Needless to say that I had never even seen the 2009 movie "Jack Squad", much less even heard about it, and equally so applied to the 2023 sequel titled "Jack Squad 2 The Next Generation". Yet, I had the opportunity to watch the sequel here in 2024, so I opted to do so, without having seen the first movie.
Now, I don't know how crucial the plot and storyline from the first movie is to understanding the sequel, but I opted to give director Simuel Demell Rankins movie a fair chance. Initially I have to say that I wasn't particularly impressed with the movie's cover, as it looked rather low budget, amateurish and home-made, not to mention overly stereotypical. But hey, letting the benefit of the doubt favor the movie, right?
And just about 6 minutes into the movie, having heard the dialogue and witnessed the first gunfight, I knew very well what this movie was going to be like. And true enough, director Simuel Demell Rankins continued on with those standards throughout the nearly two hours that the movie ran for.
The storyline in the movie is marred by a rather slow paced and mundane narrative. There is a whole lot of stale dialogue and virtually nothing but character establishing going on throughout the majority of the movie, and that makes this an ordeal to sit through. Literally nothing exciting or thrilling was happening as the narrative trotted on and on in a pace that would put a dead man to sleep. And as for this being a thriller, well...
Of course I don't have to say that I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list in "Jack Squad 2 The Next Generation". And that is something I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. And in all fairness, there were some adequate performances here and there from selected members of the cast ensemble, but most certainly also some shoddy and questionable ones.
The special effects in the movie were just that; special. I didn't for a second buy into the guns and weapons being fired throughout the movie were firing anything that even remotely resemebled ammunition, live or blanks. It was so atrociously fake to look at and listen to. And the car crash scene was just so dramatic that it sends your pulse through the roof (sarcasm may occur).
I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Jack Squad 2 The Next Generation", but I Just happened to not be a part of that particular target audience, and that made sitting through this movie quite a struggle and an ordeal.
My rating of "Jack Squad 2 The Next Generation" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
