• Directed by Jonathan Winfrey
• Written by Mark Sevi
• Starring
  • Stacie Randall
  • Dan Gauthier
  • Jay Patterson
  • John Mese
  • Bradford Tatum
• Produced by Paul Hertzberg
• Executive produced by Lisa M. Hansen

Even for those of us accustomed to in-name-only sequels, this one takes top honors for its complete disconnect from Excessive Force (1992). Not only is there no overlap in either characters or stars, the stories are completely unrelated; the first movie dealt with a playboy Chicago cop investigating corruption, while this one follows a military Criminal Investigation Division Command (CIDC) officer tracking a former Navy S.E.A.L. turned professional assassin in California. Yes, they both feature protagonists who can use hand-to-hand techniques as well as weapons, but that’s an awful tenuous connection on which to claim a franchise. Moreover, thanks to the magic of the Internet Movie Database, I can tell you that the only personnel in common between the two movies are one sound technician and one bit player/stuntman. No one was involved in writing, directing, or producing both movies; you have to move up the chain past the production company to the backing studio, New Line Cinema, before you find an above-the-line entity in common.

She’s out for blood… just as soon as her shoulder heals from firing a full clip from that gun one-handed.

Despite that, the back of the DVD box has the brazenness to proclaim, “ALL THE EXCITEMENT OF EXCESSIVE FORCE IS BACK!” Me, I’m just guessing that someone who loved the camp of the original’s title had spitballed the sequel’s, complete with subtitle, and became so enamored of it that they had to find a project to slap it on instead of the even more generic title it originally bore. It’s just such a forceful title that it had me bellowing out Force! during scenes of violence. Force!

As mentioned, the bad guy here is ex-Captain Lydell (Dan Gauthier), who’s kept the old unit together as a pro assassin contractor team in the L.A. area. We first meet them plying their trade on some hapless target in a cemetery, despite the target’s team cadre of disguised bodyguards. Their only mistake was in not noticing a homeless guy (Mandingo Warrior – I swear, that’s how he’s credited) enjoying a cigarette behind a headstone. The homeless witness notices a tattoo on Lydell’s arm, a pregnant seal, which is one of the emblems of the S.E.A.L.s.

Just be glad that Cordell is the only law enforcement professional in this picture who’s showing navel.

This info gets back to the local police, who broadcast it to local military bases, where it comes to the attention of Lt. Harly Cordell (Stacie Randall), CIDC investigator. She’s got more than a professional interest in this case, if the wearer of the tattoo is who she thinks it is; she’s been looking for Lydell for four years, ever since he shot her in the head and left her for dead during the (first) Gulf War because she wasn’t interested in his private assassination business opportunity post-discharge. Yeah, that’s all information that’s parted out to us bit by bit over the course of the movie, but always long after the audience has already figured it out.

She’s still carrying the bullet in her head, by the way; in fact, she postpones an awfully terribly important operation to go after Lydell. If you immediately guess that she’s going to be inopportunely crippled by sudden bouts of pain and vertigo while chasing down bad guys, you’ve got as firm a grasp on obvious storytelling as the creative personnel involved. Force!

Action movie cinematography in three easy steps!

And really, you don’t need me to tell you more about that storyline. If you’ve seen any of the mid-range action flicks cranked out in the ’80s and ’90s, you can guess how things unfold, or at least craft a checklist from which the common plot elements could be chosen. Yes, there’s a scene in a strip club. Yes, Cordell does get herself shot in the abdomen, only to be ready to high-kick again within twenty-four hours. Yes, she gets herself into a suitable position to kill Lydell more than once, but fails to achieve her ambition and put a bullet in his head because she’s too busy speechifying and making sure that the moment will be all dramatic and fulfilling for her. (Sorry, was her ambition to kill him or to give him a good talking-to?)

But that storyline alone would be anemic, so instead of gussying up the unoriginal story with more innovation, we’ve got a couple more to throw it. Lydell and his team are on task to kill a mob informant who’s being held in a secret location while he gives videotaped testimony to the FBI, with the local police in the loop for protection. No matter how much trouble Cordell causes, Lydell needs to go ahead with this assassination, because they’ve already accepted over a million dollars from the mob in advance. Force! There’s also a “mystery” subplot about an unnamed weak link within the police force who gives Lydell information not only about the snitch’s location but also Cordell’s activities. I put “mystery” in quotes because we only meet one police detective by name, Officer O’Conner (Jay Patterson) — who else could we possibly suspect?

“(Ulp!) Um… nice shoes?”

There’s also the requisite love interest; Dr. Prender (John Mese), who patched her up in the Middle East and apparently got hot ‘n’ heavy with her there, is also in LA, and Cordell looks him up both for physical companionship and because, hey, she needs somebody to fill her painkiller prescriptions and put her back together after fights.

There’s really nothing wrong with the movie; Stacie Randall kicks like a female Don “The Dragon” Wilson (not surprisingly, director Jonathan Winfrey also directed Manhunt (1995), aka Bloodfist 7), though she’s also the worst actor in the production (something else in common with Don Wilson vehicles). Force! The fight scenes are competently choreographed, if cheap, and plentiful; this story takes place in the action version of a “porn universe,” in which almost everyone you meet is ready to throw down and kick ass at a moment’s notice.

It’s a mid-’90s action flick. Of course things are going to blow up.

But by 1995, the straight direct-to-video action movie market was already drying up for new stars; the only real players were either the well-established DTV stars (the Don Wilsons of the world) or the formerly theatrical stars whose fading pull consigned them to video product (the Steven Seagals of the world). Stacie Randall could have been the next Cynthia Rothrock, but even Rothrock was having trouble being Rothrock by then. And with nothing to excite the viewing public about this forgettable non-sequel, with nothing to showcase Randall’s talents in a way that would gain her greater attention, both she and the movie were not much more than the gasping dregs of a genre that wasn’t pulling in the viewership anymore.

And maybe that, sadly, is the way in which Excessive Force 2 seems most like a successor to the first movie.

Some Notable Totables:

• body count: 31, plus however many were on an exploding bus
• breasts: 4
• pasty male butts: 1
• explosions: 5
• ominous thunderstorms: 0
• actors who’ve appeared on Star Trek: 8
  • Dan Gauthier (Lydell) played “Sam Lavelle” in the TNG episode “Lower Decks”
  • Michael Wiseman (”Bobby Tucci”) played “Beta-Hirogen” in the Voyager two-parter “Flesh and Blood”
  • Henry Brown (”Captain John Buchanan”) played “Numiri Captain” in the Voyager episode “Ex Post Facto”
  • Cyril O’Reilly (”Deacon”) played “Nahsk” in the DS9 episode “Who Mourns For Morn?”
  • Joe Maruzzo (”Barty D’Amato,” the mob snitch) played “Sal” in the Enterprise episode “Storm Front”
  • Tom Wright (”Grant Thompson”) played “Tuvix” in the Voyager episode “Tuvix,” and “Ghrath” in the Enterprise episode “Storm Front”
  • Pee Wee Piemonte (”Bouncer”) played “Klingon #2″ in the Enterprise episode “Marauders”
  • Doug Wert (”Holding Cell Detective”) had a recurring role in flashbacks as “Jack Crusher” on TNG