Triple Review: Bad Ass Trilogy

Let's check the three "Bad Ass"-movies starring Danny Trejo.

Bad Ass 

Amber Lamps, Silver Nitrate, USA, 2012.

Senior citizen Frank Vega (Danny Trejo) beats up two skinheads (John Dixon and Kevin Patrick Burke) harassing a black man in a bus and becomes a hero in Internet. After spending his youth in Vietnam and being shunned by society, Frank notices that he is now a small celebrity. As he gets into other situations where he has to beat up criminals, Officer Malark (Patrick Fabian) wants Frank to cool off a bit. 

Frank Vega

Mayor Williams (Ron Perlman) starts an anticrime campaign but is secretly doing business with criminals. Frank's best friend Klondike (Harrison Page) is murdered. Frustrated with the inefficient cops, Frank decides to solve the crime himself beating up bad guys to get information. Corrupt Mayor and crime lord Panther (Charles S. Dutton) have no interest seeing the murder solved. In addition to crime-fighting, Frank gets to know foul-mouthed boy Martin (John Duffy) living next door and his hot mother Amber Lamps (Joyful Drake).

Panther and Mayor

Going on a date

Amber Lamps

This almost spoofs the old man action genre but is also close to Charles Bronson's movies. The beginning of story is loosely inspired by bus fight which was filmed and became a viral video on YouTube. The story starts light and Frank's background story is kind of touching, but the story gets more violent as it proceeds to the vigilante territory. Danny Trejo's gruffly charisma carries the film well as he plays a tough but nice guy. However Ron Perlman is underused and he and Perlman do not even have scenes together.

Hang on!

The story has good amount of comedy with running jokes about Frank's inability to understand social media and computer technology. The joke is visited in "Bad Ass 2" when Frank has finally learned to use Internet. Just like Machete, also Frank knows how to charm ladies. As a nod to cheap direct-to-video movies loaning footage from other films, "Bad Ass" loans the bus chase from "Red Heat."

Rating: Good

Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses

Sense and Sensibility Ventures, Silver Nitrate, USA, 2014.

3 years after the events of the first movie Bad Ass Frank (Danny Trejo) is coaching young boxers. Manny Parkes (Jeremy Ray Valdez) is the most talented of his students. Manny gets involved in drug business and is soon found murdered. In the funeral Frank meets Manny's mother Rosaria (Jacqueline Obradors) and promises to find the killers.

Frank and Bernie

Rosaria

Frank destroys a drug lab and for some reason the thugs do not like it. Grumpy and agoraphobic shopkeeper Bernie Pope (Danny Glover) saves Frank's life. The Bad Asses decide to find Manny's killer Adolfo (Ignacio Serricchio) despite Officer Malark's warnings. First they crash a Freshman Party where they show that they can drink and charm young women. The clues lead to trails of powerful enemies and soon also Rosaria and her daughter (Melany Ochoa) are in danger.

Officer Malark

"Bad Asses" is just as entertaining as the prequel, not changing the formula drastically but adding the buddy comedy aspect. If "Bad Ass" took inspiration from Charles Bronson movies, this has elements from "Lethal Weapon 2." The effective hip-hop and Mexican songs of the first part were changed to more generic sounding hip-hop music.

Also in this part some footage is loaned, now from "Narrow Margin." The dialogue of Danny & Danny is entertaining with the two old guys trading good-natured insults. Of the three movies this was funniest to watch. However issue of Bernie's agoraphobia is quickly forgotten, which makes to think why it was included in the first place. The ending is absurd, but fitting to the tongue-in-cheek nature.

Rating: Good

Bad Ass 3: Bad Asses on the Bayou

Sense and Sensibility Ventures, Silver Nitrate, Ginobli, USA, 2015.

Bad Asses Frank (Danny Trejo) and Bernie (Danny Glover) need money for Bernie's liver operation. Preventing a bank robbery makes them celebrities again but does not solve their money problems. Frank is missing her girlfriend Rosaria from the previous film who has moved to Florida. Cop friend Carmen Morgan (Loni Love, who had a small part in "Bad Ass 2") invites Bad Asses to her wedding in Louisiana. By the way Officer Malark is not in this movie. Bad Asses have to leave their familiar territory Los Angeles.

Carmen

Bad Asses

Carmen is marrying Geoffrey (Sammi Rotibi) who is wheelchair-bound. Wedding party in Morgan-mansion takes a surprising turn when Carmen is kidnapped. Redneck crime gang demands ransom but the Bad Asses do not tolerate such a thing. It is time to visit thrift store for patrol clothes and start punching bad guys in the face.

Redneck crime gang

Carmen's little brother Ronald (Jimmy Bennett) is bullied at school and the Bad Asses help him. His father Earl (John Amos) is pacifist and wants to solve problems with diplomacy. As the police Chief Broussard (Davi Jay) is corrupt, Earl must also become a Bad Ass! Earl's transition from pacifist to vigilante takes much less time than Paul Kersey's.

Earl

This is not the strongest part of the trilogy as the joke is getting old. The change of scenery works better than expected but the comedy feels weaker than in the previous part and the redneck setting could have been explored more. Much of the face punching is now replaced with gun fight action. This time footage from the movie Air America (1990) is used. It seems a rule of the series that new Bad Asses are recruited in every movie, and the conclusion suggests "Avengers" style group being formed. The ending promises the next in the series to be titled "Bad Asses in Bangcock" (sic).

The movies of the trilogy are fun and simple entertainment with old guys beating much younger guys and charming women young enough to be their granddaughters. The movies surely are quite generic direct-to-video style action comedy but elevated by the good main characters, both Dannys seem to have had fun making the movies.

Rating: Average


Part of The 2016 Movie Watching Challenge (#26. Movie trilogy)

Bad Ass

Starring: Danny Trejo, Charles S. Dutton, Patrick Fabian, Joyful Drake, John Duffy, Harrison Page, Richard Riehl, Winter Ave Zoli, Tonita Castro, Andy Davoli, Patricia De Leon, Frank Maharajh, Jillian Murray, Shalim Ortiz, Craig Sheffe, Chris Spencer, Ron Perlman, Jessica Lee, John Dixon, Kevin Patrick Burke, Olivia Moss, Makenzie Moss, Jennifer Blanc, Davenia McFadden, Larry Richardson, Mackenzie King, Austin Michael Scott, Brian Schlesinger, Christine Clayburg, Sam Rubin, Baxter, Craig Johnson, Erik Betts, Ezra Buzzington, Anthony Martins, Marco Morales, Chad Guerrero, Donzaleigh Abernathy, Heidi Kramer, Duane Whitaker, Joe Holiday , David A. Arnold, Jack Freshkin, Norma Michaels, Sebastian Valdes, Eddie J. Fernandez, Thomas Rosales Jr., Tyler Tuione, Danny Woodburn, C.C. Taylor, Larry Moran, Robert Sean Burke, Isabella Cascarano, Esteban Cueto, Brett Friedmann, Dorian Kingi, Craig Moss, Joe Ordaz, Mark Rhino Smith, Dan Snow, Buddy Sosthand

Director: Craig Moss

Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses

Starring: Danny Trejo, Danny Glover, Andrew Divoff, Jacqueline Obradors, Elizabeth Barondes, Dante Basco, Federico Berte, Damien Bray, Charlie Carver, Al Coronel, Sarah Dumont, Patrick Fabian, Sergio Garcia, David Scott Gaudin, Zedric Harris, Kirsty Hill, Mikal Kartvedt, Gary Kasper, Dennis Keiffer, Jillana Laufer, Justin Lebrun, Jonathan Lipnicki, Judd Lormand, Loni Love, Brock Lumarque, Ken Moreno, Melany Ochoa, Michael Rader, Lisa Raziano, Justyn Michael Richards, Herbert Russell, Con Schell, Ignacio Serricchio, Korey Simeone, Ryan Slater, Han Soto, Leon Thomas III, Matthew Tompkins, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Hawk Walts

Director: Craig Moss

Bad Ass 3: Bad Asses on the Bayou
Starring: Danny Trejo, Danny Glover, John Amos, Loni Love, Colby Arps, Jon Arthur, Deborah Ayorinde, Lucius Baston, Jimmy Bennett, James Moses Black, Allen Boudreaux, Chelsea Bruland, Ross P. Cook, Miles Doleac, Blake Dozzer, Andrew Duplessie, Jaqueline Fleming, Darryl Harvey, Vincent Eugene Hatten, John Henry, Lucia Heros, Scott House, Davi Jay, Floyd Anthony Johns Jr., Daryn Kahn, Mikal Kartvedt, Patrick Kearns, Garrett Kruithof, Margaret Lawhon, Keith Loneker, Judd Lormand, Rob Mello, Brian Oerly, James Ourso, Aisa Palomares, Jeff Pope, Garrett Prejean, Brittany Prevot, Anthony Ramsey, Michael Rhoads, Michael Patrick Rogers, Sammi Rotibi, Garrett Saia, Han Soto, Carol Sutton, John Teal Jr., Mike Vaughn, Al Vicente, Brandi Vielee, Michael Whitener, Olga Wilhelmine, Jesse Yarborough

Director: Craig Moss