Thursday, November 3, 2011

Movie#3 Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993) Directed by William Lustig

Today's movie is Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence. First of all, I have something shameful to admit: I never saw the first two Maniac Cops. I know, I know. I always meant to get around to seeing it, but shit happens. I vaguely remember the series from my brief Fangoria collecting days, or I should say, perusing my good friend's collection of said magazine. I had a couple of issues but was denied access to things my mother thought violent, for fear it would warp my mind. Whoops.

Ok, tangent over. Back to movie. Maniac Cop 3 begins with said Maniac Cop being brought back from the dead by a voodoo priest. He kills an assload of people but it's fine because he does it all in the name of love. Seriously.

Fear

This was more of a police action movie than horror with an undead supercop as the main villain. I desperately wanted Eric Roberts to make an appearance as somebody's partner or for there to be an old, angry lieutenant. Maybe that's the as yet unmade sequel to Maniac Cop?Maniac Cop 4: Eric Roberts Wants More Work. I'm going to say Maniac Cop was all business in this film and he decided just to kill people without all the stalking that most psycho killers do on screen. He's a loose cannon but he gets results. Sadly, I give him a 3 on the fear scale. Sorry, buddy.

Death

Well now, this ought to boost your rating, Maniac Cop. I've decided at this point that I'm not going to rate the film as much as the character's performance in the film. It's Part 3, I think it's fair to do so.

Maniac Cop, you are dead, so you're already doing well. You really do kill quite a few people in this movie. Let's not forget the fire. You are on fire, Maniac Cop for nearly ten minutes of screen time. That is fucking awesome. You don't even seem uncomfortable. If that hurt, I couldn't tell. A few of the other characters rack up the body count with some kills, but none of them were on fire. Oh wait, one of them was. I forgot what happened to them..Oh, that's right, they died.

I'm going to go ahead and give this movie a 8 on the death scale. Lots of violence. Man on fire.

Sex

Ah, jeez. I was hoping we wouldn't have to talk about this Maniac Cop. See, it isn't just you. This was one of those movies where nobody was more than slightly attractive. I don't want to say anything about your love interest but I saw what you looked like in the first movie and I hope that you two had considered adoption. Nothing good would have come of your coupling. The main protagonist's lady friend wasn't bad but he looked like he was third runner up to Edward James Olmos and Danny Trejo in the 'Mr. Pock Marked America' contest. Not good. With a heavy heart, I give you a 2 out of 10.

Fun

But cheer up, sunshine. I had fun watching this movie! It was cheesy, but it had car chases, voodoo, shoot outs with shotguns and automatic weapons, crazy drug addicts, people on fire and most importantly, you, Maniac Cop. It even had Jackie Earle Haley, the guy who played 'Rorschach' in 'Watchmen' and who was in a remake of a classic 80's horror franchise. But we won't talk about that. This movie didn't have Eric Roberts but I will give it a 7.5 on the fun scale.

Quality

Eh, nobody is going to win any awards for anything in this film. It accomplished what it set out to do admirably though. I give it a 4.5 out of 10. Maniac Cop, the man, gets a 7.

Monsters

I could extol at great lengths on how awesome you are, Maniac Cop. Bullets or fire don't cause you to flinch in this film. You have super human strength and can throw dudes thirty feet in the air and then quick draw and shoot them as they are coming down. You have a night stick that has a sword inside! Frankly, that is classy. And you twirl that baton with considerable skill. Did I mention how awesome that scene where you are on fire is? I haven't seen your other two movies, but if they are like this one, consider me a fan. I don't say this about a lot of monsters, but you are the kind of monster I'd like to have a beer with and maybe shoot the shit. Stay awesome. You're a solid 8 in my book, pal.

Overall

If a cheesy action-horror flick with no real plot, an awesome villain and decent non CGI effects is what you're looking for, rent 'Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence'. It get's a 5.5 out of 10. And then rent 'Best of the Best 2'. It has Eric Roberts and is incredibly entertaining as well.




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