China O’Brien II (1990) – Review

When a film is successful it’s quite common to rush a sequel into production – strike while the iron is hot – but with China O’Brien II this was not the case, in this instance, Golden Harvest was counting on director Robert Clouse and star Cynthia Rothrock to deliver not only a good action film but it’s sequel as well and that they were to be shot concurrently. And while this does save time and money, the result can vary in quality.

The film opens with China O’Brien (Cynthia Rothrock) firmly establishing her role as the sheriff of Beaver Creek, a small town. She has successfully brought peace and order to the town with the help of her deputies, Matt Conroy (Richard Norton) and Dakota (Keith Cooke). She’s done such a great job the town has been designated the safest community in the state – if you know movies that kind of claim is never going to last long – and before you can say “Scorpion Kick” vicious Vietnam veteran turned notorious drug kingpin Charlie Baskin (Harlow Marks) has escaped from prison, murdering a few guards in the process, and is now vowing revenge against those who betrayed him and put him behind bars. Can you guess what town he’s going to end up in?

“Dammit, we just got voted safest town in America.”

After sending a variety of hitman to take out the cops and judge who send him up the very there’s only one more target on his list, and that man is Frank Atkins (Frank Magner) who not only helped put Baskin away but may also have some of his Baskin’s ill-gotten gains and is living in Beaver Creek as part of the Witness Protection Program.  It doesn’t take long for Charlie’s goons—led by a parade of leather-jacketed, sneering baddies who look like they were rejected from a Billy Idol video—to descend on the town of Beaver Creek.  Their mistake? Picking a fight in China O’Brien’s town. As the bad guys lurk and skulk, China patrols the town, busting skulls and issuing traffic citations with equal flair. There are bar fights, warehouse brawls, and so many kicks that the local boot store probably sponsored production. The only chance the villains have is that our heroes aren’t always on the ball.

“Well, this is kind of embarrassing.”

Charlie Baskin, infuriated that a small-town sheriff keeps annihilating his best men with spinning back-kicks, escalates the conflict and kidnaps Frank’s wife and child—classic villain move. But this is China O’Brien, and she doesn’t play by anyone’s rules, not even her own. Hell, I don’t even know if she understands the rules that govern a compelling or coherent narrative, but who needs logic or rationality when she has Dakota and Matt at her side. As the heat goes on and the Baskin’s evil shenanigans ramp up, China is forced to go full-on Kung Fu Justice League, taking the fight to streets like the third act of a Jean-Claude Van Damme fever dream.

“Well, China, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”

Watching this sequel I had one immediate question “Does China O’Brien think she’s Batman?” Due to the shooting of a kid at the beginning of the previous film China now refuses to carry a gun, which leads me to this next question “Can you even legally be a sheriff if you don’t carry a gun?” That she continues upholding this stupid “No Gun” oath is one of the dumbest elements of this sequel. When you have a drug lord and a gang of ruthless Vietnam veterans holding your town hostage maybe don’t rely on a series of roundhouse kicks to save the day. The whole movie feels like an extended episode of a low-budget ’80s cop show—but with worse lighting and even cheesier music. Yet at only 92 minutes, it somehow feels much, much longer.

“Our plan is to take over the town during the commercial break.”

Stray Observations:

• One of Baskin’s targets is taken out by an assassin as a stripper, what’s amazing is that she finishes her striptease before blowing away her target, which is a surprising work ethic for a professional killer.
• The FBI agent in charge of Witness Protection blames the villains finding Frank Atkins on Frank himself, that he blew his own cover, but we see no evidence of this. Worst of all, the agent then shows no interest in getting Frank to safety. If only the FBI had the same work ethic as professional killers.
• It’s obvious there is a leak in the FBI but what’s weird is that it’s not the callous agent, instead, it’s a completely different one. Did the screenwriter fall asleep at the wheel?
• The villains have a magic device that blocks all radio transmission but somehow allows them to use their own walk-talkies. These are Bond level villains here, so I don’t buy it.
• The first film teased the fact that China O’Brien knew how to use a bow and arrow but she never used one in that outing, and while she finally does use one here, it’s to fire only one bloody arrow.

“My department has a very small arrow budget.”

As disappointing and generic as the plot of this film is Cynthia Rothrock’s performance as the titular China O’Brien remains its saving grace. Her martial arts skills are impressive and she brings a certain charisma to the role, however, the script does not give her much to work with in terms of character development. Richard Norton and Keith Cooke, who also return, were given even less to work with this time around and nothing worse than a poorly utilized Richard Norton. But perhaps the worst offence is that the film manages to be both cartoonishly violent and mind-numbingly dull. Every line of dialogue is either exposition or macho posturing. The pacing drags like a car stuck in first gear and that plot wouldn’t pass muster as an episode of Dukes of Hazzard. 

“Could you kidnap us later, we’re trying to have a good time.”

If anything can be said about Cynthia’s US output is that it tended to be hampered by viable or even interesting opponents – usually one blatantly evil head villain and a dozen or more faceless goons whose sole job is to get kicked in the face and then fall down – and while seeing the hero defeating an army of thugs is par for the case for this genre it’d be nice if half of them didn’t look as if they worked at Home Depot. And let’s talk about acting. Rothrock is physically impressive, sure—but she emotes like a robot trying to feel things for the first time. And while Richard Norton is always fun to watch and returns to flex his accent and do a few spin kicks, everyone else in the cast seems to be competing in a race to the bottom of the charisma barrel.

The dead are the lucky ones.

While China O’Brien II offers some competent martial arts action it is bogged down by that weak script, underdeveloped characters and uninspired direction – it’s hard to believe the director of Enter the Dragon helmed this film – but fans of Cynthia Rothrock and martial arts cinema might find some enjoyment in the fight scenes, sadly, the film offers little to distinguish itself from its predecessor or other similar action films of the era. For those seeking a more engaging and well-rounded movie experience, this sequel is likely to disappoint