Powerful

Good concept, poorly executed.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Doctor Johnny Woo (The Dragon) returns. This time around, he's engaged to Julie (Ford) and looking forward to a quiet life together. That is, until Julie is kidnapped and stolen away to an underground society called...The Underground. It's its own separate city, with its own rules, laws and gangs. No one from the surface world ever goes down there, and guns are not allowed. But Johnny ventures down there anyway and battles away for his wife-to-be. Along the way he meets Ernest (Richardson), an embittered vet, who ends up helping him. It turns out the main baddies in The Underground are Kalin (Jacklin) and his lackey Predator (Lurie). They stage Punchfighting matches for fun and they want Johnny to face off against them. Backing up Johnny is his crew from the previous film, which includes the return of comic relief Kwong (Lee). Will Johnny and his compatriots rescue Julie and make it back to the surface world? Find out today! Ring of Fire II certainly doesn't skimp on the action: there are constant fights, blow-ups, car chases, broken glass, and even some Punchfighting. It keeps up like this with a good pace until right before the climax, when it starts to drag, and the repetition of it all becomes brain-numbing. But in the set and costume design, there is a lot of creativity which sets it apart. Sure, the basic plot is a melange of The Warriors (1979), Escape From New York (1981) and The Running Man (1987), but weird sets and the bizarre costumes of gangs like The Avengers, Shadow Warriors, Nightrats and personal favorites The Garbage Gang keep things nicely different. The lighting can also be odd, but a lot of the movie is too dark. So, visually not only is it different from the previous Ring of Fire installment, but it's different from most other movies of this kind.Cleverly, the first image of the movie is a "Ring" - but it's Julie's engagement ring. Sadly Maria Ford does almost nothing in this movie. The cast is very impressive - Eric Lee is up to his classic wacky antics, Evan Lurie shows his time-honored Meatheadyness, and Ian Jacklin wears a metal cummerbund. As in Firepower, Gerald Okamura is here but you can barely see him. At least he's credited this time. Art Camacho is also here as a generic gang member. The great Sy Richardson gives the movie much-needed weight, and lest we forget Vince Murdocco and Michael Delano. Both in front of and behind the camera, the cast and crew give it that PM style we all know and love.Happily, this movie is not at all a retread of the first, which in lesser hands it easily could have been, and we give them credit for that. There's also no courting or love story, because that was taken care of in the first film. Unfortunately, there is some filler, and the Punchfighting subplot is pointless and goes nowhere. The baddies just beat up on nameless, unseeable goons and there is no rhyme or reason to it. There's no escalation in fight prowess. It's seemingly there just to fill time. We love a good Punchfighter, but that's not really what this movie is and it feels like an afterthought. Adding to The Warriors feel, there's a radio DJ who periodically pops up to give updates. But those of you who have seen Riot (1997) and Fists of Blood (1988) will see there is also a (no pun intended) underground influence, as well as a more mainstream influence to the proceedings.Finally, it should be noted that Don is shirtless for most of the movie's running time. He, of course, loses his shirt in a fight when he first enters the underground, and he must go through his entire odyssey bare-chested. It's worth noting because it's the longest single instance of unnecessary shirtlessness we've seen to date. There's NO reason for it, especially considering how long it lasts.Ring of Fire II may have its flaws, but it's basically an enjoyable movie. It's not a title you need to rush out right now and buy, but if you see it somewhere, pick it up.

Well Well.... i have wait up a long time to see finally this sequel to the original Ring of Fire that, to be honest, i really liked, even tough it was a low budget martial arts movie. But hey... I'm the most biggest fan of these anyway, my collection is growing and I'm trying to see them all, no matter how good or bad they are. So well yes i did enjoy the first movie. Here is the second one where most of all the original actors are back, which for a low budget is kind of rare. Dale Jacoby and Vince Murdoco have been in a couple of martial arts movies of the 90s, and they prove here once again they can do the job as side kick. Haven't saw them starring but well as side-kick they sure the job well.To get you in the mood, Dale and Vince where the bad guys in the first film, but since then, they and Don's character have grown better, understand the way of life and put the difference aside, and now Don's soon to be wife(which was his love interest in the first movie) is abduct and Don is on a quest to bring her back, with the help of his former foes and wife's friend.I was SO MUCH waiting to see the gang together after the first movie and i had trouble founding this copy, so its been nearly a year after i saw Ring of Fire 1, but i do remember all of it, i did enjoy it a lot. So well lets say sure the gang working together is good to see, and the martial arts in the movie are cool, but there was a couple things bugging me up. First if your sister is being abduct, will you let yourself be seduce by a bunch of hotties? I would be so much of my quest to get her back, i wouldn't care if it was Jessica Alba or another hottie in front of me. Secondly i would have like a few more "death cage" match with Murdocco and the others, that could have been sweet, but that is more of a wanting that a problem.Anyway Ring of Fire 2 is a well enjoyable sequel to the first one, sure a little cliché for most of it, sure you could have hope for a better story reuniting the gang together, but it was well decent enough so i enjoyed it. And it was cool to see them together. Dale have played mostly ass holes in his martial arts movies, and for once you can root for him, lol, he sure had talents back then, i don't know now in 2010 but I'm a little sad he never scored much in the 90s

Well... what can I say? It's fun... if you let it be fun. It's filled to the brim with well-choreographed fight scenes that are executed to perfection by professional martial artists... That seems to be the most true and innate value of this romp. The story seems to have been put in place primarily as a vehicle to get from one fight scene to another. Some moments of decent acting by the supporting cast will sneak up on you... as will some comedic moments provided by the comic relief. (The comic relief - physically - the smallest martial artist in the movie and naturally... portrayed in the film as the MOST girl-hungry!) The score is fine but the film has a very fun soundtrack that winds up being featured on an underground radio station within the parameters of the story.. If you like this genre of movies you'll like this one as much as you would any other...Too bad they didn't sell the soundtrack!

Just your average Don "The Dragon" Wilson movie. They guy whose been in all those awful Cyborg Cop movies shows off more "underground street fighting with thugs" style that was so big in the late 80s and early 90s. Playing "Dr. Do-Good" Johnny, Wilson fights a bunch of evil jumpsuit thugs, muscle freaks, and dorks on skates as he tries to save his girl Julie from the evil champion of the underground fighting world, Kalin. So your basic "Double Dragon", "Final Fight" or any other punch-and-kick video game plot plus he's got his comical posse following him slowly and fighting everyone else he encounters. Don also has Sy Richardson as the wise old guy in the form of a disillusioned and always-angry black ex- soldier who wants revenge on Kalin. If this is your kind of movie, enjoy, otherwise.............RUN BEFORE IT GETS YOU!