China O' Brien 2

China Town Syndrome

China O' Brien 2
aka China O’ Brien II
Directed by Robert Clouse
USA 1990 
Eureka Masters Of Cinema Blu Ray Zone B

Okay, I have to confess that, after seeing the quite good previous movie in this series (reviewed by me here) and having watched a fair few of Cynthia Rothrock’s great Hong Kong movies in a short period of time before this, I was kinda disappointed in China O’ Brien 2. 

As we know from Cynthia’s interview on the other disc in Eureka’s two disc presentation of these films, this was filmed simultaneously with the previous film and the actors were often hard pressed to work out which film they were shooting at any given time. And in this one it kinda shows, it has to be said. 

The almighty Rothrock as China, now Sheriff of the town she arrived at in the first movie, is joined once again by her ‘deputies’, the charismatic Richard Norton as Matt Conroy and Keith Cooke as Dakota, plus a load of other actors from the earlier film. Now, I’m not sure if the guy writing the plot synopsis has actually seen the film... because it doesn’t bear too much resemblance to what actually happens in the movie... but this one’s about Vietnam vet smuggler Charlie Baskin (played by Harlow Marks) escaping from prison and putting the people who put him there six feet under. Culminating in repossessing the money from the one who turned states evidence against him and who was relocated by the FBI, along with his wife and daughter, to the sleepy town which China and crew are watching over. 

And it really feels as rushed as it evidently was, to be honest... more so than the first movie. For a start, there’s not enough fight scenes to keep the pacing going and there’s even a flashback to a fight scene in the first movie (almost like a bottle neck episode of a TV show). It just feels like a bit of a letdown compared to Rothrock and Norton’s back catalogue. Also, now knowing that the fights were rushed and choreographed on the hoof, explains why there’s one bit where a chair seems to connect with Norton’s face in a scene but there’s no sound of it hitting (though the actor certainly reacts) and then he straightens up and keeps swinging. I suspect it was supposed to miss him and still look like it missed him and, they just went on ahead and kept filming and didn’t bother with a retake or dubbing it to make the actual visual work. But I suspect Norton got hurt on that one. 

And talking about lack of sound, the lip synch in one scene of the FBI relocated daughter tied up in the car takes a full couple of seconds to catch up with her mouth, which starts moving way before. And then, seconds later, one of the bad guys shouts through a car window at her... except no sound comes out of his mouth whatsoever. What’s going on?

The continuity on this one is atrocious too. Lots of things wrong but I have two favourites. Firstly, Rothrock said on the interview it was mostly the same stunt fighters being redressed as different people constantly throughout the movie. Well I would have thought they would have drawn the line at one point because there’s a scene where she’s fighting one of the ‘thugs for hire’ and it’s clearly the same actor who played one of the lead villains in the first film. I mean, c’mon, the sheriff didn’t notice this guy? 

Secondly... and this is my favourite... one distinctive looking guy gets shot to death by one of the sherif’s men with absolutely no room to maneuver on that, we see the spray of machine gun fire popping up as blood all over his chest. And then, not a minute or two after this, here he is up in his original, non-bloody costume and helping out again... even becoming a major player in the final fight sequences of the movie. I mean, what were they thinking?

But, yeah, I do quite like Cynthia Rothrock and she has good chemistry with Norton. It’s a shame the proposed next two parts never came to fruition but it’s still, relatively speaking, an entertaining product. I’d liken it to what Republic Studios might have made if they were still active and making serials in the late 1980s (which was when the China O’Brien movies were shot... they had delayed, straight to VHS rental releases... and were doing good business at the time). So, yeah, I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to finally catch up with China O’ Brien 2 and I hope Eureka and 88 Films continue to release more of Rothrock’s back catalogue.  I’m up for it.