Alligator II, la mutation

...but I'm not saying they'll be worth it.

I had been on the lookout for ALLIGATOR II for some years now. I just had to see it. I mean, the first one is just so much fun - and really one of the few older killer-croc type of films done right - and this sequel carrying the MUTATION subtitle, plus starring both Steve Railsback and Richard Lynch, I mean... Can it honestly be that bad?

Straight up, I can't really call it a bad movie. It's not badly put together, and further more, it has all the necessary elements to even make it a B-movie "in the tradition of JAWS" type of flick. We got a killer alligator loose in some city pond, eating people left and right who are unknowingly invading its territory (which extends to the sewers again). There's the protagonist detective (Joseph Bologna, a rather forgettable actor) running around, aware of the problem but believed by no-one. Dee Wallace (yipii!) plays his wife, and even with her supporting role she proves again that she's the best actress in the whole film. We have Railsback playing a greedy, corrupt man with power who plans a carnival near the pond which he refuses to cancel. And when he's informed of the alligator problem, he tries to deal with it in a hush-hush way, calling in Richard Lynch as a bounty hunter, together with Kane Hodder as his brother, no less. And finally, our killer alligator, who sadly enough doesn't look "mutated" at all, but at least it kind of looks the same as the one in the first film.

So what went wrong with this film? All the ingredients really are present. The script even tries to inject some of the same type of black humor the first one had, so at least the filmmakers tried to make a sequel in the same spirit. It even has something that looks like a decent climax (involving the pond and a helicopter and all). But the problem is: None of it works. This film supposedly has everything, and even tries pretty hard, but it all just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't come together and click like the first film did. Hard to explain it, really. Plus, the alligator gets a fair amount of screen time, but it never does anything you want to see it do. People should be getting munched or at least ripped to shreds, but I can't recall any memorable death scenes. I remember Kane Hodder getting stuck in its mouth, but that's about it.

When compared to the first ALLIGATOR from 1980, this sequel really is "subpar", for reasons I can't even pinpoint exactly. But as a stand-alone (as it has little ties with the first one, aside some minor bits of alligator footage being re-used) killer-alligator flick (from the 90's - and we all know what that means), it's just about moderately entertaining. Watch it if you can't resist it, just like I did. Otherwise, skip it and save yourself the inevitable disappointment.

A giant, aquatic creature is swimming through the water, attacking and rendering unsuspecting human prey. Meanwhile, a cop tries to find the beast, while attempting to convince a greedy, spineless Mayor to cancel an upcoming celebration. Does this sound familiar? Well, it should. It's the plot of JAWS. In ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION, this obvious lift is just the beginning of the absurd fun. There's a slimy real estate magnate played by Steve Railsback, Joseph Bologna as the cop, and Dee Wallace as his beautiful scientist wife. Later, Richard Lynch arrives as the Quint-like alligator hunter.

It seems that someone has been pumping toxic waste into the waterways, causing the creation of the titular terror. Alas, there's a ton of meaningless exposition, including a budding romance, and a veteran cop / rookie cop "buddy film" that takes up far too much of the film's running time. However, if your taste tends toward the cheeeze-tacular, then this farcical fondue should satisfy. Mr. Lynch and his hillbilly crew are particularly rib-tickling!

On the upside, there are loads of sewer sequences, a very typically-Hollywood street gang, and a truly explosive finale. Yep, just like in that aforementioned shark movie...

This is one of those, I guess, love it or hate type of sequels. I had seen this last summer.

The action in this film was fair but you can definitely tell the story for this was weak, Robert Forester was offered the sequel, but I remember him saying, the studio gave him the script to read but wanted him to decide within two hours, he wanted the original director to return and writer John Sayles. Long story short he did admit the script wasn't very good and turned it down.

I remember I had a buddy of mine see this downloaded and he and I enjoyed it, I felt the first was better but still liked it. I think my buddy liked it a bit more then the first, mainly because of the humor.

Like the first film, another mutant alligator runs amok and a detective and the coast guard have to team up to kill it before it destroys and eats the entire city.

I give it a 4/10. Not quite as good as the first I still feel it's watchable.

At the end of Alligator (1980) we see another gator flushed down the toilet and therefore a sequel is teased. 11yrs later the world got one and it's a bit of a mess.

Essentially the same movie, just with a weaker cast and somehow someway worse creature effects! Another oversized gator appears to lay waste to the city and it takes one renegade maverick cop to take it on.

This time it's been enhanced by chemical waste dumped into the sewers yet this doesn't seem to have changed the gator at all. If that is the excuse as to why it's so big then why does it appear smaller than the one in the first movie?

Poor creature feature and a miserable excuse for a sequel.

The Good:

Not so much

The Bad:

Creature effects, how 11yrs later can they be worse?

No consistency in gator size again

Terrible ending

An alligator threatens the plans of a slimy condo developer in Alligator II: The Mutation.

The film begins with a murder via alligator before we are introduced to our main character David and his family. When he gets to the police station, he sees a report that two men didn't come home the night before and that a severed leg showed up on shore. When he brings it to the police chief and the mayors attention, they try to dismiss the claims of a potential alligator because of a new land development event happening in the area.

This event will apparently bring lots of money to the town. We meet the slimy condo developer Vincent Brown who is bringing a lot of money into the city and the area called Regent Park - right where the alligator has been attacking people. It will be up to David and an alligator hunter to stop the mutated beast from attacking the crowd at the development event in Regent Park.

I'm not sure why this sequel was made to be honest. Alligator II isn't a terrible film, but it's not needed after we saw it all before in the first film. This one suffers from an identity crisis as well. It's a killer alligator movie but also tries to be a comedy at times. Plus we get the side storyline of the building development scheme and how they are in control of the mayor and the police chief. We get less alligator and more of that plot for the most part. And the times we do see the beast, it's stock footage from the 1980 film. Pretty disappointing.

Joseph Bologna isn't the first person I'd choose to lead in a movie like this, but he does a fine job. It's always good to see Dee Wallace who plays David's wife. Legendary Brock Peters was fun to watch as Chief Speed. Woody Brown and Holly Gagnier are cute as the young couple who are finding love during this mayhem. The positives of Alligator II are the actors and the characters

Overall, Alligator II is an unnecessary sequel to a pretty good film from 1980. It has some fun moments, good performances by the actors, and a good finale, but finishes as a below average horror film.

4/10