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.
