The First Exterminator film is a cult classic among fans of Revenge and exploitation flicks, however this film for a long time was not, until just recently, Exterminator 2 (1984) Is an interesting film because it didn't turn out like it should have, According to many fans and sources it was meant to be a follow up in the same gritty style of its predecessor, however the production company wasn't happy with the final product and demanded a entirely new ending involving a larger action scene as well as some other extra scenes to be added to the rest of the film, So apparently there's an entirely different work print version of the film out there, which would be an interesting watch because the version I am reviewing is the version that was Released in theaters and on VHS, we have yet to get a DVD and if we do I hope we get a special edition with both versions of the film and a documentary.

OK the plot of the film is extremely simple, It picks up 3 or 4 years after the original, and "The Exterminator" (Played by Robert Ginty Once again) is back cleaning up the crime ridden streets of new york, however the crime is even more ferocious than ever before, a new gang is on the Streets lead by a psychotic gang leader called "X" (Mario Van Peebles) His plan is basically to take over the entire city of New York by starting to get the public hooked on Drugs and have them join his gang to form an uprising on the entire city.

Now first thing You'll notice is the film's tone is completely different It's no longer dark and gritty and it has more in tone with the MAD MAX movies, THE EXTERMINATOR now wears a welding mask and burns crooks with a flamethrower, the film is still very violent (Depending on which version you get) But its more action oriented, however the problem is the action is not that good, every scene is mashed together and just barely makes sense, The Acting is probably the worst thing about the film, all the actors just seem bored and the punks are just over the top silly, and i don't blame them, the writing in this film is some of the worst ever, and the musical score is just laughable it sounds like it was composed for an old SEGA genesis/mega-drive game, even for its time it was bad, however it could've been good if they had better production values on the film, which is another major problem, the film's budget was extremely low and it dwarfs my mind on why that is, the first film was a financial success so you'd think they would give a bigger budget for the sequel, but this is produced by GOLAN GLOBUS after all so its expected, but even for them it was still low budget being made for only $3 million when they made other films for 5 to 10 million dollars.

Now after Ripping pretty hard on this film, I gotta give it some slack because in some strange and screwy way it was entertaining, Because When Watching it you can't help but think "You Know this could've been a Great Idea for a Comic Book" Indeed this film's tone is not far from the truth it has that comic book feel, even the Cover and poster art makes you think so, Not only that The main villain "X" Is hilariously entertaining to watch, he hams up the role just enough not to annoy you, And the final Action scene is cool, it involves an armored Garbage truck with guns,rockets and a snow plow attached to the front going through gang members, so this film Does have its entertainment value But Its more of an interesting curiosity to film buffs because of its history, so i suggest checking it out for Curiositys sake.

OVERALL: 5/10

BTW: Make sure you get the U.S version of this film, as its censored heavily in most parts of the world.

Johnny Long is back to doing what he does best and that's cleaning up the New York streets of its scum. This time he's all geared up with the flame-thrower set on exterminate. When he's not flaming street gangs. He spends time with his dancer girlfriend and that of an old army buddy. Although things get real personal, when Johnny's girlfriend is brutally beat up by a power hungry gang lord of the streets, known as X. This really tips Johnny over the edge and drives him to revenge.

Don't you just hate when you get through watching a movie to realise it was heavily cut, as it doesn't go as long as it's advertised on the video case (which by the way has a great cover art work). Well, that was the case here and I couldn't hide my disappointment of it. I'm not a massive fan of the original, but I was still interested in seeing the sequel after reading how much crueler and nihilistic it is in its actions. Sure, that would have been great, that's if I saw it that way, but I didn't. The deaths scenes were cut down and some (like the always mentioned subway scene and Johnny's girlfriend beat-up in the park) I didn't even get to see. Those moments where choppy as hell and had me going "What on earth just happen?!" Even the film's final standoff between X (a dreadfully juicy turn by Mario Van Peebles) and Johnny Long comes on too early in the story and then drags on for ages. Until it meets its murky conclusion.

In all, it's a very inferior sequel that turns into an embarrassingly, vapid cheese-fest in the tradition of the Death Wish sequels (… namely part 3). There's no foot grounded in reality compared to the original and it comes off like an action comic fantasy. Thanks to Peebles and his laughable bunch of roaches. Robert Ginty (and his placidly stiff nature) is back as Johnny the Vietnam VET turned vigilante. On this occasion he brought with him his welder helmet and the trusty old flamethrower (the iconic picture found on the poster of the original) to clean up the dirtily decayed and crime-riddled streets. When he gets mad. Vicious punks and petty thieves better watch out! As he appears from nowhere (like a ghost) to wipe the floor. How they don't notice someone dressed like this until its to late, goes beyond me. Imagine the noise he would be make carrying all of this and how hard it would be to swiftly maneuver with it!

The mangled story is basic and skips a lot stuff that happened in the original and heads its own direction… well kind of… ah, yeah its derivative. How could the cops go from knowing who the exterminator is at the end of the first feature to be at square one in the follow up? Who knows? I don't. While, there's nothing much else going on in the thin material to derail the main focus off Ginty's character and emotional build up. Still cluttering up the pace are redundant fillers (give me some break dancing) and an over-plus of scene-stealing Van Pebble posing and preaching his "He is the street" speeches. Just proving how much of a bad-ass he is. Poor Van Pebble, because he comes across as extremely wretched and too fruity looking to invoke that presence.

Mark Buntzman's no-nonsense direction is ineptly junky (great campy slow-mo pieces), but he makes decent of the gritty and beat up look of the New York surroundings. It's not as prominent, say like the original, but Bob Baldwin's grounded photography gives it that rough edge. On the other-hand, the progressively clunky score by David Spear is a manipulative piece of mess. There's an explicit vibe created, but sadly its more comic style than nastily exploitive. Nonetheless it's still fun and creative in its set pieces.

There are moments of ridiculously stupid and roistering fun evident, but make sure you get your hands on the uncut version.

P.s. Watching the uncut version (shockingly on Pay TV?!) was a much better experience. The subway sequence was rather unsettling. Shonky, but amusing comic action.