Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Harefooted Halloween: Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence

What I liked: They saved all the good stuff, well the only good stuff, for the finale where maniac cop Matt Cordell (Robert Z’Dar (Samurai Cop)) has a car chase/battle with our heroes played by Caitlin Dulany (Oldboy (2013)) and a returning Robert Davi (Action Jackson).  Similar to the ending fight scene in part 2 Cordell’s on fire the entire time racing down the Los Ange, er I mean New York highway ramming into other cars, grabbing onto the other vehicle and driving like a nutjob.  It looks cool, is cool and keeps with tradition of putting stunts in these movies that seem ridiculously dangerous.

What I Didn’t Like: Boy is this one phoned in.  You definitely get the sense that nobody wants to be here and that’s because it’s true.  The script had to be altered significantly after foreign distributors demanded huge changes.  So the filmmakers cut out everything that didn’t fit with the new parameters which only left about fifty mins of runtime.  They either made up the rest or took leftover footage from the previous film.  And it’s a shame because all of this shows.  They couldn’t save it.

Overall Impressions: Unfortunately this last installment is sluggish, kind of on the boring side and nothing makes any frickin’ sense.  The weirdest part is they tried to do a half assed Bride of Maniac Cop thing by setting up a female cop who’s supposed to be out of control.  However, she comes across as reckless and overzealous, not psychotic so it doesn’t add up.  Cordell wants a companion because I guess he’s lonely?  I don’t really have a clue.

Even if you liked the first two pictures you can skip this one.  It’s not a satisfying conclusion to the series.  Although seeing Davi light his cigarette with Cordell’s severed burning arm as one last fuck you to the guy is pretty badass.

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