User reviews

The fight scenes elevate "Best of the Best 2" to above average territory. Chris Penn is his usual macho self and puts on a good show until he runs into the behemoth, Ralph Moeller (Brakus). Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee avenge the death of their friend with some spectacular fighting. Special mention must be made of Wayne Newton's smarmy performance as the Coliseum's pompous announcer, someone you'll love to hate. As pure entertainment the film succeeds, because of the enthusiastic performances, and well staged gladiator style battles. Give this one a try if you enjoy martial arts, you will not be disappointed - MERK

I enjoyed this film because it was not only an action movie with some pretty good fight scenes, but also because it spent a bit of time on character development. Having the son of the main character be a martial arts student who demonstrates discipline and a bit of fighting courage made the movie a bit more dynamic in storyline than some early 90's action films. The character of James played by "Predator" star Sonny Landham was kind of a good family conflict and climax within the movie thus adding some depth. I found the movie fairly basic in terms of predictability, but it did have some spice within the plot. The fighting scenes were overall better than many other action films with animated injury sound effects and some good breaking clips. Overall the movie was enjoyable.

If you want to talk about a movie that's a black hole for careers, let's talk about Best of the Best 2. Director Robert Radler wound up working on Power Rangers episodes, Eric Roberts usually appears in magazines making jealous comments about his much more successful sister, and Philip Rhee...well, the less said about Best of the Best 3 and 4, the better. Ralf Moeller, the chief bad guy, usually winds up playing the big sidekick, most visibly in Gladiator. Ironically, he's probably made out better than anyone else involved, save for the invincible Wayne Newton.

Judged by the standards of its genre, the movie isn't entirely terrible. Judging action movies on the same scale as more respectable fare is like expecting your 59 cent hamburger to taste like steak, and Best of the Best 2 is better than a lot of comparable movies I've seen. The fight scenes are refreshingly high-impact and plentiful, Newton is as deliciously slimy as Richard Dawson in The Running Man, and Moeller makes for a formidable bad guy in the ring. In these respects and others, this movie compares well with better-known movies like Bloodsport or the terrible Kickboxer.

The bad parts are definitely bad, however. The script, as is usual for the genre, consists of the standard tough-guy posturing, but is not even particularly clever at that. Roberts looks like he's being directed to think about his paycheck whenever he's supposed to act happy. Rhee (the real star) does a good job in the ring, but his transformation from calm martial artist to brutal vengeance artist is not really played at all. The bad guys, other than Moeller and to some extent Newton, are completely devoid of menace. The worst part of all - and one of the most cringe-inducing scenes I've ever witnessed - is the first scene with James, where a pathetic drunk's tragic fall is played for laughs. This scene will and should offend almost anyone who understands it.

On the ugly side, the movie's production design definitely reflects its budget. Best of the Best 2 looks and sounds at least 10 years older than it actually is. In style, form, and substance, it's well behind the curve. Some of the violence is really painful to watch, namely two close-ups of Rhee breaking limbs in hapkido arm locks. This is a cheap shot, but Roberts' girlfriend looks like she's about 70. All told, it is not a study in economy. Shot for about the same budget as a Star Trek: The Next Generation 2-part episode, this movie looks way worse.

Is it completely terrible? Well, don't be looking for The Godfather. If some cheesy fighting is your bag, however, you're looking at the right movie. Recommended for genre diehards and 12-year-olds, but not really for anyone else.

I saw this movie for sale at a local store and decided to check it out, and I have to say, I was impressed. Briefly summarized, this movie is about three good friends who were once champions in a karate tournament, two of them teach karate to young children, and the other fights for money. In a typical turn of events, the third is killed (big surprise) and the two others decide to get revenge. The action is nonstop, and even though this is a reused storyline, the acting is incredible, Eric Roberts is an amazing actor, and he never comes across as fake or overacting, and Philip Rhee is an amazing martial artist. This is a must-see.

Just sad. That is all I have to say about this flick. Coming from a promising yet common beginning, the "Best of The Best" series had a major lump in this sequence. The guys went free falling and delivered a stupid plot, like thousands of B martial arts movies that we can see everyday. The Three Amigos - Tommy, Alex and Travis - are now living in Vegas and have to face the mortal reign of Brakus, a humongous minion that owns the Coliseum, along with Weldon, his forefront ally. Eric Roberts performance is embarrassing, he really shows that the age is weighing on his shoulders; Sonny Landham is embarrassing, with his camp laughs and wood-faced expressions; Ralf Moeller is embarrassing, mumbling dumb dialogues all over the place and totally clueless; and Wayne Newton did not have to be so cheesy, he has more talent that that. Not even the fights are cool, they look like sub-Van Damme type, with poor choreography and even poorer players. The only good thing about this movie is his length, short enough to not be completely boring, the tremendous effort by the director Robert Radler to save something and the excellent skills of Phillip Rhee, really fantastic. Run away if you can, and try the other two installments, much better that this crap...

This was a great movie with a lot of great fight scenes. Brakus is depicted as the ultimate evil. It is pretty violent, but if that doesn't bother you then you will like it. All in all a good movie with intense action.

This time Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee return to avenge the death of their former teammate and friend, Travis(Played by the late Chris Penn) seems Travis enjoyed fighting the late night circuits of to the death matches and Travis met his match in the form of Brackus(Rolf Muller, Arnold Schwarzenegger look-a-like) however all bets are off (As is credibility) when Roberts and Rhee scar Brackus' perfection and let him know the son saw everything, naturally this marks them for death. The original was a dopey martial arts time killer that found an audience among those who really like the genre, the sequel though will probably disappoint even them. The movie has too many stupid elements such as Roberts telling the bad guys "My son saw you do it!" which is stupid when you think about it. Also the gladiator arena takes place supposedly underground in a hot disco club. Also one more dash of credibility is that Penn would actually bring a kid to a match where he could get killed. Ridiculous sequel is a lot like Rocky IV in how stupid and terrible it is. Some of it is funny but a lot more of it is boring. Although I must admit Wayne Newton as a fight promoter is ridiculous enough to almost skyrocket this one into camp classic badness.

*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

Well, this was not a bad sequel, with solid budget and all… it is really watchable. The story continues after five best fighters won a competition against Korea, 3-4 years later. The three fighters Grady (Roberts), Tommy (Rhee) and Travis (Chris Penn) are now good friend and they are enjoying their retirement after championship, but the infamous troublemaker Travis is participating in underground fights in so called "Colosseum", and dies after he challenged a champion called Bracus. And now… as usual… just like in many martial arts films, the two remaining fighters Grady and Tommy are seeking revenge against Bracus and his manager Weldon. This film is strictly for those who love martial arts film, especially for those who are trained in Taekwondo, Hapkino, Karate, or Kung Fu…So don't pay attention to other things like script, or make-up… because there isn't anything special about it. The acting crew is pretty interesting here. We have Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee and Chris Penn from the first film. Eric Roberts, with his usual performance, trying to look cool, but stiff in tense scenes. He was slightly, a little bit important here, because the real star was Phillip Rhee. Rhee was no longer to show his acting abilities, in this film, he was in his own terrain, to show really cool skills in spectacular fighting scenes. He really showed some good techniques from Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Hapkido and even some Aikido. Chris Penn was there… well we all knew that something bad was gonna happen to him. Not much from him, except that I didn't quite expect him here… I like him more in some serious films with his intense performance. Now, we have Dae Han (played by Simon Rhee) who returns to help Grady and Tommy in vengeance. Our bad guy champion is Bracus, played by Ralf Moeller, best know for playing Conan in "Conan the Adventurer" TV series… well.. they needed someone who is big, strong and imposing… but for heaven's sake… this guy can't talk right… he is like Arnie, even worse. He couldn't even hide his German accent. He wasn't even charismatic or evil… he was only a egoistic, angry tank who is strong and that's it. The real leading villain here was his manager and owner of the Colosseum, Weldon, played by Wayne Newton… who would knew it? A famous Vegas performer and entertainer who nearly played himself in this film, although he didn't sing, but he was OK, really cool. And he has an exceptional high voice. Other supporting actors… we have lovely Meg Foster, oh those eyes… so feminine… and for the real surprise, we have Sonny Landham… Billy from "Predator", love that guy. He was cool. As I said before… this is for martial arts fans and I highly recommend this film to them. Enjoy it.

Somehow the makers of the first film saw way into the future and noticed me whining like a beeyatch about how Best of the Best was played too straight and didn't have enough action in it, because the sequel is all about the action!

Tommy Lee, Eric Roberts, and Chris Penn are back as our Tae Kwon Do trio, now running a martial arts school. Chris, however, is bored of the antics and heads off to a place called The Coliseum, where folks basically fight for cash. Chris reckons he can take on the owner, a man so muscly he looks like a rubber glove filled with walnuts. This is Brakus, who thinks guns aren't manly enough. Chris doesn't do too well in the fight and the last time we see him he's being lowered into the ground in a box. Luckily he was stupid enough to take Eric's kid along to the fight so now Tommy and Eric are all out to get Brakus.

It gets better when Tommy smashes Brakus' face against a mirror and now Brakus has a scar on his face and ends up pouting around the place in a dressing gown staring into a mirror and just getting madder and madder. So Tommy and Eric want to kill Brakus and Brakus wants to kill everyone related to Tommy and kill Tommy in the ring at the Coliseum.

If you hadn't guessed already Tommy was raised by native Americans and everyone heads off to stay with them for a while a get trained up to fight Brakus by Sonny Landham of all people! That'll be Billy from Predator to you and me (before I looked up his name). Before I knew it I was shouting "Jeez you got a big pussy!" which is why my neighbours now look at me as if I'm nuts.

They all have a friendly punch up and then it's montage time! This time round the film get it right, and just in time too before some of Brakus' men arrive in a helicopter and seemingly kill everyone except Tommy (Billy himself goes down fighting in an impressive Massimo Vanni style shoot-out). There's also a massive explosion for all those massive explosion fans out there.

So now Brakus has Tommy to fight in the ring and Tommy thinks everyone's dead, so all he's got left is the motivation to kick Brakus in the face several thousand times. Didn't feel like Brakus thought that one through too much.

This film is a lot more fun that the last one and is non-stop action and cheese from start to finish. A total winner! Even Eric's hair is more dynamic and manageable this time round.

Not quite Jean Claude Van Damme, but still excellent karate action. This is Eric Roberts at his best for sure!! My kids use it to psyche up for football and my girl uses it to get pumped for her judo competitions. If I could find this on DVD I'd play it around the clock!!

Best of The Best 2 is the sequel to the very likeable and cool Best of The Best that came out in 1989.

The big difference with this sequel is that it looks like it had a bigger budget than the first one and it didn't really help in my opinion. While the first one was a charming film with a storyline that everyone can relate to, the sequel struggles to explain the storyline.

Another big weakness for BoTB 2 is the top villains are terrible. Wayne Newton as a crooked promoter? And the actor playing Brakus was a stiff with no charisma. In a perfect world, those two roles would have and should have been given to Billy Drago and Bolo Yeung.

So, check it out if you can find it. Worth a look but nothing good comparable to first movie.

Not as good as the original. In this second movie of Best of the Best,we only see a few of the people from the original.

This movie does not take place in a karate tournement,but instead in the coloseum which is a place where it is arranged illegal fights to the death. This movie has much more hardcore fighting and explicit violence than the original,but it misses those important moments that the original had.

Even though this movie does not show friendship and feelings like the original,it still is very entertaining.

So I advice all fans of the genre to go see this one,because it has some really impressing fighting scenes.

What does a sequel do to keep the juices running? Easy. You kill off a character. It's the quickest way to establish the story, the revenge in the grand finale and the big bad guy. That's the road 'Best of the Best 2' chooses to go down. I wasn't a fan of the cliche original, but this first of three sequels knows what is it and doesn't try to fight it.

Alex (Eric Roberts), Tommy (Phillip Rhee) and Travis (Chris Penn) returned home champs and set up a martial arts school. When a shady underground Vegas fight promoter Weldon (Wayne Newton) and his champion Brakus (Ralf Moeller) kill someone close to them, it's the boys duty to set things right. The top of the Korean team Dae-han (Simon Rhee) returns as a friend. Tommy turns to his grandma (Betty Calvalho) who raised him and his estranged alcoholic ex-fighter uncle James (Sonny Latham) helps prepare the men for revenge.

Alex's son Walter now older provides the continued family element. Still training montages. Bonding. Redemption. 'BotB2' does the b-movie formula right. Solid editing, direction. The pacing is good. It doesn't drag. The action delivers both martial arts and gunplay with a good explosion. Patrick Kilpatrick shows up as a hired gun, Kane Hodder is a security guard in a cast full of fun faces. It's weird when a sequel turns out better than the original, but that's the story here.

I found this movie in my father's old vhs collection. I liked the cover art and Eric Roberts was in it so I figured why not give it a go.. And I'm also a sucker for cheesy martial arts movies. It was more or less what I expected except it was scary similar to Rocky 4. The bad guy was obviously inspired by Ivan Drago.. All in all a pretty braindead yet fun movie with a great theme. The song "Stand up and fight" or whatever it's called is stuck in my head now.

Sequel that I enjoyed more than original due in my opinion a better and beefy script from Max Strom and John Allen Nelson that spins this series in a different direction than adds more tension and excitement to the series. Robert Radler returns to direct and I must say it even seems more competently made by the director.

Mega wealthy moneybags named Weldon (played by Wayne Newton) runs an underground fighting club that at times its fighters fight to the death. Travis Brickley (Chris Penn) ends up fighting the big cheese Brackus (Ralf Moeller). He ends up dying in the fight and his two buddies Alex Grady (Eric Roberts) and Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee) end up looking for him after Alex's son Walter (Edan Gross) witnesses his murder. The two end up getting trained by Tommy's drunk brother James (Sonny Landham) to be able to beat Brackus.

The story involving Roberts and his son I found was way better than the original and is much needed to the story. It plays out like a ROCKY movie at times and is way more violent than the original due to multiple limbs getting broken, but if you enjoy some martial arts give this one a watch. It might end up being worth a watch. Also starring Meg Foster.

This movie was awesome! I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a martial arts movie as much as I enjoyed this. The fighting is sensational and the performances of the actors are very convincing and even touching in parts, rare for a B martial arts film. I can honestly say I enjoyed this more than the first and consider it the best of the first two. I cannot comment on the other sequels since I haven't seen them but I will definitely check them out. If you are looking for a great authentic action and martial arts film that is chock full of mindless and brutal violence, then look no further. As I was watching the movie, all I could think was how did this film managed to slip through my fingers? Anyway, if you are into this type of thing and see it at your local video store, give it a rent. You'll be glad you did. Bottom line: this movie rocks!

Improved action oriented sequel to the sleeper hit "Best of the Best" ('89), bringing back most of its cast & crew, including director Bob Radler and stars Eric Roberts, Phillip & Simon Rhee, Edan Gross and Chris Penn with Rhee reprising his duties as the main actor and co-producer.

After the events of the first film, the American 'champions' (by heart), Alexander Grady (Roberts), Tommy Lee (Rhee) & Travis Brickley (Chris Penn) set up a martial arts Dojo in Vegas. Troublemaker Travis is secretly fighting at "The Coliseum", a bloody underground full contact competition ruled by the undefeated champion, Brakus (Ralf Moeller) and his ruthless partner Weldon (Wayne Newton). When Travis is merciless killed by Brakus in the arena and Alexander's son, Walter (Edan Gross) witness it, he became a target and the survivors must fight back to protect themselves and revenge their friend...

"Best of the Best 2" offers a change of pace from the previous film, it's less drama oriented and more focused on the action and the displaying of skilled martial arts choreography, once again courtesy of the brothers Rhee. Phillip Rhee looks even in a better shape here and his moves and techniques are a joy to watch.

Eric Roberts' role, besides the top billing over the title, is less prominent than the first, he's merely a sidekick to Rhee, and in the 4 years gap between the two movies he forgot how to move (and the writers forgot his shoulder injury...), but he was still in great shape to a 37 years' old when this movie was made.

The late Chris Penn was in just for the extended cameo and the new addition to the cast, James (played by the late great Sonny Landham from "48 Hrs.", "Predator" & "Firewalker") is one of the best things about this sequel, he stole all the scenes he was in.

The villains are excellent in their wickedness: an impressive debut movie for the former German competitive bodybuilder. Ralf Moeller ("Universal Soldier" and later became Russell Crowe's protector in "Gladiator"); the always sleazy Patrick Kilpatrick; Nicholas Worth and the actor, singer and entertainer, Wayne Newton in a similar role that he played in "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane" ('90).

Meg Foster plays Eric Roberts' love interest, but her role is as much important to the plot as Louise Fletcher's playing Roberts' mother in the original, almost non-existent. Simon Rhee appears briefly, and more towards the end, but this time as an allied to our protagonists.

"Best of the Best 2" moves at a nice pace and keeps the viewer fan of this genre entertained, it's much more 90-ish in tone, attitude, atmosphere and fashion than the original, in the course of 4 years the world changed and the 80's started to disappear (even Roberts sports a short hair in this one). I give it a 7,5, because it lost the 'freshness' of the original film and the absence of some of the main cast (they aren't even mentioned like they didn't exist), but the producers compensate the lack of James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland and Louise Fletcher with a roll of new characters played by some charismatic 'bad ass' actors.

Followed by two 'direct-to-video' sequels with Phillip Rhee returning as Tommy Lee and serving as the producer and director.

This movie was great! I believe that the violence went with the story. Excellent script, great sound effects editing and best of all a character in the movie was named Stavros! If you are unemployed and have lots of free time, then for pete's sake, watch this film!

I wasn't really a huge fan of the original BEST OF THE BEST. It came across as an adult version (but nonetheless family friendly) version of THE KARATE KID, complete with a team of adults competing in a karate championship. The stakes were low and there wasn't a whole lot of excitement to be had. What would I make of the sequel? The good news is that this is a VAST improvement. BEST OF THE BEST 2 jettisons the family-orientated nature of the first film to provide a bloodthirsty, hard-hitting sequel which plays out as a riff on Van Damme's KICKBOXER. There's an illegal fight tournament, death at the hands of a monstrous opponent, and revenge in mind. There's even some '90s-style B-movie action outside of the ring, complete with bloody shoot-outs and the like. It's a heck of a lot of fun.

Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Chris Penn all return from the first film, although Roberts and Penn have relatively limited screen time. Rhee is the real star here and he holds his own in a series of brutally violent fight scenes. I love the over the top sound effects and explicit violence of these '90s fight flicks and BEST OF THE BEST 2 doesn't disappointment. The German Ralf Moeller (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER) makes for a convincingly tough opponent and the film as a whole is replete with violence and beatdowns.

The supporting cast contains appearances from a number of familiar faces, not least the unmissable Meg Foster (THEY LIVE) who contributes a cameo. Sonny Landham (PREDATOR) has a small but violent role as the man who trains the team. Simon Rhee, Phillip's real-life brother, also returns from the original, and Wayne Newton (LICENCE TO KILL) plays a weaselly fight promoter. Personally, I was more than happy to see Patrick Kilpatrick (ERASER) and Nicholas Worth (GABRIEL KNIGHT 2: THE BEAST WITHIN) in minor roles as thugs.

The first one was a good above average sports drama with a poignant ending. It didn't do nothing new but was well executed overall.

This sequel deviate from the sports drama formula to be an action movie and it weirdly succeed at that. It a lot more fast paced and contains even more action than the first film. The switch to action might turn some fans of the first off but for action junkies like me this didnt bother me.

There's a lot more fighting scenes in this one and they're very well choreographed. The final 20 min is very entertaining. They even manage to throw in a couple of small shootouts. It also a lot more violent than the first with a couple of brutal death scenes.

The story is still the weakest part with some big plot holes and less characters moment than the first. The chemistry between Alex(Eric Roberts) and Tommy (Phillip Rhee) still shine and really help to carry the film despite it flawed minimal plot.

Overall it a surprisingly good sequel that is more fast paced and action oriented than the first.

Ah, the 1990s and the halcyon days of STV. Phil Rhee returns as Tommy Lee in BOTB2 along with Eric Roberts. They are buddies who must avenge the death of their friend Travis (Chris Penn), who dies at the hands of Brakus, a Dolph Lundgren lookalike who talks like Ah-nuld. There is only one reason for the movie's existence, and that is the almost-constant kung fu fighting. There are a couple of decent firefights as well, especially one staged in the Arizona desert. Rhee is as impressive as ever, and Roberts fakes kung fu reasonably well. The big Native American actor from PREDATOR plays Rhee's blood brother. You understandably will have to suspend your sense of disbelief, as at any moment, our heroes could have been dispatched with a single bullet to the brain.

I saw this movie when I was fourteen, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was an action packed movie, with a great plot and great action scenes. This movie was a rival with any other Oscar Caliber movies! I recommend this movie to anyone who likes martial arts!