Another
Lustig movie about a vigilante… I definitely know that Lovelock and Starkwell
head into this one with the expectation bar at least somewhat raised. They enjoyed the first installment, and they
definitely like some of writer Larry Cohen’s other endeavors, such as “The
Stuff”. While they found “Uncle Sam” to
be a bit of a stinker (I mean, how many times can you re-brand the same movie),
this one came in well before that, so maybe it won't feel quite so tired. Also,
I mean, come on, Bruce Campbell is in it.
So, yeah.
[...]
[Bruce Campbell fights Maniac Cop.]
Starkwell: I always thought Campbell was kind of a
Streisand, but he’s rocking the shit in this one.
Lovelock: Wait what?
[Maniac Cop drives a truck off a pier with Campbell hanging
onto the side of the truck.]
Lovelock: WOAH!
STUNTS!
Starkwell: I miss watching movies where you get to spot the
stunt doubles. Nice wig!
[...]
If you haven’t seen the first one, all you really need to
know is that Maniac Cop is a vigilante zombie cop who just don’t know when to
quit. Something tells me that, although
he just took a huge pipe through the chest, he’s coming back. The something telling me that, is that this
is called “Maniac Cop 2” and we are only two minutes into the film.
[...]
[Maniac Cop stops an armed robbery, but kills the clerk and
gives the gun back to the perp.]
Lovelock: I don’t get
it.
Starkwell: What’s with all the smoke?
Lovelock: Will there be a story in this movie, or… ?
[...]
Bruce Campbell and Blondie
are arguing with the police commissioner about whether or not the Maniac Cop
really is the undead dude they think it is.
Blondie starts FREAKING OUT. Then
five minutes later they kill Campbell and the guys are all “DA FUCK”.
[...]
Starkwell: Is it really necessary to focus on the dead naked
girl’s boobs for so long at the morgue?
They’re there to identify Bruce Campbell’s body…
Lovelock: I’ll allow it.
Starkwell: Dude, weak.
[...]
There doesn’t seem to be any real method to Maniac Cop’s
madness. I mean I get that he killed
Bruce Campbell, but the guy in the corner store? Now a cop towing away some douchebag’s car? What the shit?
[...]
[Maniac Cop throws Blondie through a window and then she
goes after him with a chainsaw.]
Starkwell: What does she expect to do with that?
Lovleock: I don’t know but she has some seriously crimped
hair.
[Maniac Cop immediately breaks her neck.]
Lovelock: Hashtag chainsaw fail.
Starkwell: Never again, please.
[...]
Then the Police Psychologist Woman, handcuffed to a car’s
steering wheel goes flying down the highway… on the outside of the car. Say what you will about the movie, but there
are some pretty righteous car stunts littered throughout.
[...]
[Strip club scene.]
Starkwell: Why is this scene so long? Why are the strip club scenes always so long?
Lovelock: Like you don't know. More important is, who is this fucking guy they are focusing on?
[This movie is developing a side story now, even though the
main story is barely developed.]
[...]
So the guy at the strip club is a Serial Killer who’s been
killing strippers. As he is about to
kill another stripper in her apartment, Maniac Cop show up, throws the girl
into a wall and saves the Serial Killer from the police. Seriously, what the fuck, they become buddies
and plan to kill together?
[...]
Lovelock: I feel like the theme from “Perfect Strangers”
should start playing, at this point.
[...]
Then there is a flashback to how Maniac Cop died in prison,
and for whatever reason, it just had to be in “stabbed while naked in the
showers by some shirtless inmates”. So
we get plenty of Robert Z’Dar ass shots and some almost side peen. Why did it have to be in the shower? And why were the prison showers so dark, open
and cavernous?
[...]
[The cops go around to some neighboring strip clubs to look
for the guy. They find him at the first
strip club they go to.]
Starkwell: How convenient.
Lovelock: How did this guy manage to kill so many strippers
and get away with it if he is so dumb?
FUuuUUCK the cops in this movie’s universe are inept.
[...]
Then Maniac Cop goes to the police station and kills
basically everybody and frees his Serial Killer Buddy. It’s a fair amount of bullet action and gore,
but I still don’t really see what his end game is, other than killing everyone
that potentially put him behind bars in the first place. Also random people.
[...]
[Maniac Cop and Serial Killer steal a prison bus and break
into prison… ?]
Starkwell: So, no one reported that the prison bus was
stolen and that MAYBE the prison souldn’t let the bus in?
Lovelock: Remember what I said about the cops in this
universe?
[So I guess he is going after the people that shower-shanked
him in prison.]
[...]
After a pretty sweet fire
stunt, Maniac Cop kills his killers and flies out the window down a bunch of
flights into a bus, which then explodes.
It’s THE DEFINITION OF BLAZE OF GLORY.
The story may have lacked some imagination, and had a whole slew of useless bits, like the Serial Killer Guy (why was he even in this?), but man, the action and
stunts were tight. Can’t wait to show them part 3.
