Synopsis: John Travis is the last honest cop in a future dominated by terrorist martial-arts gangs who fight gladiator-style in arenas. (90 Mins)

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Views: I decided to move my review of the Jeff Wincott/Cynthia Rothrock vehicle (known in the UK as) Karate Cop, back to its original title of Martial Law 2: Undercover so that I could fit in this sequel to Ron Marchini's sci-fi action flick, Omega Cop – a film I probably haven't watched since it's release in 1990. Ron is back as ass-kicking John Travis, a lone wolf in a cop uniform (albeit slightly altered) traveling the land in a dystopian future. He soon saves Rachel from a horde of wasteland warriors who enjoy beating up regular people in gladiator-style, martial arts tournaments. Rachel looks after the Freebies, a bunch of orphan children who see themselves as freedom fighters and they soon convince John to help them find a special crystal that will help power a transporter machine, in a bid to get them all out of the hell-hole they live in. While on his mission, Rachel gets kidnapped by big boss Lincoln, forcing Travis to fight in the ring so that he can win her freedom...

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I remember this hitting the video shops back in the early 90s under the title of Dragon Cop. It was a pretty cool cover, although very typical of US action movies of that time, and featured a shot of Ron doing a very impressive kick, and while I lent more towards the Hong Kong releases on the shelf next to it, I do remember giving Karate Cop a go and enjoying it to some degree. Almost 30 years later, and I guess I'm still tickled by it in some ways. The script is often hilarious and jam-packed full of cheese, with production standards kept to a minimum (much like my own movies) and a cast of extras that are clearly having a great time – because most of them actually don't know how to act. This is the kind of film that hit video shops on a weekly basis in the early 90s, challenging the likes of Van Damme, Segal, and even Arnie with their bad acting, crazy storylines, and pointless action scenes. Karate Cop totally ignores how Omega Cop ended and comes across as an Albert Pyun-directed project that blends The Running Man with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. It's amazing to think what kind of stuff actually got green-lit for production back then, with films like this pouring out from independent studios on a monthly basis. But I guess they clearly had a following. The bad guys are hilarious, especially the one called Snaker – a villain who takes a little inspiration from Cobra Commander, complete with dodgy face make-up to give him more of a reptilian look. His boss is the god-awful Lincoln, played by D.W. Landingham who also starred in Omega Cop, although as a completely different character. The late David Carradine pops up in an extended cameo as the owner of a bar called 'Dads', where he tries robbing Travis and kicks off a bar brawl and is quickly disposed off within minutes. For such a small role, Carradine reportedly bagged himself $10,000 for the day – a hefty sum that, if I had been making the movie, would have been spent on something much more worthwhile!

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I think the first film I ever saw Ron Marchini in was the 1970s kung-fu schlock flick, Death Machines, where he played the White Death Machine. After that it was a cheap ninja adventure, Ninja Warriors, which was based on a story by Ken Wantanabe, an 80s actor who starred alongside him as well as appearing in Ninja's Force, 9 Deaths Of The Ninja, and the fun Karate Kid rip-off, Karate Warrior, as Master Kimura. Although a karate champion of the 1960s and 70s, Marchini would only star in 11 low-budget features during the course of his acting career with his self-directed Karate Raider, being his final title in 1995. Karate Cop was directed by the late Alan Roberts, a producer/director/editor who started in the business in the early 70s with The Zodiac Couples. Although he continued to work until his death in 2016, Roberts worked across a number of genres from soft-core adult movies to horror, and drama's to action. Although he was hardly behind anything amazing or highly memorable, Roberts manages to make Karate Cop an enjoyable enough watch, offering plenty of fun action scenes all wrapped up in that typical 90s straight-to-video style with plenty of unintentional comedy.

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Overall: One of the better 'bad' action flicks of the 1990s, Karate Cop is saturated in typical low budget Hollywood tripe and offers plenty of laughs along the way!