Very well executed

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This film is indeed horrible. It makes the first American Kickboxer movie look quite good, something it definitely is not. The problems are many. I can't remember one single fight scene/action scene which was even remotely memorable or exciting. The characters never caught my interest, and I wished they would disappear from my TV screen. It seems to be made by a bunch of amateurs. Maybe it really was a high school project, where some Z-grade actors/models got hired and were told to do a couple of karate moves. That's simply not enough to make a martial arts movie. And why the title "American Kickboxer 2"? OK, it's set in America, but it has nothing to do with the first movie at all. (and was the American Kickboxer title something that could attract interest? Who had heard of the first movie anyway?).A failure at everything it tries to achieve.

American Kickboxer David(Evan Lurie), a long haired, buff, black-belt pretty boy and a LAPD cop with a foul attitude, Mike Clark(Dale "Apollo" Cook)join forces to find the kidnapped daughter of a former flame, Lillian(Kathy Shower). They will encounter an army of thugs working for Lillian's own relative, Xavier(Ted Markland)not knowing that her current husband, Howard(..the late David Graf, Tackleberry of POLICE ACADEMY fame)is actually the mastermind behind the whole ordeal.Lillian and her slimy Uncle Francis(Greg Lewis)were left her father's company fortune, a plumbing business, and Howard, the one who actually built it into a great success, wants the royalties. So Mike and David must fight off a vast number of scumbags using their martial arts skills(..and handguns at their disposal, when necessary) in order to do so.When I was a teenager, my stepfather used to rent these bad action flicks all the time, and I would sneak into his room and snatch them while he was gone to work, watching them. Most of the story-lines resembled each other and were recycled all the time. Normally you'd have a team(..a duo or trio)of cops, equipped with superior fighting skills, often engaged in hand-to-hand combat or exchanging gunfire with drug-runners or dirty, underhanded criminal lowlifes of some sort. While the criminals had automatic weapons which could fire off an endless supply of ammunition, they couldn't hit their desired targets while the heroes, with only handguns, could shoot a few bullets and down the opposition almost immediately. In physical battles the heroes could be outnumbered five to one and wipe them out with ease. Yet, no matter how ridiculous these scenarios are, I couldn't help but enjoy them. The heroes, including our duo in "American Kickboxer 2", aren't chosen for their acting abilities or skills at "emoting", but were hired for either the way they look on screen or fighting capabilities.I had forgotten about Kathy Shower, quite a looker in her heyday, often a fixture in softcore Cinemax erotica during the 90s. She is the young woman who is the center of the three main male characters in the film. The villains are basically stuntmen who walk on screen to fire their guns, getting shot on cue or receiving their customary ass whippings. Plenty of squibs are used as henchmen become bullet fodder. When you enter an early 90's movie, often an action product of the direct-to-video market, you should not expect a stirring emotional story-line or complex characterizations featuring multi-faceted performances..because you will be ultimately disappointed. Yet, if you surrender to the mind-numbing ineptitude of these derivative, oh-so familiar action plots, then maybe "American Kickboxer 2" might provide you with a bit of forgettable entertainment to waste away 90 minutes. As expected, we get the usual female throwaway dropping by to show off her breasts near the beginning of the movie, a student of martial artist David, showing how it's important to be buff, with fighting skills, if you want arm candy or to get laid. Like a great many of these low budget actioners, "American Kickboxer 2" was shot in the Phillipines.

If I recall the first movie correctly, this sequel has nothing to do with the original AMERICAN KICKBOXER, so you're not missing anything if you skip ahead to this "sequel". Though if you are looking for straight entertainment, you won't be getting anything as well. I guess some of the fight sequences are okay, but otherwise this is an extremely cheap affair , with an uninspired story and filmed mostly in drab locations. Funny thing about those locations - even though this movie takes place in the L.A. area, I swear that most of the movie was filmed outside of the United States. It would certainly explain things like that bogus police car or the police precinct it comes from! Anyway, a good amount of enjoyment still can be derived from watching the movie, if you see it as an unintentional laughfest. The cheapness gets some laughs (check out that cabin near the end of the movie), there is some dopey dialogue, but what's really funny are the incredibly bad performances. Dale "Apollo" Cook gets the bad acting prize here, overacting so much that he simply must be seen to be believed. Maybe he has a futuristic television series in his future!

Dale "Apollo" Cook stars as Mike a renegade cop who joins forces with a Karate instructor (Evan Lurie) to save the daughter that could be either one of them could be the father. Awful cinematography and poor acting make this one unwatchable. Besides who asked for a sequel to American Kickboxer 1?