Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988) New World/Action-Thriller RT: 99 minutes Rated R (language, violence, nudity, sexual content, drugs) Director: Tom DeSimone Screenplay: Tom DeSimone Music: Berlin Game Cinematography: Howard Wexler Release date: November 10, 1988 (US) Cast: Mitzi Kapture, Mark Blankfield, Maud Adams, Kin Shriner, Tawny Fere, Richard Roundtree, Anna Navarro, Emile Beaucard, S.A. Griffin, Susan Moore, Floyd Levine, Barbara Treutelaar, Cynthia Hoppenfeld, Bob DeSimone, Julie K. Smith, Dick Miller, Toni Basil, Kyle T. Heffner. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Imagine my surprise one weekday afternoon in November ’88 when I strolled into West Coast Video and saw Angel III: The Final Chapter among that week’s new releases. I wasn’t aware New World Pictures made a third Angel movie. As far as I knew, it never received a theatrical release. It definitely didn’t open in Philadelphia. The counterperson kindly informed me it was a DTV (direct-to-video) release. In any event, I snatched it right up. LOL! What else would you expect from a trashy B-movie aficionado like me?
Mitzi Kapture (Silk Stalkings) steps into the heels previously occupied by Donna Wilkes and Betsy Russell to play Molly Stewart, the ex-prostitute formerly known as Angel. These days, she makes a living as a photojournalist in New York City. HEY! What happened to law school? What brought on the change in career goals? The world will never know. Molly is about to get the shock of her life. While working an art show, she snaps a familiar-looking woman who runs an art gallery in L.A. Molly takes the first plane to the West Coast and confronts her. Lo and behold, she’s her long-lost mother Gloria (Navarro, The First Deadly Sin)! Yep, the one who abandoned her when she was only 12! The one who left her to pursue a career in prostitution in order to survive! It’s not the happiest of family reunions to say the least.
WAIT! There’s another surprise in store for Molly. It turns out she has a younger half-sister Michelle (Fere, Rockula). The family reunion is cut short when Gloria is killed by a car bomb, but not before she lets Molly know her sister is in grave danger. You see, Mom was involved with some very bad people that used her gallery as a front for their drug-smuggling operation. They’re also involved in the white slavery trade. Michelle is being held captive by the leader Nadine (Adams, Octopussy) with the intention of being sold to the highest bidder. In order to track down and save her newfound little sister, Molly resurrects Angel and hits the streets again. She’s determined to shut down Nadine’s operation and save Michelle from the life she escaped from herself.
Sadly, Molly/Angel’s friends from the previous movies aren’t around this time. Save for a quick reference to Solly, none of them are even mentioned. I, for one, would love to know what became of Kit Carson, Yo-Yo Charlie and Johnny Glitter. They’re replaced by less colorful types like Spanky (Blankfield, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again), a vaguely gay ex-street hustler that knew her back in the day. He drives a tricked-out ice cream truck now. Then there’s Neal (Shriner, General Hospital), the porno movie projectionist that has connections in the adult film industry. He helps Molly/Angel get her foot in the door in order to infiltrate Nadine’s operation. Surprise of all surprises, a romance develops between them. And let’s not forget the obligatory useless cop Lt. Doniger (Roundtree, Shaft). He’s more interested in hassling Molly/Angel than doing something about the illegal activities of the villains.
I like Angel III: The Final Chapter because it accomplishes exactly what it sets to do, entertain fans of sleazy exploitation movies which it most definitely is. The makers take a noticeably more serious approach to this third installment. It doesn’t have the same trashy appeal of the first movie (“High School Honor Student by Day, Hollywood Hooker by Night”) or the fun of the second (“You touch that phone and I’ll break your dick!”). It’s a straightforward actioner featuring a heroine in sexy outfits that she never takes off. Kapture continues the time-honored tradition of Angel not engaging in any sexual activity. She even stays covered up when appearing as an extra in a porno movie as part of her cover. It leads one to wonder how she ever made a living at her old profession. Geez, even Julia Roberts got down and dirty in Pretty Woman.
Kapture is an attractive lady, but lacks the bad ass quality that defined Russell in Avenging Angel. As an actress, she’s okay. Blankfield provides a small measure of comic relief while Shriner barely makes an impression. Unfortunately, they’re both stuck playing characters not even a fraction as interesting as the “friends” that came before them. Adams downplays it too much as the icy villainess. In a low-budget exploitationer like this, she should have gone for OTT. Movies like Angel III: The Final Chapter need that camp factor to keep things interesting for the viewer. Roundtree is positively wasted. He should have been given more to do. He was John Shaft, for Pete’s sake!
Replacing Robert Vincent O’Neill as director is Tom DeSimone, the talent behind quasi-classics like Chatterbox, Hell Night, The Concrete Jungle and Reform School Girls. He doesn’t too bad a job. He pares things down considerably in Angel III: The Final Chapter. It’s not as slick or flashy as its immediate predecessor nor is it as gleefully sleazy as the first movie. Like I said, it’s a fairly straightforward B-movie action-thriller. It has plenty of action and goes heavier on the sleaze than either of its predecessors. It makes no pretensions about itself and doesn’t apologize for it either. It’s the type of movie I’d make an extra effort to see opening weekend due to the unlikelihood of it being around for a second weekend.
What can I say? I always get a thrill when I see the New World Pictures logo. It carries with it the promise of 90 minutes of good low-budget entertainment. Angel III: The Final Chapter more of less delivers on that promise. BTW, we all know “The Final Chapter” is complete BS. Have we learned nothing from Friday the 13th: A New Beginning? In any event, Angel III: The Final Chapter is a serviceable sequel even with its plot holes and other shortcomings. If you go in not expecting much, you won’t be disappointed.
TRIVIA TIDBIT: The DTV sequel Angel 4: Undercover starring Darlene Vogel (Pacific Blue) quietly crept into video stores in ’94. IT SUCKS BIG TIME! It’s doubtful I’ll ever review it. It seems rather pointless to do so.
