FORTRESS 2: SNIPER’S EYE (2022)

FORTRESS 2: SNIPER’S EYE (2022)

Tagline: The war isn't over. It's just starting.

(Action, Thriller, Ridiculously Bad Acting) [R]

In this one, we get the follow-up to FORTRESS. Retired CIA agent Robert Carter Michaels fulfills a promise to rescue Balzary’s wife from a Russian prison. Michaels made the promise as Balzary was dying in spite of him being a ruthless killer who masterminded a breach of the Fortress. As it turns out Balzary actually survives and launches yet another attempt to take over the Fortress after it “appears” to be in the process of being shut down. 

First off, I think a lot of people were so let down by the first movie in this series that they certainly were not expecting a second movie in the series. This one though is marginally better than the original and at least the action sequence feels a little less clunky, even if this whole movie does feel like it was shot in a giant abandoned car dealership in the middle of nowhere. Once again, the lighting is bad, the acting is bad, the plot is barely coherent and of course, they had to kill my favorite character from the last one off in the first 20 minutes of this one. Bloody Hell, why Grindstone? Why? 

Below is an actual screenshot from a major movie website. This film gathered so little respect that it has the wrong plot “featured” and no one cares or seems to have even pointed it out. So that should give a little idea as to how much people even paid attention when the movie was playing. 

This is weird to say, but this movie actually benefits from the absence of Shannon Doherty. This means the story has time to focus on other things like a creepy guard watching over Sasha (played by Natali Yura). After a couple of decent years getting roles, this was the first time we’ve seen Natali in 4 years. Her last movie was 2018’s ANTIDOTE. The movie also brings on a few other new characters, one being Zoe played by Gabrielle Haugh. This wasn’t a great performance out of Gabrielle this time around, but it looks like she is going to get a lot of other opportunities. She is most famous for HEADLOCK but didn’t have a major role in that. We also get veteran actress Welker White who plays Carole. White is best known for GOODFELLAS. As far as the returning cast, Bruce Willis is given very little screen time in this one as Robert. Again, don’t expect DIE HARD or even a DIE HARD knockoff, or even a knockoff of a DIE HARD knockoff. Jesse Metcalfe gets less screen time than in the first movie as Paul. Kelly Greyson comes back as Kate and does a pretty good job in this. She takes more of a mentor role to Sasha which at least gives her a chance to show more range than in the last one.  Chad Michael Murray overacts for a lot of this movie. I guess he makes a decent bad guy overall as Balzary, but he looks more like he should be hosting a network talent show. 

There is nothing flashy to write about here given that the budget must have been what it cost to buy a used car from 1984. I do think that having Bruce Willis do less in this one given his condition was a smart move, but I don’t understand why they didn’t really ramp up Paul’s screen time. I am also not sure why they killed off at least one of the characters so quickly unless the writers just had no idea whatsoever what to do with her. 

Overall this is a 3 out of 7 but still doesn’t manage to fall into the bottom 10 films of the year. 

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