Indian sheriff Thunder is transferred to a small town in the desert. He learns that the corrupt deputy is paid by the drug mob. To protect himself, the deputy sets a trap for Thunder and gets him convicted as dealer. Thunder manages to break out of the brutal prison camp and takes bloody revenge. However he cannot sufficiently protect his pregnant wife.
Thunder (1983) is a fun First Blood knock-off. So, you would expect that Thunder II would follow the storyline of Rambo:First Blood Part II, but that is not the case. The sequel ditches the Rambo ideation and instead delivers a mix of corrupt cop flicks, a prison movie, and a revenge-o-matic. Nothing works in Thunder II. The story is told in an inept manner, making it obvious that the integral work by Enzo G. Castellari, credited as action director on the first film, is the missing secret sauce. And judging by this piss-poor sequel, major plot points are handled off-screen and discussed in terrible exposition; they should have brought back Castellari, himself a master of genre flicks, to shepard the project. The idea to follow up on Thunder’s adventures was purely to capitalize on the original movie’s modest success on the domestic and international home video market.
Outlandish plot developments become comical and also saddle the hard-working Bo Sevenson with the unfortunate task of making his previously villainous character into a sympathetic ally to the Native American of the title. German-born actor Raimund Harmstoff, incorrectly credited as Raymond on the video box, appears to be reprising the same racist character from the first movie, even though here his deputy has a different name. There is one moment in Thunder II that manages to impress. Mark Gregory as Thunder uses a lasso to attach to the landing skids of a helicopter, and he, or more correctly, his stuntman, is flung through the scenic Monument Valley. That is a memorable sequence, and sadly, the only thing memorable about the disappointing Thunder II.
Directed by: Fabrizio De Angelis
Written by: Fabrizio De Angelis, Dardano Sacchetti
Starring: Mark Gregory, Raimund Harmstorf, Karen Reel
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