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Bronx Warriors 2
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| Year: |
1983
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Director: |
Enzo G. Castellari
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| Stars: |
Mark Gregory, Henry Silva, Valeria D'Obici, Giancarlo Prete, Paolo Malco, Ennio Girolami, Antonio Sabato, Massimo Vanni, Andrea Coppola, Eva Czemerys, Moana Pozzi, Romano Puppo, Carla Brait, Maurizio Fardo, Tom Felleghy
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| Genre: |
Action, Trash, Science Fiction, Adventure |
| Rating: |
  4 (from 2 votes) |
| Review: |
It is the future, and the whole of The Bronx has been ordered to be cleared of all inhabitants by the authorities because it is to be levelled to make way for a new and expensive complex where only the very privileged are permitted to stay. There are mixed feelings, as many do take the offer to relocate to New Mexico, but others are not so content, preferring to stay in their homes. But the corporation that is behind this redevelopment have enlisted their own troops to invade The Bronx, who are methodically making their way through the streets and into the tenements, brutally killing anyone who refuses to go...
Why, we need a hero to put a stop to all of this! And who better than the Lizard King himself, Jim Morrison? Oops, my mistake, it's actually the hero of the previous film, the shaggy-locked, leather-clad Trash (Mark Gregory), who arrives at his parents' apartment to find they have been murdered by the corporation with flamethrowers, and so vows revenge. Wait a second, you may think, surely if the powers that be were actively slaughtering anybody who didn't want to move then the media would have heard about it, or at least the local housing authority, but this is the future, and The Man is riding roughshod over the rights of the little guy. And the little gal.
Trash is the man of action to bring this situation to the forefront of the news, but he needs help, and after contacting gang leader Toblerone (eh?), played with a cheeky grin by Antonio Sabato, he is put on the lead of a plucky reporter, Moon Grey (Valeria D'Obici), who appears to be the lone voice in the media speaking out about these atrocities. Alas, whenever she shows up at the corporation's press conferences, she is swiftly escorted from the premises, so it becomes clear she needs to be more active in her denunciation. How about the plan Trash decides is the best course of action: kidnap the President?
No, not the President of the United States, the President of the corporation (Ennio Girolami), but the problem is how to get to him. This being the eighties, and a science fiction movie, you find that anyone in a position of wealth and power is not to be trusted in the slightest, while everyone who is, say, a member of a Bronx gang and has big hair and bigger guns is entirely sound. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the contrast between Trash and our main villain, the unlikely-named Floyd Wrangler played by Henry Silva here emphasising the boo-hiss quotient by scheming against the lowest classes - if there's any political content here, it's straight out of The Anarchist Cookbook, except with guns that never run out of bullets.
Director Enzo G. Castellari, returning from the first instalment for more Escape From New York-inspired shootiebangs, is unafraid to bump off sympathetic characters as well as the bad guys, which could speak to an uncompromising aspect to the melodrama, but more likely looks like they weren't too bothered as long as more bad guys died than good. Trash and his new friend Strike (Giancarlo Prete), who has a small son called Junior with a preference for throwing grenades, work hard to capture the President and finally get their wish, yet by this time the film has devolved into a succession of explosions, gunfire and stuntmen getting eliminated in acrobatic ways. Really, the body count here is completely absurd, so that it's little surprise that by the end there are only three people left in the whole of The Bronx, which must be making them wonder why they didn't slink off to New Mexico in the first place. Music by Francesco De Masi. Oh, and Henry Silva doesn't take sugar in his coffee. ALL RIGHT?!
Aka: Fuga dal Bronx, Escape from the Bronx.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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