(Actual release title is G2-Mortal Conquest...Or as it's know in some parts of Europe...G-2003)
One of these days someone is going to offer Daniel Bernhardt a movie worthy of him. Unfortunately, G-2 isn't one of them. Frankly, the director should be shot.
I'll start my little expose with the storyline as relayed on the back of the video:
"In the tradition of Highlander..." (Not only are they trying to say it's as good as Highlander, which it's not, they're way off base with this comment. The only resemblence to Highlander is that the main character is an antiques dealer and he's pretty good at swordplay.)
"Deep in the mind of Steven Colin (Daniel Bernhardt), the secret of an ancient martial arts power lay dormant..." (This leads one to believe that he suddenly wakes up with newfound martial arts abilities when in fact the character is already a martial artist. And one that talks to some sort of mysterious spirit that only he can see.)
"In a former life, Colin wielded the foreceful sword of Alexander the Great. With it's strength and his superior fighting skill, he slaughtered an army of villains (a total of 5 guys according to the first scene) led by the vicious Parmenion (James Hong). Now in the year 2003, the foes are back and are determined to seek the man who would be king (Huh? That was never mentioned in the fim) and destroy him for all of eternity."
Hey, that sounds pretty good. Too bad it wasn't the movie I watched. The opening scene isn't bad, it starts with a battle that took place 1000 years before (or was that 2000 years before?), where Colin basically gets the crap kicked out of him by Parmenion's men and eventually dies by the sword. That scene alone (which is used excessively throughout the rest of the movie), makes the rest of the plot unexplainable. The plot, as Nick Rotundo would have us believe, is that Colin and Parmenion and his men (and his daughter and the female cop-love interest) have either been reincarnated or are immortal (a plot point which isn't made clear to the viewer), and Parmenion is out to have a rematch of the previous fight. Why? Parmenion won that last battle, he killed Colin, end of story. But Parmenion spends the length of the film trying to get Colin to fight. Most of the movie doesn't make sense; there's no continuity from one scene to the next nor is there a flow to the storyline. It jumps from one fighting scene to the next without, so it seems, much thought or reason. It's obvious that Nick Rotundo, the writer and director, had no objectivity while shooting the film. There are so many things wrong with this flick that I cannot possibly list them all. Like James Hong's shameful overacting. Did someone tell him this was a spoof? I haven't seen this much camp since Big Trouble in Little China. If I had known the movie came with a side of ham I would've made some gravy to go with it!
Since I can't list all of the movie's faults I will list a few hints to Nick Rotundo instead:
1.) If you're going to make us believe the story is taking place in New York City try to shoot a rooftop scene without the Canadian flag flying over the shoulder of the lead actor. And if you're going to have us believe that the action is taking place in the most famous city in the world it might help to show the proper skyline and not Toronto's.
2.) In one scene Cory, the female cop and love interest, follows Colin to an illegal fight. From the sidelines she spies Colin and his opponent fighting with swords. Colin kills the man just before the place is raided by the cops. Instead of arresting him for murder as any officer of the law would do, she drives him to his apartment, patches him up and makes love to him! Good lord, no wonder the NYPD is falling apart!
And finallly...
3.) If you're going to have Daniel do a love scene, a naked butt shot is imperative!
I don't think a movie has ever left me scratching my head while going, "Huh?" before. And poor Daniel, while trying to make the character as human as possible he just looked confused. No sweat Daniel, we're all confused by this one.
