The Last Detail (1973, directed by Hal Ashby)

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Billy “Badass” Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Richard Mulhall (Otis Young) are two Navy lifers stationed in Virginia. On shore patrol, they’ve been assigned to transport a 18 year-old seaman to a Naval prison in Maine. The kid has been dishonorably discharged and sentenced to eight years in the brig for trying to steal $40 from a charity box. (The charity was a favorite of the wife of his commanding officer.) Buddusky and Mulhall are expecting to find a hardened punk but instead, they end up escorting Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid), a timid teenager who suffers from kleptomania and who doesn’t seem to understand just how bad things are going to be for him for the rest of his life. Not only is he going to do eight years in the brig, surrounded by hardened criminals, but his dishonorable discharge is going to follow him for the rest of his life.

Resenting having to take Meadows to prison and also feeling that he’s getting a raw deal, Buddusky and Mulhall decide to make a few stops on their way to Maine, so that Larry can enjoy what little time he has left and hopefully lose his virginity before being locked up. In between brawling with Marines, visiting a brothel (where a young Carol Kane plays one of the prostitutes), and hanging out with a group of hippies (one of whom is played by Gilda Radner), Meadows comes to think of Buddusky and Mulhall as being his best friends. Unfortunately, for Meadows, both Buddusky and Mulhall have their job to do.

Hal Ashby’s road picture is a character study of three men who are all lifers, even if they don’t realize that. Both Buddusky and Mulhall hate the Navy but they also can’t relate to anyone who isn’t a member of the service. Meadows’s entire future has been pre-determined because he tried to steal $40 but he doesn’t realize it until its too late. When the film came out, it was controversial due to its “colorful” language. In an interview, screenwriter Robert Towne defended the frequent profanity because, as he put it, when you’re in a situation you hate, “that’s what you do. You bitch.” Hal Ashby’s loose direction captures the road trip feel as the three leads reluctantly head to their ultimate destination.

The Last Detail features one of Jack Nicholson’s best performances. Buddusky is cynical and doesn’t trust anyone other than Mulhall but even he knows that Larry Meadows deserves better than to spend eight years in the brig. Along with lending his star power to the film and standing by director Hal Ashby when Ashby was arrested for marijuana possession, Nicholson also played a big role in the casting of Randy Quaid as Larry Meadows. (The other final contender for the role was John Travolta but Nicholson insisted on Quaid). The 6’5 Quaid towers of Nicholson and Young, making him look as if he could escape any time that he wants. But Larry is so naive that he doesn’t want to make any trouble for his “friends.” Though this wasn’t his first film, The Last Detail is the film that made Quaid one of the busiest character actors of the 70s and 80s and it also, at least temporarily, made him a part of the Jack Nicholson stock company.

Both sad and funny, The Last Detail is one of the best films of the 70s and features Jack Nicholson at his most unforgettable.

Icarus File No. 23: The Last Tycoon (dir by Elia Kazan)

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Based on the final (and unfinished) novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1976’s The Last Tycoon tells the story of Monroe Stahr (Robert De Niro).

Monroe Stahr is the head of production at a film studio during the early days of Hollywood. Stahr is an unemotional and seemingly repressed man who only shows enthusiasm when he’s talking about movies. He may not be able to deal with real people but he instinctively knows what they want to see on the big screen. Stahr is a genius but he’s working himself to death, ignoring his health concerns while trying to create the perfect world through film. He’s haunted by a lost love and when he meets Kathleen Moore (Ingrid Boulting, giving a remarkably dull performance), he tries to find love with her but, naturally, he doesn’t succeed. Meanwhile, he has to deal with his boss (Robert Mitchum), his boss’s daughter (Theresa Russell), a neurotic screenwriter (Donald Pleasence), an impotent actor (Tony Curtis), and a lowdown dirty communist labor organizer (Jack Nicholson)! Sadly, for Stahr, McCarthyism is still a few decades away.

There’s a lot of talented people in The Last Tycoon and it’s undeniably interesting to see old school stars — like Mitchum, Curtis, Dana Andrews, Ray Milland — acting opposite a Method-driven, 30-something Robert De Niro. This is one of those films where even the minor roles are filled with name actors. John Carradine plays a tour guide. Jeff Corey plays a doctor. This is a film about Golden Age Hollywood that is full of Golden Age survivors. It’s a shame that most of them don’t get much to do. The Last Tycoon is a very episodic film as Stahr goes from one crisis to another. Characters show up and then just kind of disappear and we’re never quite sure how Stahr feels about any of them or how their existence really shapes Stahr’s worldview. Robert De Niro may be a great actor but, as portrayed in this film, Monroe Stahr is a boring character and De Niro’s trademark tight-lipped intensity just makes Stahr seem like someone who doesn’t have much to offer beyond employment. This is one of De Niro’s least interesting performances, mostly because he’s playing a not-particularly interesting person. Mitchum, Pleasence, and the old guard all make an impression because they’re willing to coast by on their bigger-than-life personalities. De Niro is trapped by the Method and a total lack of chemistry with co-star Ingrid Boulting.

Still, this is the only film to feature both De Niro and Jack Nicholson. (The Departed was originally conceived as a chance to bring De Niro and Nicholson together, with De Niro being the original choice for the role eventually played by Martin Sheen.) Nicholson’s role is small and he doesn’t show up until the film is nearly over. He and De Niro have an intense table tennis match. Nicholson doesn’t really dig deep into Brimmer’s character. Instead, he flashes his grin and let’s the natural sarcasm of his voice carry the scene. It’s nowhere close to being as emotionally satisfying as the De Niro/Pacino meeting in Heat. That said, Jack Nicholson at least appears to be enjoying himself. His natural charisma makes his role seem bigger than it actually is.

Why was The Last Tycoon such a disappointment? Though unfinished, the book still featured some of Fitzgerald’s best work and there’s a huge amount of talent involved in this film. The blame mostly falls on Elia Kazan, who came out of retirement to direct the film after original director Mike Nichols left the project. (Nichols reportedly objected to casting De Niro as Stahr. While it’s tempting to think that Nichols realized that De Niro’s intense style wouldn’t be right for the role, it actually appears that Nichols and De Niro sincerely disliked each other as Nichols also abandoned the next film he was hired to direct when he was told that De Niro wanted the lead role. Nichols choice for Monroe Stahr was Dustin Hoffman, which actually would have worked. If nothing else, it would have provided a Graduate reunion.) Kazan later said that he did the film solely for the money and it’s obvious that he didn’t really care much about the film’s story. The film has some good scenes but, overall, it feels disjointed and uneven. Kazan doesn’t really seem to care about Monroe Stahr and, as a result, the entire film falls flat.

Previous Icarus Files:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Megaboa (dir by Mario N. Bonassin)

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bless the Asylum and their love of giant monster movies!

In 2021’s Megaboa, a group of college students accompany Dr. Malone (Eric Roberts) a field trip to a remote island. They’re on the island specifically to explore some caves and study some drawings. It’s time to have some fun with anthropology! But when Dr. Malone gets bitten by a venomous spider, a group of students go off in search of an orchid that can neutralize the venom. This eventually leads to them discovering that they’re not alone on the island. There’s also a giant snake, a megaboa if you will.

This is pretty much a typical Asylum film. Giant snakes, tank top-wearing heroines, and Eric Roberts hamming it up in his usual delightful fashion. “Far out!” Dr. Malone says when he first sees the giant snake and how can you not agree with him? Those who complain that the Asylum makes cheap movies are missing the point. The film may be cheap but they’re almost always fun as well. This one features a giant snake that is actually kind of cute and it also features a scene of someone shouting, “Get me out of here!” after being swallowed by the snake and how can you not enjoy that? It’s like a much more honest and self-aware version of Anaconda and, best of all, it’s got Eric Roberts delivering his lines with a twinkle in his eye. He knows better than to take any of this too seriously and hopefully, you do as well.

Megaboa is fun. It’s like the type of films that I used to look forward to watching on the SyFy channel. Get together with a group of your wittiest friends and watch it. Don’t be afraid to talk back to the movie. Don’t be afraid to laugh when the snake first shows up. Tell the characters when they’re doing something dumb, that’s the point of the film. Megaboa is pure entertainment.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Brad’s emotional response to SINNERS (2025)!

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Bradley Crain

I love Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and it really goes back to their collaboration on CREED. No movie has stirred my emotions in the past decade as much as CREED. I laughed, I cried, and I got pumped up even though I watched the film in the theater by myself. I would go on to tell every person I knew that they had to see the film. I couldn’t imagine that any other combination of writer, director or actor could have created a better continuation of the world that began with Stallone’s original story. CREED is a classic of its own as far as I’m concerned.

I had not heard about SINNERS until Arleigh shared the trailer here on The Shattered Lens a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I saw that it was a Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan. That caught my interest even though I didn’t stop and actually watch the trailer as I was in the crunch of tax season. And then Leonard dropped a review of the film on April 17th.

Sinners (dir. by Ryan Coogler)

I don’t go to the theater often these days but I decided that I just had to see the film over the Easter weekend. I talked Sierra into going with me on Saturday morning, and all I told her was that it is a vampire movie from the guy who did CREED. I purposely read nothing else about the film because I know that Coogler and Jordan make magic on the screen when they work together. I didn’t want anything else influencing my initial experience with the film in any way.

Rather than spend any time on the plot of the film, I just wanted to spend a little time talking about how the movie made me feel. First, watching Michael B. Jordan interpret the Smoke-Stack characters in such different ways was pure joy for me. Any person who has read my articles knows that I have a tendency to obsess over the actors I really like. I don’t believe there is an actor under 40 years of age that enjoy watching perform more than Jordan. I’ll watch anything he does throughout his career. Second, there is something so interesting about Miles Caton in the part of the singer and guitarist Sammie Moore, aka Preacher Boy. That deep voice of his almost didn’t seem to go with those fresh face features. I can see why the other characters reacted to his singing and playing the way they did because the man has real talent. I was surprised that this was his first film based on the confidence he carried throughout. Third, it’s always fun to see Delroy Lindo in any role. Fourth, I liked the relationship between Smoke and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). When I first saw Annie standing in the doorway and looking at him by the small grave, my first inclination would not have been that those two had been in a relationship together and that he was at the grave of their child. To me it was a nice surprise that the painful history being shown was shared between those two and that they still loved each other. I also really wished I could try her fried catfish. I also liked certain aspects of some of the other characters including Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the Chow family and Cornbread.

The music is incredible in SINNERS. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the blues, but I know what I like, and I liked what I heard. I’ve always been a fan of the movie CROSSROADS with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca. Both movies are in awe of the power of the blues, and I was somewhat surprised that Ryan Coogler’s “vampire movie” was showing such an interest in the music as a character and not just a soundtrack. I liked the scene where Stack introduces Miles to Lindo’s character Delta Slim. I like the music at the juke joint, and the out of left field trip through the musical decades was a unique and powerful choice that showed a director not afraid to go wherever his intuition takes him. My “joint” would probably feature country music, but I’ve always said I can like any music as long as it’s good. The music in SINNERS is great.

I will say that the things that interested me the most, mainly the development of the characters, took a back seat once the vampires were revealed. I wanted to get to know these characters even more. The action was well filmed and there were some surprises along the way, but once the vampires emerged, I felt like I was watching a movie I had seen before. Even though it was extremely well done, the film’s special quality seemed a little less. With that said, Smoke’s late stand against the Klan was exciting and emotionally satisfying.

Overall, I would give SINNERS a solid 4 stars out of 5 based on my initial viewing. I will revisit the movie at some point, but I’m letting the film seep into my bones at the moment. Coogler seems to be a filmmaking genius and I haven’t stopped thinking about his latest movie over the last few days. I have a feeling this movie will continue to grow on me with repeated viewings.

Physical Evidence (1989, directed by Michael Crichton)

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Ex-cop Joe Paris (Burt Reynolds) is arrested for the murder of a small-time criminal. Joe swears that he’s being framed but his public defender, Jenny Hudson (Theresa Russell), isn’t sure that she believes him. While Jenny’s boyfriend (Ted McGinley) makes a fortune trading stocks and Joe’s former mistress (Kay Lenz) tries to keep her mobster boyfriend from finding out about the affair, Jenny tries to outsmart prosecutor James Nicks (Ned Beatty) and Joe tries to find the real killer.

Tubi sent me to this film after I finished up Raw Justice. When I saw that it was a Burt Reynolds films, I figured that I would take a chance with it but this one turned out to be one of Burt’s lesser films. Joe Paris feels like he might be distantly related to the cop that Burt played in Sharky’s Machine but Physical Evidence doesn’t have any of that movie’s style or grit. Burt doesn’t come across like he wants to be in the movie and he and a very miscast Theresa Russell have next to zero chemistry onscreen. This was Michael Crichton’s last film as a director and he directs in a stolid, made-for-television manner.

Supposedly, this was originally meant to be a sequel to the thriller Jagged Edge, with Glenn Close and Robert Loggia reprising their roles from the earlier film. When that fell through, the movie was refurbished into Physical Evidence, with Theresa Russell and Burt Reynolds replacing Close and Loggia. I think the film would have worked with Close and Loggia because, based on Jagged Edge, they were believable as people who had a close relationship and would do anything to help each other. Burt Reynolds and Theresa Russell come across like they can’t even stand to be in the same room together. Better get a new lawyer, Burt! This one seems like she might be planning on framing you herself.

Raw Justice (1994, directed by David Prior)

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

When his daughter is strangled, New Orleans Mayor David Stiles (Charles Napier) hires ex-cop-turned-bounty-hunter Mace (David Keith) to keep an eye on the main suspect, Mitch McCullum (Robert Hays). What the mayor doesn’t know is that his daughter’s murder was ordered by Deputy Mayor Jenkins (Stacy Keach) and now, both Mace and Mitch are being stalked by a crooked cop named Atkins (Leo Rossi). Also getting involved in this mess is a hooker with a heart of gold named Sarah (Pamela Anderson), who is angry because Mace earlier stole his clothes while trying to get the jump on a bail jumper. Sarah and Mitch soon fall in love. Mace is good with a gun and Mitch turns out to know karate (because he watched a lot of Bruce Lee movies growing up) but the film’s high point is when one of the bad guys is taken out with a giant novelty dart.

The plot is dumb and David Keith comes across as being a discount version of Patrick Swayze but this film does give the always likable Robert Hays a good role and fans of Pamela Anderson (and you know who you are) will definitely appreciate at least two scenes in the movie. Actually, Pamela Anderson isn’t bad in Raw Justice. She’s mostly there for her looks but she still has a likable and energetic screen presence. Otherwise, this is a typical low-rent David Prior production, complete with action scenes featuring guns that never run out of bullets (unless it’s convenient for the plot) and a score that is pretty much the same guitar riff over and over again. It’s not exactly good but it is entertaining if you’re in the right mood.

This film was also released under the title Good Cop Bad Cop, which doesn’t make much sense because neither Keith nor Hays is playing a cop.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Strange Frequency (dir by Mary Lambert and Bryan Spicer)

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2001’s Strange Frequency is an anthology film. Usually, I hate anthology films because it always seems like the viewer ends up with one good story and three mediocre ones. As well, the anthology format is one that sometimes seems to be specifically designed to bring out the worst tendencies in otherwise talented directors. Often times, they seem to treat the anthology format as a lark, an excuse to show off their technical mastery without really paying much attention to anything else. The results often feel thematically shallow.

Well, guess what? I liked Strange Frequency. It was a lot of fun. Each of the four stories mixed horror with music. The first story features two heavy metal fans (Erik Palladino and Danny Masterson) who, after a car accident, find themselves in a club where disco is played nonstop. For them, it’s Hell. For me, it sounds like a fun afterlife. (Yes, it’s not easy to watch Danny Masterson nowadays but he does suffer in this story.) The second story is about a middle-aged serial killer (Eric Roberts) who targets younger hitchhikers, specifically because he dislikes their taste in music. However, when he picks up a young grunge fan (Christopher Kennedy Masterson), he suddenly finds himself being targeted. It turns out that this hitchhiker targets old people who won’t shut up about Woodstock. They then meet an older man who has never forgiven the baby boomers for rejecting big band music. In the third story, a rock star (John Taylor) who enjoys destroying hotel rooms is confronted by a maid (Holland Taylor) who can literally clean up any mess. (“I want my headlines!” the rock star shouts as he realizes he’s never going to get credit for destroying his current room.) Finally, the fourth story stars Judd Nelson as an A&R man who has the ability to find up-and-coming stars but whose discoveries inevitably end up dying.

All three of the stories were well-done and genuinely clever. My favorite was the second story, which featured Eric Roberts giving an enjoyably unhinged performance as the Woodstock refugee with a hatred for Lollapalooza. The story was both clever and suspenseful and it actually had something to say about the cultural differences between the generations. As you get older, you really do come to hate whatever music came after the artists you grew up listening to. Eventually, all the Swifties will be in their 40s and 50s, wondering why the younger generation doesn’t appreciate good music about feelings.

Strange Frequency was a pilot for a series that aired on VH-1 in 2001. How come I don’t remember this show? The pilot was actually really good! Thank you to Australia’s own Mark V for telling me about this pilot and letting me know that it was on YouTube! Check it out if you get a chance.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Hong Kong Film Corner: THE BIG BULLET (1996), starring Lau Ching-Wan!

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Bradley Crain

The first time I ever remember seeing Hong Kong actor “Sean” Lau Ching-Wan on the screen was in the Jet Li film, BLACK MASK. I was watching the film because of Jet Li, who had recently hit it big in America as a bad guy in LETHAL WEAPON 4, but I remember thinking that Lau’s cop character was pretty darn cool too. I didn’t think of him again for awhile, but then I bought a book about Hong Kong movies called “Hollywood East: Hong Kong Movies and the People who Make Them,” from author Stefan Hammond. This book was Hammond’s follow up to “Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head,” one of the books that truly educated me on the cinema of Hong Kong. “Hollywood East” spent a whole bunch of pages discussing Lau Ching-Wan and his movies. I connected the dots between this very interesting actor I was reading about and that cool cop in BLACK MASK. So I did what I do. I bought one of his movies, and then another, and then another. Soon I was obsessed with watching all of his movies. One of those first movies I remember reading about in “Hollywood East” was THE BIG BULLET.

In THE BIG BULLET, Lau Ching-Wan is the badass cop-with-an-attitude, Sergeant Bill Chu, who doesn’t take crap off of anyone, including his superiors on the force. After belting one of his so-called superiors following a botched raid, Chu finds himself transferred to the Hong Kong police force’s “Emergency Unit,” a clear demotion for a man of his experience and arrest record. Here, the loner must work as part of a team to answer the various calls that come their way on a daily basis. This isn’t always easy, as one of the fellow cops on the unit is the extremely by-the-book Inspector Jeff Chiu (Jordan Chan). They clash immediately. Other members include the spunky Apple (Theresa Lee), the nerdy gun nut (Cheung Tat-Ming), and the old guy (Spencer Lam). This somewhat ragtag group finds themselves in the uneviable position of trying to stop an extremely dangerous group of thieves, led by The Professor (Yu Ronguang) and Bird (Anthony Wong). We’ve seen their willingness to kill at the drop of the hat, and the Emergency Unit doesn’t seem to be a proper match for these criminals. Or are they??

If you’re looking for a strong action film, and you’ve never seen it before, I present THE BIG BULLET. Director Benny Chan was emerging as a top notch Hong Kong film director, and THE BIG BULLET seemed to announce that he was throwing his hat into the ring as an action specialist when some of Hong Kong’s best action directors were taking their talents out west. There’s a sequence about 25 minutes into the film where our heroes find themselves in a shootout with the main villains that will leave your heart racing in the same manner as some of John Woo’s or Ringo Lam’s best work. And the actors are the very best that Hong Kong has to offer. Lau Ching-Wan, while not a dashing star in the mold of Chow Yun-Fat, easily carries the film on his shoulders with his natural charisma and tremendous screen presence. Even now, almost 30 years later, Lau Ching-Wan continues to dominate the Hong Kong film industry from an acting standpoint. He is nominated in 2025 for the Hong Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the film PAPA (2024). The excellent Francis Ng has a small, but pivotal role as Chu’s friend and colleague on the police force who helps him save his job at the beginning of the film. I also like Jordan Chan as the by-the-books member of the team who comes to realize that there are times when you may have to bend the rules to stop dangerous criminals. In a role that starts out extremely unlikable, he wins us over as the film progresses. As far as the criminals go, it would be hard to get much better actors for the parts than Yu Rongguang (IRON MONKEY) and Anthony Wong (BEAST COPS, THE MISSION). These excellent actors are cool and evil and we definitely want to see them get their comeuppance before the credits roll.

Overall, THE BIG BULLET may lose a little bit of steam in its second half, but it’s still a great example of how strong Hong Kong action films were in the late 90’s. It’s also an example of the excellent talent in Hong Kong films even as Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and John Woo had already moved on to Hollywood. THE BIG BULLET has a special place in my heart since it was one of those formative Lau Ching-Wan films in my life. But nostalgia aside, it’s still a damn good action film, and I recommend it without any reservations!

A Blast From The Past: Outer and Inner Space (dir by Andy Warhol)

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s blast from the past comes from 1966.

In this 33-minute short film, we watch as Edie Sedgwick appears to have a conversation with herself. She’s not, of course. Instead, she’s sitting next to a television monitor that is showing a video of Edie having a conversation with an off-screen someone who was to the right of her. Meanwhile, the “live” Edie is having a conversation with an unseen person who is sitting to the left of her. This creates the illusion of the two Edies having a disjointed conversation with each other whereas, in reality, we’re really not sure who either Edie is talking to or what they’re even talking about. As was typical with Andy Warhol’s Factory films, the soundtrack is notably muddy. As well, the video below is actually a film of the film, which I think Warhol perhaps would have appreciated as long as he got paid.

Okay, it’s not for everyone. Obviously, if you’re not a fan of Warhol’s films, this experimental piece is not going to change your mind. In fact, it’ll probably make you a little bit angry. But, for me, it’s a fascinating time capsule, a true product of the era from which it came. Warhol’s experiments might not seem spectacular today but that’s because we’ve grown use to experimentation. Experimentation has become a mainstream concept. Warhol, on the other hand, was making his underground films at a time when the term “underground” actually meant something.

As well, this film features Edie at the height of her fame. It’s a bit sad to watch now, knowing how fleeting her obvious happiness would be. Warhol’s films always framed Edie as being just slightly out of reach, from both the viewers and the filmmaker. With the muddy soundtrack, one watches the multiple Edies in this film and wonders what is going through their mind, This is a film that embraces the enigma of existence and image.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Best of the Best II (dir by Bob Radler)

Posted on April 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, Simon Rhee, and Chris Penn all return for more martial arts action in 1993’s Best Of The Best II!

In the years since the American team’s quasi-victory over the Korean team in the first Best Of The Best, Travis (Chris Penn) has fallen on hard times. While his former teammates, Alex (Eric Roberts) and Tommy (Phillip Rhee) attend to the day-to-day operations of running a martial arts studio in Las Vegas, Travis spends his time fighting in underground “colosseum” matches. These matches, hosted by Weldon Mardano (Wayne Newton), are modern-day gladiatorial contests where the fighters often battle to the death while a bunch of rich people watch and cheer. (We can tell they’re rich because they all wear tuxedos). “There are no rules!” the crowd shouts as Travis defeats opponent after opponent.

Travis is convinced that he can defeat the colosseum’s German champion, fearsome Gustave Brakus (Ralf Moeller). It turns out that Travis is wrong. Travis loses to Brakus and is promptly killed after the crowd starts to chant, “Die! Die! Die!” (In Brakus’s defense, he may have thought they were just chanting, “The! The! The!”) (Actually, don’t ask me how that works in Brakus’s defense. I really didn’t think that joke through.) Travis’s death is witnessed by Alex’s young son, Walter (Edan Gross). Travis, Walter, and Tommy go on the run, ending up at Tommy’s boyhood home. Tommy, it turns out, is half-Native American and his bitter uncle, James (Sonny Landham), trains Tommy and Alex for their inevitable fight against Brakus. Dae-han Park (Simon Rhee) also shows up, saying that he owes Tommy a debt for not killing him at the end of the previous film.

Best of the Best II is an improvement on the first film, if just because it doesn’t take itself seriously at all and it cheerfully embraces and celebrates the absurdity at the heart of the storyline. Just the fact that one of the film’s villains is played by Wayne Newton should tell you everything you need to know about this film’s style. This is a pure Vegas film, full of glitz and neon and plenty of tuxedos. Eric Roberts even wears a tux at the end of the movie. Just as in the first film, Roberts does most of the acting while Phillip Rhee supplies the action. Roberts is a bit less emotional in this film. If he spent the first film continually on the verge of tears, he spends the second one trying not to smile at the silliness of it all. Towards the end of the film, you can actually see him starting to laugh at Wayne Newton’s over-the-top performance and it’s actually kind of a nice moment. Don’t take this too seriously, the film seems to be saying, We’re not! Just enjoy the fights!

Best of the Best II is definitely an improvement over the first one, even if it is unfortunate that neither James Earl Jones nor Sally Kirkland returned. (Then again, if you were the Tony-winning, widely-celebrated, universally-beloved, and very much in-demand James Earl Jones, would you have returned?) Best of the Best II doesn’t take itself too seriously and, as a result, it’s far more entertaining than you might otherwise expect.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: