[Personal note: I was recently asked if I ever wrote on something I didn't like. I replied that I usually didn't want to devote time to writing about things I don't like, when I could write about things I do like. However, I accepted the challenge, particularly after my recent experience with the below-described film.]

Pyun uses the same crew over and over again for many of this films - that is a mark of quality (although not necessarily a good one). In this film, frequently Pyun flyers include George Mooradian as cinematographer; Thom Matthews in a minor role; Nicholas Guest (son of an English lord, no less) in a minor role; and Anthony Riparetti for music composition - wait! Was there actually music with this thing? I honestly cannot remember. Maybe there was some elevator music or bad, 70s kitsch kind of music (the sort that often played on television shows like 'CHiPS' as Erik Estrada rode his motorcycle up the ramp onto the freeway), but I honestly cannot recall it.

You also have to wonder about a sequel so bad on paper that the actor who plays the villain in earlier segments, Michael Quissi, decides to give it a miss. So, we get a poorly disguised Kamel Krifa as Tong Po (one-time national martial arts champion of Thailand, now a Mexican drug-lord and sex slave trader - does that qualify as a lateral career move?); Krifa isn't even credited in the film, taking Quissi's place. The make-up is so pathetic that the foam and plastic bits of the face mask seem to be falling off even before Krifa starts his martial arts routines. I have seen better make-up jobs at local civic theatre events that had to rely on grandmother's make-up case because there was no budget.

First there are tryouts. Peppermint Patti tries, and Sloane fells her with a single stroke. Somehow, she is still permitted into the tournament. Okay. Oh, and it turns out that another contestant is an undercover DEA agent (Brad Thornton, in what appears to have been his only film role ever), just as Sloane it turns out is a former DEA agent. What a lucky combination for them that the martial arts contest is at the drug lord's hideaway!

I must confess the specific criteria listed below baffle me somewhat in regard to this film. Story? What story? But that's not an option. The characters and performances are very weak indeed, but so much so that they are very memorable. The same holds true for the special effects (particularly if one considers make-up a special effect - the main villain having half his face hang off most of the time certainly sticks in the mind!). On the other hand, with regard to other pieces of work by this director, it is probably just fine!