Review of Exterminator 2 (1984) by David G — 17 Jun 2014

The first Exterminator is somewhat of a guilty pleasure, a cold-edged Death Wish knock-off, minus an anti-hero with as much charm as Charles Bronson. It also benefited from James Glickenhaus' trademark slow-mo and editing style. Alas, none of that is found here. Exterminator 2 is a different approach, but you better watch the first only to be acquainted with the character, because there's barely much development for him in this movie alone. He's just a cold vigilante with a flamethrower. Robert Guinty is always pretty badass when dressed to kill, but as a human character, he's not as likeable here. He's kind of an awkward character, and doesn't seem to make the right gestures in his relationship with a dancer who gets beat up by gang members. When he praises her dancing, he comes off overbearing. When trying to care for her after being crippled, he tries to sugarcoat everything with happiness and push her too hard. The plot is also full of intricacies that are a bit jarring and don't make sense. Like how the gang finds out Guinty is their perpetrator and finds him and his girlfriend, even though the editing and shots clearly show they never even saw their faces. How did they know? SHRUG. Van Peebles character plans to "take the streets", though except for a few scenes near the beginning, this idea is completely forgotten as the rest of the film deals with a drug deal that comes out of nowhere. Yep, the film is sort of all over.

If anything in the film works, it's the gang stuff with Mario Van Peebles. He's an odd one to critique. He's the main gang leader, badass, yet his acting speaks different vibes. On one hand, he often seems like a guy that isn't cut out for being "bad", but other times he redeems it. His character seems human this way, where he's really just a troubled teenager who lost his brother, but is driven to the edge to claim havoc on the streets. For all I know, he's not a very good actor, but he worked enough. Hell, he says "I am the streets!" He's a fair rival for Guinty I'd say. The action bits are cool for sure, even if a little redundant, though a big garage shootout redeems itself to be cool, even if a little silly when Guinty rigs a truck with missiles and guns. The final showdown between Peebles and Guinty isn't really a showdown, just a game of hide and seek.

Overall, Exterminator 2 isn't a very good film and is very incoherent. A lot of the movie isn't very exciting, if anything, just ridiculous and dull. But when the war between Guinty and Peebles gang builds up to the last half hour, its worth watching. It's a short flick, and as far as sleazy 80's flicks go, Exterminator 2 isn't too bad, but in general it's poor and a guilty sleazy pleasure at best. I'd watch it back to back with The Exterminator, but yea the first, while also sleazy and trashy, had more motivation behind the story and worked better.