#252: Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance

Release Date: October 9th, 2015

Format: Streaming (Tubi)

Written by: Gregory Hatanaka, Rich Mallery, and T.L. Young

Directed by: Gregory Hatanaka

1.5 Stars

I’ve seen exactly two so-called “crowd-funded” films, both from 2015 coincidentally, Adam Carolla’s Road Hard and Gregory Hatanaka’s Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance. 

I gotta say, I don’t like them.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, crowd-funding is when a filmmaker starts a fundraising campaign online where fans can donate money to get a film project off the ground. The idea may be benevolent, but the results, from what I’ve seen, are terrible. 

In the case of Samurai Cop 2, writer/director Gregory Hatanaka is making a niche film for the niche audience who gave him money. Makes sense I suppose, but what if you’re not one of the super nerds who donated $40 so you could get your name in the credits and a signed Blu-ray from star Mathew Karedas?

Then you’re just left watching a pretty horrid looking movie (the digital photography was giving me a headache by the end) that’s trying to be good but also ironically bad at the same time. 

Irony is the exact opposite of what made the first Samurai Cop so special back in 1991. That was a movie where filmmaker Amir Shervan was earnestly trying to wow you with some kickass karate cops, high speed car chases, and shootouts with real squibs and lots of fake blood. It turned out to be a fiasco, of course, and Samurai Cop is now thought of as one of the worst movies ever. But in the end, its artistic failure didn’t really matter. The movie is so earnest and so pure in its intentions, it wins you over in the end.

It became so popular via the rise of internet culture in the early ‘10s that Hatanaka was able to raise enough money from Samurai Cop fans - $62,452, to be exact - to make a feature length sequel for them. That sentiment is heartwarming, and I’m glad fans got what they wanted.

I just wish the movie was better.