Synopsis: Kris and Preston team up once again to take on powerful gangsters Buntao. But. Buntao has problems of his own, dealing with Dazo, another gangster who is on a steady rise to power.

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Views: Having gone on-the-road after being framed for murder in the previous chapter, Australian ex-cop Preston Michaels (Norton) has left his old life behind and headed east to Indonesia where he now runs a kick-boxing gym and bar. Back in the States, teacher Kris Fairchild (Rothrock) has also had something of a career change and now works as an undercover agent for the U.S. Government. Her first case has her investigating a money-laundering operation that soon takes her to Indonesia where she soon bumps into her old friend Preston. Of course, it doesn't take long for them to come face-to-face with the leader of a local crime syndicate, where they must fight the hardest they ever have to defeat the bad guys and stay alive!

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The multi-talented Guy Norris takes over the reins for this action-packed sequel. Having started work as a stuntman in the early 80s, Norris went on to work as an assistant director soon after on Salute Of The Jugger with Richard Norton, and Irresistible Force with Cynthia Rothrock, making Rage & Honor 2 his own directorial debut. While he wouldn't really helm anything as exciting thereafter, Norris would continue his work as an assistant director (or second unit) and in the stunt department on many great titles such as Richard Norton's Sword Of The Bushido, Lord Of The Rings, Bulletproof Monk, Mad Max: Fury Road, Ghost In The Shell, Suicide Squad and it's much better re-boot – both of which would see him work once again with Norton behind the scenes. At the start of his career, Guy would also star as random characters in many of the above as well as Mad Max 2, Nightmaster, and BMX Bandits – both of which starred a young Nicole Kidman, with the latter being a childhood favourite of mine. With Rage & Honor 2, you can definitely see the start of his talents, and while it may still have some flaws throughout (although mostly because of the script), Norris does a damn good job in bringing yet another brilliant Norton/Rothrock film to the fans and brings a bit more of a cleaner product than Winkless did beforehand – even though it only came a year later – giving viewers a much more exciting piece visually with its move to Jakarta, and making the action a little tighter and more focused also.

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Both Norton and Rothrock's change of circumstances gets a brief explanation, with the latter letting us know that she has trained for the last 2 years to become a special agent, thus leading to her first assignment in the east. As a gym instructor, it was nice to see Norton in his comfort zone – teaching the ways of the martial arts with confidence and seemingly enjoying himself while doing so. It does take a good 40 minutes before the two cross paths for the first time, but it is a genuine surprise to them both when they do. While Cyndy and Richard continue to do as good a job as they were doing from the first film, the rest of the cast aren't too bad either with a mix of lesser known names and television actors, as well as a number of Indonesian talent. Norris swaps the muscles and mullet of Brian Thompson for Ron Vreeken – a very similar looking actor who starred in the fun American Samurai with David Bradley, and went on to star alongside Norton the same year in Rage (Deathfight) and then Under The Gun. Ron plays Thor, although not the God of Thunder. This Thor is the right-hand-man and heavy to an Indonesian crime lord, who likes to hassle local business owners for protection money and point at people. Television actor Patrick Muldoon makes his feature film debut as Tommy, a student of Preston Michaels and co-worker of Fairchild's alias. He also happens to be the son of a man involved in the counterfeiting operation, headed by Indonesian crime lord Buntao. Muldoon does a decent job as the cute wanna-be fighter and acts his way well through the film without adding any extra cheese, like many co-stars did in the previous chapter. He would soon go on to star in the series Melrose Place as well as sci-fi hit Starship Troopers, Stigmata, and Chain Of Command with Michael Biehn...

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Stunt co-ordinator Glenn Ruehland handles the action in Rage & Honor 2, as well as popping up as a bit player throughout. Having worked with Guy Norris for a number of years on many projects, Ruehland provides some nice fight action that proves to be a bit more exciting than before and I'd imagine that he had a hand from his directing partner as well as Norton and Rothrock themselves – who also return as associate producers. I really enjoy the Rage And Honor movies and, as I have mentioned before, would love to have seen more adventures with these particular characters. They still stand as two of my favourite films from the Cyndy and Richard pairings, with both offering plenty of exciting fight action, decent storylines, and surprise twists without getting as ridiculous or cheesy as most of the early 90s American martial arts films that came before or after them. So here's hoping that someday, and hopefully soon, we get to enjoy both of these films restored on Blu-ray and getting the attention they deserve!

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Overall: Lots of fun, fight filled, and well made, Rage & Honor 2 is a great vehicle for Rothrock and Norton both in terms of acting and action!