Having just revisited the 1991 "Ring of Fire" movie, I opted to sit down and watch this 1993 sequel titled "Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" immediately after. And now in 2023 was actually my very first time to watch this sequel from director Richard W. Munchkin.
Okay, just what were writers Paul Maslak, Richard W. Munchkin and Steve Tymon thinking when they were concocting the script and storyline for this movie? The plot was so laughably weak that it could barely sustain the movie. And sitting through 94 minutes of this was like having stumbled into the discarded alpha level of the old Double Dragon game, the level that never made it past the initial coding stage. I mean, going underground and fighting through subterranean-dwelling martial artist groups to get to a final boss stage. It was just not working in terms of being proper movie material.
It should be said though, that it was nice to see the good guy cast return from the previous movie to reprise their characters in this sequel.
There were a fair amount of martial arts sequences throughout the 94 minutes, which definitely helped to make the movie watchable; but just barely so.
And what were the props department thinking when they were accessorizing and designing the costumes for the bad guys and the henchmen? They looked like they had just stepped off of a hardcore bondage set, wearing leather straps, chains and what not. It was just laughably bad to look at.
"Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" is without a doubt the weakest entry in the "Ring of Fire" movie franchise.
My rating of "Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel" lands on a three out of ten stars.
