Avenging Angel

It was kind of neat to revisit the Angel universe (I've already been quarantined too long). Like Sin City: A Dame to Kill For it's just nice to see old characters again when one of them is played by Susan Tyrrell and another by Rory Calhoun and another's a street mime/magician that talks all the time. I can't recommend this. It's a good premise?

Not as surprising as the 1st but still delivers the original's bizarre/unique blend of simultaneously exploiting the sex trade, while at the same time having characters bemoaning society's decay. It delivers the titillation & violence we want, but humanities "academics" can easily argue this is really all about "empowering" women & the marginalized. Again, it also throws 1930's style comedy in too. Russell's a good replacement but again they fail to let Angel get final kill!

It doesn't quite capture the magic of the first, but it does find enough of it to be a decent sequel. Betsy Russell fills Donna Wilkes' shoes very well, the returning cast members were great & their dynamic with Angel was genuinely really sweet. There was clearly a lot of care put into continuity, & there are references aplenty to the first movie as proof. Still, the goofier tone really doesn't work for me in this one & drags some of the grittier moments down. It's fine for what it is.

Starts promisingly; gritty action and neon lights with Bronski Beat blasting on the soundtrack. Too bad that it soon gets overly comedic and becomes a strange hybrid with two competing styles. Angel (this time Betsy Russell) is still tough but she has collected a whole team of comedic sidekicks that really hinder the film. Hagen is fun as over-the-top bad guy. All in all, this is still a watchable sequel that just oozes the 80’s, but it would have been so much better without the goofy humor.