A direct sequel to 'Turf War' aka 'Lady Rider' director / main star Alex Maisonette returns to his tale of drug dealers, bad bikers and corrupt cops done on a fifty dollar budget. Yet another convoluted story where dialog was clearly once again made up on the spot. If you want to see Fat Joe slum it again for five minutes of screen time or enjoy horrible movies that bore you to death you've found a winner.
Det. Rodriquez (Maisonette) must keep up the good fight when big time drug dealer Flash (Fat Joe) gets released from his charges and corrupt Sgt. Rivera (Damien Borges) tries to have him removed from the case. More betrayals, more bikers, more drug dealings and the return of Lady Rider (Veronica Ramos) who continues to seek a measure of revenge for what happened before.
A recap of the previous film allows another chance for Maisonette to conduct a masterclass in dry emotionless voiceover. Poor props, guerilla filmmaking in the streets and amateur acting ... the nice way to put it. People loving to have conversations in cars, back lots, back yards, insert shots of chess boards to further drive home the title and dollar store drama.
Horrible pacing and story that doesn't have enough absurd moments to make it a "good" bad movie, 'Checkmate' is really awful. Dialog stretches on forever to extend runtime and put viewers to sleep. Having multiple characters utter "Checkmate" might be the biggest laugh or groan to be found here.
