at edgy humor but it grows out of that fairly quick.
The villains are shallow but they don't steal too much screen time from our heroines. There's one cool assassin lady who manages to become the big baddie and the only real intimidating antagonist in the entire picture, having a stand out final shootout/fight sequence in the third act.
I also enjoyed the ingenious and original twists along the way that completely change the characters’ interactions with each other, everything in the plot is emotionally connected to the protagonist in one way or another, making the tropes work better than the average example of the subgenre and investing you more in the story.
When it comes to it's cinematic merits I particularly liked the very busy compositions with a bit of imaginative camera movements and techniques (like the expressive zooms early on) and the very colorful art direction that made it's images stand out, but it all turns rather average quickly and it never goes too out there with it's cinematic techniques. So it's ultimately not the most inventive film you can find.
Tonally, the movie never becomes goofy enough to be distractingly cartoony like parts of Sirens were, it's also not morbid at all and knows to keep a lighter tone through most of its runtime. The film is even warm at points, never forgetting the tragedy behind the heroines’ motivations. It's not a compelling drama but it's more than competent at handling the more heavy scenes before rapidly moving on.
Director Noémie Saglio along with Stéfi Celma.
If silly and action-packed comedies are your thing, this one does the job just fine with its fun leads, simple but entertaining stunts, satisfying fight scenes and lighthearted spirit.
