The Video Vacuum (thevideovacuum) wrote,
The Video Vacuum


Hulk Hogan, Carl Weathers, Shannon Tweed, and Martin Kove return for this straight-to-TNT sequel to Shadow Warriors (or Assault on Devil's Island, take your pick) as an elite commando unit sent to rescue Lisa (Hello Mary Lou, Prom Night 2) Schrage's daughter from the clutches of her slimy rich ex-husband.  After wrapping up that adventure in record time, Hogan next sets his sights on bringing down an arms dealer responsible for killing his former platoon.  When the baddie injects Hulk with a deadly poison, he must race against the clock to find an antidote as well as stop an impending attack on Seattle.


It took me forever to figure out that this was actually Shadow Warriors 2 and not the first one because the title on my copy was simply "Shadow Warriors".  You'd think that the ORIGINAL title, Assault on Devil's Mountain would be a lot cooler, but oh well.  (Although I do like the subtitle, "Hunt for the Death Merchant", which has to rank right up there with "Operation Stranglehold" as one of the tightest subtitles for a sequel ever made.)  Why in the world the DVD company would release a movie AND it's sequel under the same exact title is beyond me, but whatever.


Hogan is actually pretty good in this.  He has lots of flashbacks to the first movie and adequately portrays the character's "emotional pain".  Weathers (who was also in Rocky 3 with Hogan, although they didn't share any scenes together) does a fine job as Hogan's No. 2 man and Tweed looks beautiful as always; even though she doesn't get naked.  Kove is great as the constantly mugging, bargain basement version of Q with a hilarious blonde dye job.


Because the flick premiered on TNT, all of the action sequences are pretty tame and bloodless.  While the action isn't as graphic as I would've liked, there certainly is plenty of it to go around.  I particularly liked the scene where Hogan singlehandedly attacks a terrorist camp all by himself.  Tweed also has a great Kung Fu catfight and most of the other fight scenes are well choreographed. 


On the downside though, the flick just seems like a prolonged television episode than an honest to goodness action movie.  In the end, you'd be better off watching a two-part Renegade episode.  Still, the presence of Hogan, Tweed, Weathers, and Kove is pretty irresistible; I don't care who you are. 

AKA:  Shadow Warriors.  AKA:  Assault on Devil's Mountain.

Tags: action, s, sequel
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