Angel 2
Director: Teresa Woo
Year: 1988
Rating: 7.0
This second film in the Angel series quickly followed on the heels of the success of the first Angel film. The Girls with Guns genre was off and shooting and over the next five years there were a huge number of them made. From the beginning though the genre was constricted by low budgets and often the films had to be shot in lower cost locations – i.e. The Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. Much of the passion that many fans have for this genre is centered more on the wonderful actresses that perform in them rather than the often questionable quality of the films themselves. These actresses – Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Elaine Lui, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Cynthia Khan to name a few – often put themselves in true danger and were often battered and bruised for their trouble. They could put on one hell of a show though and are thrilling to watch. What they often put themselves through is a testament to their determination and toughness and is a reason they still have legions of fans long after the genre has slowed to a trickle.

Moon Lee, Elaine Lui and Alex Fong are back for this second adventure which begins with them saving a kidnapped businessman from a group of killers. After shooting the kidnapper in the head, Fong kicks the businessman in the stomach which sends a live grenade flying out of his mouth and Moon makes a shoestring catch and throws it out the window in one motion. Willie Mays would have been proud of her! Afterwards they decide that they deserve a vacation and go off to Kuala Lumpur for some R&R.


Alex introduces them to an old college friend of his named Peter who is a very wealthy businessman in Malaysia. Another old friend joins them and the three men go out looking for women and trouble. They find both – sort of – as the woman turns out to be a transvestite and the boys have to fight off a transvestite gang to get out of the bar in one piece. The girls hang around the pool having fancy fruity drinks with umbrellas in them and Elaine begins to fall in love with Peter. Life is good – except for one small thing.
 

Peter harbors ambitions to overthrow the Malaysian government and install himself as the leader. He has put together a small army of men in the jungle and in his spare time he sits around watching old footage of Adolph Hitler. Otherwise though a very nice guy! Elaine stumbles on to the truth and is held prisoner by him in his jungle hideout. Moon and Alex enlist another Angel, Karina, and loaded up with guns, blowguns, crossbows, wrist projectiles and other instruments of destruction go in to rescue her.

The last twenty-minutes is great stuff as they take on Peter’s entire army and demolish his mad dream. Everything is blown up, everyone shot – its all great fun. One has to wonder of course how this army was going to overthrow the government, as they can’t even handle three girls and a guy! Moon has one amazing stunt as she is high up in a fifty-foot tree and they send a missile speeding her way and she jumps out of the tree as it explodes and goes down and down and down some more before they cut away. She crashes through the roof, rolls over and is ready to fight again! I don't care if there is a mattress the size of Texas down below, that still has to be a very scary jump.


This second Angel film does not have the same amount of action as the first and its not as intense – but its interesting in the way that they take some time to try to development the characters and make the action very personal. Though the bad guys could have used some more fighting talent – a Dick Wei or a Yuen Wah type – would have been good to see, the film is still quite entertaining for the most part.