Exterminator 2

Just like John Rambo this movie captures a vet pushed past his limit but this time in an urban massacre film. I saw this film as a teenager in the 80's. I always appreciated the straight forward good guy kills bad guy with minimal exposition way of the 80's.

I'll give them credit - unlike the original 'Exterminator' - he actually wields a flamethrower here and roasts bad guys. Robert Ginty returns from the first film and this is more of a straight up vigilante flick. Not the same level of creepy sleaze, but it will please low level action fans. It also has an interesting production history.

John Eastland (Ginty) is still roaming the streets of New York battling crime. He ends up dating an exotic dancer (Deborah Geffner) and gets a job from friend Pee-Gee (Frankie Faison) as a fellow garbageman. Gang leader X (Mario Van Peebles) is looking to take things to the next level. Amongst their acts they rob an armored car to fund a drug buy from the mob. Of course, it won't end without a final confrontation between the two.

'Exterminator 2' delivers on what it's selling, but that doesn't stop certain beats from being boring. Knowing the film's troubled history beforehand explained some of the plot roughness, but Cannon Films also did a halfway decent job of salvaging the picture when they couldn't get Ginty for reshoots. It also features some break dancing which they had struck gold earlier in 1984 with.

i've read some bad comments about this film on this site, mainly from people who i think took even the first film rather too seriously. this is a brilliant piece of absurd 80's action, dutifully modelled on the superb death wish series. the "street punks" are one of the best features and resemble the b*****d offspring of the warriors and mad max 2. the exterminator himself spends most of the film going berserk with a flamethrower and at one point he operates a rubbish truck armed with remote control machine guns. the action is interspersed with ridiculous love scenes involving a stripper. although i think this film does lack some of the quality of the original i found it just as enjoyable and anyone who can appreciate the death wish series should certainly enjoy this

Follow-up to the exploitation classic. This one is produced by the Cannon group, which should set off alarm bells given these are the guys who made their fair share of crap back in the 80's, including the Sylvester Stallone arm wrestling movie. True to form Cannon have injected their brand of cheese into this one as well. The Exterminator (Robert Ginty) battles a gang led by Mario Van Peebles. Sporting an impressive flat-top and clobber that would not have looked out of place in The Warriors, Van Peebles chews up the scenery at every given opportunity; Ginty, on the other hand, acts like he is heavily sedated throughout. There is a lot more explosions in this sequel and Ginty drives around in a garbage truck rigged up like a tank. The stupid level has been ramped up at the expense of the scuzz factor basically and this is a more typical cheesy 80's actioner for the most part, while it sports an often truly terrible soundtrack. Still, I did find it enjoyable enough as these things go.

This movie reminds me of a Troma film (e.g. Toxic Avenger) with higher production values. It's not apathetically bad; it embraces its cornball center, staying barely a step ahead of camp, and is thoroughly enjoyable. Early 80's gangs wearing costumes with a disco/Mad Max theme, in a solemn torchlit procession carrying the driver of an armored car into the subways to make him a sacrifice on the train tracks, several of them topless (male) with suspenders, set to an energetic synthesizer soundtrack that sounds like it could have been written for a Nintendo game.. it has to be seen to be believed. Probably inspired by Michael Jackson's video "Beat It".