This film essentially begins where its predecessor left off with a man named "Martel 'Too Sweet' Gordone" (Leon Isaac Kennedy) having been released on early parole from prison due to his boxing skills. On that note, one of the conditions for his release is that he must report to a boxing promoter by the name of "Sam Cunningham" (Stan Kamber) and work with him for at least one year. The problem is, Martel doesn't particularly want to be a professional boxer and as a result he wants nothing to do with Sam. So, in the meantime, Martel has since moved in with his sister "Ellen Johnson" (Peggy Blow) while he contemplates what he wants to do in life. As luck would have it, he also meets his old girlfriend "Clarisse" (Eugenia Wright) and the two get back together again. Unfortunately, just as everything seems to be falling into place, an old enemy named "Half Dead" (Ernie Hudson) breaks out of prison and has only one thing on his mind--to settle an old score with Martel. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I honestly didn't care that much for this particular sequel due in large part to the manner in which the director (James Fanaka) kept cutting away from one scene to another during the main fight. This repeated technique made everything look much too cheap and totally diminished the overall effect. Likewise, I thought that the acting of Leon Isaac Kennedy could have used some improvement as well. Be that as it may, I simply wasn't that impressed with this film and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
Review of Penitentiary II
