Rendel: Cycle of Revenge

I did like this better than the first one- which is like saying I prefer tire sludge over fecal matter.

This movie has been a looooong time coming. It's predecessor was released during the height of the superhero film genre in 2017, now during (or after, depending who you ask) the superhero genre's implosion, this finally gets released. Why, was there really that big an audience for this?

What I saw this film for was Bruce Payne- the highlight of ANYTHING he is in. Some men are born to play villains and he is one, easily gobbling up scenery with ease and class. But here he is wasted, doing little much at all and then dying. Anyone could have played his role.

I saw the 2017 film when it first came out and disliked it for it's over-the-top brutality, so the moment I saw a little boy being introduced in the beginning of this film I knew for a fact he was living on borrowed time. What does Jesse Haaja have against kids?

This film was made for American audiences, hence the English language, but nothing else that American audiences like to see- fun, humor, a likeable protagonist who uses brains as well as fists, colorful dialogue, and genuine excitement- all present in another film cashing in on an action genre ("Die Hard" clones) for it's time, "Passenger 57"- which doesn't waste Bruce Payne like this does; watch that movie instead.

I've been looking forward to the sequel to 'Rendel' ever since it was announced. Sadly, I am so disappointed in 'Rendel: Cycle of Revenge' that I'd rather have waited longer.

My first big disappointment is the fact the film is in English (and not Finnish as the first one). I suppose they wanted a wider appeal. Pity. Why change a recipe? On the subject of 'wider appeal', they also added comic relief characters reminiscent of Hollywood movies, and they were incredibly annoying.

In this sequel, Rendel (once again portrayed by Kristofer Gummerus) continues his revenge against the VALA corporation. The main protagonist is VALA's new leader, Smiley. Actor Sean Cronin, who portrays Smiley, tried too hard to be the bad guy and unfortunately he did not succeed - partly maybe because of a bad script. I also blame the director - who happens to be the same director of 'Rendel' - for lack of vision on this film. Then again, apparently there were so many production issues that he probably is not entirely to blame for this mess.

From the story to the characters, crappy dialogue and general bad execution, there honestly was nothing here I enjoyed. Big criticism also go to the titular character, Rendel, who was far too passive in this film - and he never spoke a single word. In fact, the actor himself showed very little enthusiasm and at times came across as lazy - or maybe he just didn't want to do this sequel.

All these issues are evident in the end result. This is a poorly made film with a bad script. I think I'll conveniently (try to) forget I've seen this.

It looked decent at the picture, but when i started watching it, it was very very boring. You can tell it's cheaply made, and all over bad.

The fighting scenes is slow, the shooting scenes have some sort of "lagg" to it when they fire the guns, and the story is not good at all.

This looks alot like someone made this movie/film at home.

If they had put some more money in it for the effects, and piffed up the story a little, then maybe it would be a good movie/film, but as it is right now, i dont recommend anyone watching it if you're looking for a overall good action movie to watch.

No thank you.

No pun intended - this is a sequel .. I have seen the original - which I remember not having been in English, but I may be wrong ... it has been 7 years .. and it is not like it was super great ... it was still better than this one of course. Though if you like masked avengers (what else am I going to call them?) ... maybe this is enough for you.

Also you may care that this does not seem to take prisoners ... so all bets are off. Even if the characters do not seem to make much sense. Changing their opinions on the dime ... recognizing characters to then being completely oblivious of them. Sounds a bit strange? I would say so ... also the story of the sword? Seems completely wasted for the movie ... doing a build up of sorts ... for nothing ... well it is what it is.

The action scenes at least are very well choreographed so maybe you do not care about the other stuff ...