Delta Force 2 (1990) MGM/Action-Adventure RT: 111 minutes Rated R (language, strong violence, drugs) Director: Aaron Norris Screenplay: Lee Reynolds Music: Frederic Talgorn Cinematography: Joao Fernandes Release date: August 24, 1990 (US) Cast: Chuck Norris, Billy Drago, John P. Ryan, Richard Jaeckel, Begonia Plaza, Paul Perri, Hector Mercado, Mark Margolis, Rick Prieto, Mateo Gomez, Ruth de Sosa, Gerard Castillo, Geoff Brewer. Box Office: $6.6M (US)
Rating: ***
The sequel Delta Force 2 is a sequel in name and main character only. It has nothing to do with its 1986 predecessor other than Chuck Norris reprising his character, Col. Scott McCoy of the US Delta Force. It’s on-screen title is Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection. The title on the poster is Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold. Thank you, but I’ll just refer to it as plain Delta Force 2. By any name, it’s an inferior but entertaining follow-up to a great action movie.
For one thing, it’s more like one of Chuck’s one-man shows than a team effort. In fact, the squad seems almost incidental. They show up to assist him in his fight against a brutal drug kingpin, but they never really work as a team like in the first movie. I couldn’t even tell you the name of a single member of the team except for the commander, General Taylor (Ryan, Death Wish 4).
For McCoy, it’s personal this time. He declares war against Colombian drug lord Ramon Cota (Drago, Invasion USA) after he executes his partner/best friend Bobby Chavez (Perri, Manhunter) and his family as revenge for interfering with his illegal operations. He’s also responsible for the deaths of several DEA agents conducting a surveillance operation in Rio. He gets away with murder (and everything else) because he’s the richest and most powerful drug kingpin in the world. He basically owns the fictional South American country of San Carlos. His product- i.e. cocaine- pours into the US like water. The country’s president, fearing a coup if he acts against Cota, does nothing.
The DEA asks for the DF’s help in apprehending Cota. McCoy and Chavez come up with a ballsy idea. They pose as passengers on the same plane as Cota who’s on his way to Geneva to deposit his money. They wait to arrest him until they’re over American airspace. Then they jump out of the plane with their prisoner onto a waiting naval ship. Sadly, it’s all for naught. Cota easily posts the $10 million bail which leaves him free to kill Chavez’s pregnant wife and younger brother. Chavez goes to San Carlos to deal with Cota on his own only to be captured along with three DEA agents. Cota sends a video of Chavez being killed. Needless to say, it puts McCoy on the warpath, but he has to set his personal feelings aside for now. His primary objective is to rescue the hostages before Cota kills them too. He goes in alone ahead of the unit while they prepare to wipe out Cota’s entire operation.
As a sequel to one of the greatest Cannon movies of the 80s, Delta Force 2 is rather weak. It doesn’t come close to matching its epic scale. This is largely because the studio was forced to pare down the original script due to lack of funds. They couldn’t afford what the writers originally had in mind. HOWEVER, if you look at it as a standard Chuck Norris movie, it’s not too bad. It has plenty of action and violence. The star racks up another nice body count, but he appears bored with the whole thing. He doesn’t even get off any memorable one-liners.
The one to watch in Delta Force 2 is Billy Drago. He excels at playing vile, sociopathic characters. He plays it to the hilt as Ramon Cota. This man is 100% unadulterated evil. Early on, we learn he murdered the family of a peasant woman (Plaza, Maid to Order) who had the nerve to stop harvesting his coca so she could tend to her sick baby. He kills her husband in front of her (and us). Of-screen, he kills the baby and uses its corpse to smuggle drugs. He also rapes the woman. Is it any wonder she agrees to lead McCoy to Cota’s mountain fortress? We’re talking about a guy who makes Tony Montana look like a candidate for sainthood. I LOVE Drago’s loopy acting style. He’s the best thing in Delta Force 2. Although I like John P. Ryan, he’s no substitute for Lee Marvin. He seems to be having fun with the role though, so why knock him too hard.
I know Delta Force 2 isn’t the type of movie I should examine too closely. It’s a late-summer action flick from a low-budget studio on its last legs. HOWEVER, I can’t help but be bothered by the sequence where McCoy and Cota’s men battle it out in a peasant village in the jungle. In the end, it’s completely destroyed. What’s to become of the residents of the village? Where are they supposed to go? Also, sections of jungle get destroyed in the pursuit of Cota. Call me oversensitive, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the poor people displaced by the mayhem.
It’s not great, but Delta Force 2 works fine as simple-minded action entertainment. It helps to put the original Delta Force movie completely out of your mind (if you can) and just look at it as another one-man show starring Chuck Norris. From that perspective, it’s not too bad.
TRIVIA TIDBIT: A dark pallor hangs over Delta Force 2 due to the deaths of five crew members (including co-star Geoff Brewer) in a helicopter crash during filming. The movie is dedicated to them.
