Customer Reviews

No Retreat No Surrender 2 [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best martial art movies ever made. The only one I have seen so far that is better is Steven Seagal's Nico.
I just bought this on DVD and I realise that America doesn't have it on DVD yet. I don't know why. This is a great action adventure film even without the frequent martial art sequences.
Cynthia Rothrock is in it and can really kick some butt. Also there is Loren Avedon and he is a force to be reckoned with.Also stars Matthius Hues out of Dark Angel (aka I Come in Peace). Although not as good as that it is still great.What more can be said.Just buy it.

No Retreat No Surrender 2 is a cheesy 80's action flick directed by Corey Yuen, who also directed the original. Part 2 has no connection to the original. None of the characters return from No Retreat, and the storyline takes a 180 degree turn.

The film follows Scott, played by Loren Avedon, who arrives in Southeast Asia, witnesses his girl getting kidnapped by Russians, and finds himself tangled up in a vengeful rescue attempt with buddy Mac, played by Max Thayer, and his love interest Terry, played by Cynthia Rothrock, in the moutainous regions of Cambodia and battles it out with the Russian forces.

No Retreat No Surrender 2 also goes by the title Raging Thunder. It features gory and intense action sequences and a much more monstrous bad guy played by Matthius Hues. However, the film remains nostalgic to me since I have seen this film many times when I was young.

Recommended

B+

For all those who loved the entertaingly bad "No Retreat, No Surrender", this unrelated sequel provides a lot of the same fun. Loren Avedon is Scott, a karate student who goes to Thailand to visit his fiancee. Unfortuantely for him, she ends up getting nabbed by the Russians (what the hell?) and her family gets murdered. Scott ends up getting arrested but he escapes on a dirt bike and heads to the strip bars to find his old friend, Mac Jarvis (Max Thayer). After meeting up with Jarvis, the two head to his headquarters where Scott insists on fighting a one-man war against an alliance of Cambodian and Russian soldiers. It gets pretty tense when the hesitant Mac is won over because his friend can hit a poster with a bow & arrow. When the police show up at Mac's compound, they are rescued by a female helicopter pilot, played by Cynthia Rothrock. The three of them go on a fabulous adventure into the mountains where they take on all comers with an array of firepower.

No Retreat, No Surrender 2 is hilarious stuff. We have a scene where Scott needs to track down Mac so he decides to ask someone for help. The guy he asks has never heard of him until Scott explains that he is "6'2" and "American". At this point, he has pointed in the exact direction. Right! Problems persist for young Scott as he is held up by a newspaper under the armpit with the threatning "You come or die now!" order. And Mattias Hues as the notorious Russian Yuri is on point. We get to see him get dragged across the army base by a jeep while covered in the Soviet flag. Awesome stuff.

Not the greatest movie of all time, but still has great action and characters for it's time and genre.

I own this movie on VHS and have wanted a DVD copy for some time. I told my wife that I wanted a DVD copy of this movie for XMAS. Since this movie is only offered in Region 2 at the time, I told her to order it from a website that transfered hard to find movied from VHS to DVD.

When she tried to order it from said site she did not understand how the website worked and not knowing what Region 2 meant she mistakenly searched and ordered it from AMAZON instead. When I received the Region 2 version of NRNS2 I was disappointed that I had recieved the wrong format; however, I still decided to place it into my XBOX just for kicks. To my surprise the Region 2 version actually plays just like any other american made DVD.

The DVD however looks as if it had also been ripped directly from VHS and may even be of worse quality than VHS. Even though the quality sucks, it is good to know that I can buy and play those hard to find DVD's that are only available in Region 2. Though this review is mainly for the XBOX's ability to play Region 2 discs, I hope this review is helpful to fellow movie collectors.

All things considered, the "No Retreat, No Surrender" movies are one of the best martial arts film series ever made: from the original vehicle-to-fame of Jean-Claude Van Damme to the three adventures that subsequently paid Loren Avedon's bills and the three spiritual sequels that came afterwards, the combined flicks are much more enjoyable, competent, and consistent than the likes of the Kickboxer, Bloodsport, and Bloodfist series. "Raging Thunder" is one its strongest installments: even though it's a technical disaster of poor acting, corny dialogue, and grainy production, it's also a veritable action opus and one of the strongest vehicles for the stars it introduces to the western world.

The story: Scott Wylde (Avedon, The King of the Kickboxers) is an American tae kwon do expert gone to Thailand to meet his girlfriend, the daughter of a general. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces, Scott is blamed and must escape the police. En route to saving his girl, he hooks up with his old comrade Mac Jarvis (Max Thayer, Ilsa - Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks) and Mac's spitfiring old flame (Rothrock, Above the Law). It will take nothing less than their combined talents to rescue the young woman from the clutches of an evil Russian general (Hues, I Come in Peace).

Let's get it out of the way: the fight scenes are amazing. Without counting the short ones, there are five stellar encounters involving all four of the main stars and not one of them disappoints. Loren Avedon gets the best ones as he beats up kidnappers, bounty hunters, monk-wannabes, and Matthias Hues, therein showing off his amazing kicking prowess, his ability to adapt to Hong Kong cinefighting (lots of flips and flying kicks in store for him, including a Yuen Biao-inspired windmill kick), and giving Matthias Hues undoubtedly one of the best fights of his career for the finale. Cynthia Rothrock, despite being the distinctive veteran of Hong Kong action, plays second fiddle to Avedon but nonetheless manages a couple of cool encounters, including a fight with Korean superkicker Hwang Jang Lee (Drunken Master). Max Thayer looks to be in good shape, but his moves consist entirely of throwing out haymakers and blowing folks up.

However, once the action dies down, you're left with the embarrassing flaws of martial arts cinema which will either make you love the movie more or make it difficult to watch, depending on your disposition. With the exception of the single scene featuring Thai actor Nirut Sirichanya (Ong Bak 2: The Beginning), there are exceedingly few instances of decent acting to be seen, with the performances of Avedon, Rothrock, and Avedon's on-screen fiancé Patra Wanthivanond being particularly hard on the eyes and ears. Hues' performance is no better, thanks to an unintentionally-funny exchange with Rothrock and the fact that he sets the standard for making funny faces during his fight scenes. Nonstop cornball dialogue ("You just made the endangered species list!"), a bare-bones production appearance, and a disgusting scene of legitimate animal abuse continue to make the film questionable for non-enthusiasts. Additionally, there's a really convoluted plot facet about war, an invasion, and bombing raids between Thailand and Vietnam to comprehend, but hats off to anybody who bothers to figure that one out entirely. Viewers only interested in the fight scenes may find themselves fast-forwarding to them rather than sitting through the rest of the nonsense more than once.

In short, fans of Loren Avedon, Cynthia Rothrock, and Matthias Hues definitely ought to give this one a buy, and fans of the series (opposed to only of the first movie) should at least give it a watch as well. Mainstream Hollywood fans oughtn't set themselves up for a disappointment. As far as Corey Yuen films go, it'd be almost two decades before he made another American movie; what a shame that his usual craziness, as featured here, didn't catch on more...

This movie is just about opposite everything from the first NRNS except for one thing - great 80's cheesy action.

The story and characters are so different from the 1st NRNS movie that its a wonder why this is a sequal, because it really isn't. However, the same cheesy feel applies to this movie as observed in the first. This time though, the story revolves around the main character, played by Loren Avedon, traveling from Thailand into Cambodia to retrieve his girlfriend who has been taken by Vietnameese and Russia soldiers, who are led by the movie's villain, played by Matthias Hues. If you enjoy Matthis Hues, who plays the villain and usually a good one in most martial arts films (Kickboxer 2, Talons of The Eagle, Blackbelt, Death Match) you will love him in NRNS2. Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien, Martial Law, Rage and Honor) also stars in NRNS2, and displays some great fighting skills.

NRNS2 is filled with as much action as cheesy one-liners - plenty. Unlike the 1st NRNS, this movie has tons of guns and explosions as well, if you are into that kinda thing. I enjoy the movie mostly for the fights, and they are great. I loved the final fight between Loren Avedon and Matthias Hues, its only a couple minutes long but it is worth getting the movie for it alone.

This movie shouldnt be called NRNS 2, it has absolutly nothing to do with the original movie. This movie shows a couple of troops who find themselves battling it out for there lives. Yet, like i said, it dawns the name, but has nothing to do with part 1. Why it was called part 2? I dont know... part 3 is the same.

This movie is the best movie of all time, it makes me wish i was 7 again.