It’s the return of Danny Trejo to the DVD players of the world, and this time he’s brought a friend. The Dissection returns to the land of badasses and old man jokes with a sequel to 2012’s BAD ASS, and bringing another Danny with him. Will the movie live up to it’s title, or will it prove that they’re getting too old for this s***?
The Story
Vietnam vet Frank Vega now runs an East L.A. community center where he trains young boxers to survive in and out of the ring. But when his prize student falls in with the wrong crowd and turns up dead, Frank teams up with his pal Bernie to take matters into their own fists and prove that justice never gets old.
The Cast
Danny Trejo as Frank Vega. A veteran and local celebrity, now “retired” from badassery, bu who is pulled back into it when his prized student is found murdered in a drug related incident. This shows that Vega continues to be crapped on by God for something he did, probably MACHETE KILLS.
Danny Glover as Bernie Pope. A convenience store owner and former hockey player who teams up with Vega to help him solve the case of his student’s murder. Bets on the use of the sentence “I’m getting too old for this s***” are now closed.
Andrew Divoff as Leandro Herrera, the drug lord who wants Vega and his ilk dead over the insult given to him by these old men. Too bad he can’t wish them dead……
Jacqueline Obradors as Rosaria Parkes, mother of Manny and his younger sister Julia, someone who Vega seems to bond with. Apparently, Frank did not learn the lesson about that after the first movie.
The Dissection
Frank and Bernie (The Danny’s) preparing for war.
In what seems to be another entry into the sub-genre of senior citizens-centric films like GRUMPY OLD MEN, MY FELLOW AMERICANS, or THE BUCKET LIST, we now have what is planned to be a trilogy in the BAD ASS series. The first film was featuring Danny Trejo as this vigilante angel of punishment who was taking down some of the criminal element in the city. With this film, we still have Trejo, but now we’ve added Danny Glover as an old convince store owner with a badass past and who does not shy away from talking trash to him every chance they got.
Strangely, the film kind of has a big gap between the first and second films of 3 years. Now, Frank has left the house he was living in the first one, and the life he had with his neighbor Amanda from the first film, and has started to teach boxing in a gym, living in the attic upstairs, and being alone.
To note, an issue with the first film was that it had trouble deciding if the story was suppose to be a comedic one or a serious piece and meshed them together. In this one, it’s more obvious this is not to be taken as a serious film. Possibly the scene that bests cements this is a speech Trejo’s Vega makes to his boxing class that is basically “Winners Don’t Use Drugs”. It’ moments like this that shape the movie, where it drifts away from exploitation, and more of an action B-movie.
If you don’t like this film, Trejo’s released another 3 movies in the same time-frame you probably will.
The story of the movie seems like a retread of the first film, this time having the victim being a student of his instead of his friend. It also shares a lot of the beats from it, with bonding with Manny’s mother and her daughter, random acts of villainy occurring for Vega and Glover’s Pope to fight off, as well as interrogating the goons to find out who is pulling the strings. The film even ends in a similar way. While the story itself does have some differences from the first one, it could almost be considered a remake instead of a sequel.
Still, the movie does look a bit better built and uses what was built from the first film to bypass a lot of the backstory to streamline the plot and deliver an improved product overall. If BAD ASS hit the spot, so will this. Even if the third installment wasn’t already planned, it does build some interest for a possible return, as long as it’s not a retread. Who knows, it might leads to Frank and Bernie getting sent back in time to fight deadites and Evil Frank, if the patern holds up.
The Verdict
A good second installment of this series, and a good new step for Trejo.