Django Strikes Again (1987)

The official sequel to Django the spaghetti western that helped make Franco Nero a star. Although there have been upwards of 65 pseudo-sequels or films renamed to seem like a sequel this is the only re deal. Coming 20 years later the film is set in the jungles of Mexico where Django, now a monk is informed that the daughter he never knew he had has been kidnapped. After much soul searching he goes off to get her back and walks into the clutches of a mad aristocrat on an armed boat who is oppressing the natives and taking slaves. It isn't long before the man of the cloth reverts to being a man of the gun. The film is typical 1980's Italian exploitation film making. Its mindless and a not bad spaghetti western once the film actually gets going. Anchor Bay who released it to DVD has seen fit to restore a prologue cut before the original release, it has nothing to do with the rest of the film except to allow to aging gunfighters to wonder what happened to the best gun fighter ever. Its awful. It was rightly cut since it serves no purpose and is just badly done. Yes the gun fighters are killed by the villain of the film, but it is in no way connected to anything. If you watch the film, which you will enjoy if you're in the mood, skip the prologue and jump right to where Django shows up in the monastery.

Django (Franco Nero) has given up his brutal past and spent the last ten years in a monastery. When he is captured by slave traders and learns that one of the kidnapped children is his daughter, he escapes and seeks revenge. This woeful update of the Django series, considered by some the official sequel due to bringing Nero back to the role, is not even a western and doesn't even seem to be set in America! The film is in English and is terribly predictable with Django digging up his fake grave which contains his machine gun coffin and just when all seems lost toward the end, the main villain's (Christopher Connelly) jealous servant sets Django free. Although the film seems proud to be associated with the original Django (1966) going to the trouble of listing - "Django created by Sergio Corbucci," this is a disgrace to the original. Co-starring the ubiquitous Donald Pleasance.

This brain dead remake of the same crap from Django (1966) pits a long haired older (Nero) who doesn't even seem interested in the role. From the absurd opening shot of two old geezers shooting each other, to the more insane mad pirate Captain who lives on some slave ship steam hauler, this film has nowhere to go. Sadly wasted are Pleasance, in a film he made only for liquor money and Nero, who could have picked a better writer and director than his old friend. Everything about the picture looks cheap, the effects, the boats, the costumes and we don't really get a sense that a story is being told, just pointless bad vs good archetypes. Avoid this nonsense at all costs.

Basicly comes off like any number of Franco Nero action films from the 1980's. He's got a machine gun so he must be playing Django, right? And a hearse this time instead of the coffin. Nero could just as well be playing "Keoma Strikes Back". Sergio Corbucci was not the greatest director but he knew how to set up some atmosphere. This "Ted Archer" directs like he graduated Filipino school of film quickies. Not worth the rental, watch the original instead.