Exterminator 2 (1984)

80s vigilante awesomeness

I'm still trying to figure out what all the negative reviews are about when it comes to this 1984 sequel to James Glickenhaus' brutal 'The Exterminator (1980)'. This is not intended to be Citizen Kane, this is a cheesy 80s vigilante flick with grade-Z production values, eerie grainy film quality, a cheap analog synth score, etc.

In short, fine entertainment! Seriously though, this is an excellent midnight movie-esque action flick. Best watched at 3am alone in a sleep deprived state. May 29, 2008

Retread of the original but with less impact

This is less a sequel to the original than a remake of it .Robert Ginty -giving another solid performance -is once again out to clean up the streets of 1980's New York and this time around he arms himself with a flame thrower and operates out of an armoured garbage truck .
His special attention is devoted to "X " a street gang leader with delusions of grandeur -he sees himself as an almost Messianic figure ,out to unite the street gangs so as to make them more organised and powerful

This role is played with some style and a certain tongue in cheek quality by Mario Van Peebles nut , despite this and other decent performances the picture does not make the impact of its predecessor.
The budget allows for more and noisier explosions and shootouts this time around but there is little freshness or originality ,and you get a somehat more pyrotechnically advanced version of the superior original
Recommended to vigilante movie completists only January 7, 2005

Much better than reputation indicates

This sequel to "The Exterminator" returns Johnny Eastland (Robert Ginty) to the mean streets of NYC, this time sporting a flame thrower and a welding mask . Eastland and a friend (Frankie Faison, better known to modern audiences as Barney from "The Silence of the Lambs") run afoul of a sinister gang led by a psychotic named "X" ( a surprisingly entertaining Mario Van Peebles), and soon enough Eastland is once again in action on a mission of revenge.
Although this is definitely a knock off of "Death Wish" (it is low budget to say the least), "Exterminator 2" is a lot better than it's reputation would indicate. This isn't the type of movie that any filmgoer would view expecting oscar worthy performances or direction, but rather a shamelessly exploitative action flick that pumps up the "eye for an eye" philosophy to the max. That's okay, though, because it's supposed to be such a film.
By streamlining Eastland's M.O. in this picture, the filmmakers have given him a little more of an edge. Whereas the first film had the vigilante moments incorporating a wide variety of 'creative deaths" (almost as if it were the slasher movie variant of "Death Wish"), here Ginty pretty much stays with the flamethrower as his primary tool of vengeance. One can conceivably understand why any punk terrorizing the streets would be in fear for his life if a vigilante were walking around torching their numbers at random. This allows for some pretty good moments where The Exterminator, almost phantom-like in his ability to emerge from the shadows, walks up out of the night to torch some criminal (One of the more memorable scenes involves a thug keeping guard while perched in a tree).
There are logic errors throughout the film ( examples: in the climactic confrontation, how does "X" know Eastlands name? And since when does a police helicopter crash in the middle of a city street with nary a cop car in sight?) but these can be forgiven due to the movies willingness to satisy the viewers action lust and show us what we came to see in the first place- The Exterminator laying down his own violent brand of justice.
Over all, I gave this four stars because the film knows what it is, and aspires to be nothing more (or less) than fun, B-movie trash. Besides, it's light years and away better than "Death Wish" numbers 2-5. May 14, 2004

I Am The Streets

Will you people calm down.
No this movie is not "Citizen Kane" and sure its a ripoff of the "Death Wish" movies, but so what.
You've got a couple of likeable characters, some big time bad guys lead by a young Mario Van Peebles, and you've got flamethrowers and garbage trucks used as weaspons...what more do you want????
Any Golan-Globus movie with butt-kicking and explosions is fine by me. February 13, 2004

BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL

This is your classic D grade trash movie, and a guilty pleasure. This time Ginty's back & after a scummy street gang with the aid of his garbage truck arsenal. Definately better than the first movie, and actually quite fun. September 20, 2001

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