Synopsis
Will Patton is the owner of the Black Pelican, a road house where he will tolerate no nonsense, and particularly no drug dealing. This doesn’t please local slimeball Jake Busey, and when Patton refuses to sell, Busey (through dirty fighting, of course) beats Patton to within an inch of his life. Patton’s nephew is Johnathon Schaech, undercover DEA agent, and he arrives in the boondocks to take over the bar and set things straight.
B-movie checklist: opening fight scene (check), cop… in a strip club (check), a snarling Busey (Senior or Junior, it matters not) as a villain (check). DTV Sequel addendum: pointless going through of the motions to little or no interest (check).
Audio
Though the film might feel tired and tiresome, the audio is very engaging, and quite funny in its wild enthusiasm for the violence. Each time a fist connects, the sound effect is positively explosive. Those can’t be fists: they’re meat sledgehammers. The environmental effects are pretty strong, too, as is the score, and the volume is cranked to 11, which is exactly as it should be.
Video
Pretty darn nice transfer we have here. The colours, contrasts and blacks are all first-rate. The many scenes set at night or inside dark bars are never murky, and never bleached, either. The flesh tones are fine, and the reds are superb. The grain is very slight, and the image is nicely sharp. Barring some artifacting in a few red-lit scenes, this is just about as good as it gets for this kind of release.
Special Features
Nothing beyond some trailers.
Closing Thoughts
Seventeen years after the original, here comes the sequel. Why? Is it to coincide with the special edition of the original, or is the re-release meant to coincide with this? A mystery.
Special Features List
- Trailers
