Titreenp
SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Steineded
How sad is this?
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Motompa
Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.
raisleygordon
The third time is also the charm for MC3, but it's slightly less interesting than 1 & 2. For starters, the voodoo stuff is unconvincing and unnecessary. If you notice at the end of MC2, when Cordell was still in the casket, He was seen reaching for his badge, indicating he's still alive. So why a resurrection if he isn't really dead? Even if I had enjoyed it more, it would still be pointless, since this priest has resurrected a living body. Plus, the movie mostly takes place in a hospital, like "Halloween II". Of course, the chase scene is the most fun. Even the convenience store robbery doesn't work as well as it should. If the robber looks familiar to you, he's Jackie Earle Haley (Freddy Krueger, of the NOES remake.*** out of ****
Scarecrow-88
Matt Cordell's(..the formidable Robert Z'Dar, under heavy prosthetic make-up)restless soul is conjured by a voodoo priest, with the resurrected zombie seeking a mate, which is provided when he hears about a shoot-out at a pharmacy between a female cop, Katie Sullivan(Gretchen Becker)and a sadistic junkie, Jessup(Jackie Earle Haley). Katie doesn't know that the employee working in the pharmacy is Jessup's gal who picks up a revolver willing to kill the cop who had "saved her." A couple of corrupt news clowns falsify the story, by deleting certain material which proves Katie's innocence, depicting her as a rogue cop using illegal weaponry, not allowed by the force to carry. In a vegetative state, Katie's brain seems dead, and her "guardian", Detective Sean McKinney(Robert Davi, returning from the previous film as the chain-smoking, reliable, street-wise cop whose seen it all and then some)is disgruntled with how his best friend is being treated in the press. Despite his decomposing state, Cordell still understands how he himself was treated by those he considered allies, and begins murdering those who offer Katie harm, hoping to clear her..while also planning to betroth her in unholy matrimony, with assistance of the voodoo priest who brought him back to life! Dr. Susan Fowler(Caitlin Dulany), the on-call physician over Jessup, who somehow survived multiple gun shot wounds from Katie's firearm, will assist McKinney while also falling in love with him during the process.Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy, incoherent mess of a script, director William Lustig and Joel Soisson(..Soisson, I'm guessing, was probably more associated with the stunt-work)unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road, or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies. There's a thrilling shoot-out in the hospital when Cordell releases criminals from their handcuffs, with McKinney getting to show out his skills of evading gunfire.Beside Haley's psychotic junkie, many familiar faces make appearances such as Robert Forster as a happy-go-lucky doctor who plans, faithfully, to carry out a plan to remove Katie off of life support so that the police department could save face with the public as the image of the force has been dealt a serious blow, becoming one of many Cordell victims, thanks to the nasty use of an X-ray machine. Paul Gleason(..with his typical slimy charm, always portraying those kind of characters you love to hate) plays an unapologetic lawyer for the police department who wishes for Katie to be taken off of life support so that they wouldn't have to forfeit millions to Jessup. His demise, along with Jessup's grinning lawyer who sees future engagements(..such as television shows)for her client regarding Katie's supposed mishap, will probably elicit applause from the audience..Cohen's screenplays always seem to have these appalling suits attempting to screw over unfortunates unable to defend themselves, meeting grim fates in crowd-pleasing fashion. I thought Dulany was fine as Davi's love interest, she's the kind of dependable female support Davi's cop needs when the stack is decked against him. Davi, as always, brings his usual grit to the role of a city detective..looking the part of a cop whose been through the rigors of such a job, only helps sell his character. The whole sub-plot regarding Cordell's desire to marry Katie didn't really work for me, but maybe it will you. It does provide a memorable sequence in the voodoo priest's church where Cordell, on fire, carries Katie's corpse in his arms walking towards a trapped McKinney and Fowler. I'm not really sure why the priest resurrected him unless he felt that Cordell's reign of terror over those who betrayed him, wasn't finished, and that he needed further vengeance for how others wronged him. There seems to be a theme of anger towards the police force and their methods of justice, while also hammering the message home that the streets are a difficult place for the men and women in blue trying to halt crime.
The_Void
The first Maniac Cop film is one of the supreme trash classics from the eighties; and its sequel, the imaginatively titled 'Maniac Cop 2' is about as good as a sequel could have been. However, in true sequel fashion; this third outing is extremely poor. The film is subtitled 'Badge of Silence', but 'Bride of Maniac Cop' would be more appropriate, since that's the road that the second sequel has chosen to go down. Once again, we have William Lustig directing a script written by Larry Cohen; this team worked so well on the first two films, but something hasn't clicked this time around. The entire movie feels like it cant really be bothered, with the plot serving only in dishing up the relevant elements for Matt Cordell; the 'maniac cop' to go on another killing spree. We see a voodoo priest resurrect the mental copper shortly before witnessing police officer Kate Sullivan gets killed during an armed robbery. For some, largely unexplained, reason; Matt Cordell decides that he wants to make Kate his bride. It's not long before Sean McKinney (the hard-bitten detective from Maniac Cop 2) begins to suspect that Cordell may be back on the scene.One of the main problems with this film is the scenes with the maniac cop. There aren't enough of them for a start, and the ones there are merely show him powering his way through people, and this fails to capture the creepiness of the original. Robert Z'Dar is still imposing in the only role that his name is associated with; but his presence was much better handled in the previous two films. I quite like Robert Davi; he's no Bruce Campbell or Tom Atkins, but he looks the part as the experienced policeman, and definitely fits this sort of film well. The atmosphere is well created again, with a foreboding New York feel accompanying most of the street scenes; which is a shame since most of the film takes place in a hospital. The police force itself isn't portrayed very well, and there isn't a single scene that is really convincing. The film has a very direct to video feel throughout also, and no attempt is ever made to mask the fact that you're watching a worthless piece of crap. The violence is fairly heavy, although there isn't a lot of blood; and the final car chase goes on far too long, and manages to drain the last bit of energy from an already frail film. If you loved the first two, you might find something here. But then again, you might not. Skip it.
Paul Andrews
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence starts where Maniac Cop 2 (1990) ended with the funeral of the Maniac Cop himself Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar). However at the same time a Voodoo priest brings him back to life, with the aid of a little bit of black magic & a severed head. It's just another ordinary crime ridden night in New York as Officer Kate Sullivan (Gretchen Becker) responds to a pharmacy robbery where high on drugs junkie Frank Jessup (Jackie Earle Haley) is shooting dead any police that get anywhere near him, Kate manages to shoot Jessup but is shot herself by the crooked shop assistant who organised the robbery & badly injured but also manages to shoot & kill the assistant. Two freelance cameramen Bishop (Bobby Di Cicco) & Tribble (Frank Pesce) capture the incident on film & re-edit it so it appears that Kate shot two unarmed suspects hoping to cause controversy & make lots of money, her close friend Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi) sets out to clear her name. The Maniac Cop Matt Cordell takes an interest in Kate & starts to kill those wanting to switch off her life support...The third, & thus far the last, entry in the Maniac Cop series of films Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence was originally going to be directed by William Lustig but was completed by co-producer Joel Soisson after Lustig walked out, apparently even scriptwriter Larry Cohen voiced a dissatisfaction at how the film ended up. The truth of what actually happened behind the scenes may never be known but it makes you wonder, doesn't it? While parts of the film don't work as well as they could have I still think Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is a really good horror film. First the negative things, the film never really explains why the Voodoo priest guy brings Cordell back from the dead. He doesn't make Cordell do anything or try to control him so why bring him back? The ending is very silly, why does the seat Cordell is sitting in not catch fire? It's not made clear why Cordell takes such an interest in Kate, I think maybe because he sees much of what happened to him in her but the link is somewhat tenuous. Now the positive, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is well written, a bit different, witty, clever while it also tries to say things & in this regard it has a certain amount of success like city corruption, the importance of money over human life, biased edited for TV news coverage, an uncaring medical profession & the legal right's of a criminal over those of the innocent. It moves along at a nice pace, is never boring & entertains from start to finish.Director's Lustig & Soisson give the film a nice look & special mention goes to cinematographer Jacques Haitkin (who has worked on over 75 films) as Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence looks fabulous throughout, from the candle lit Voodoo rituals to the cold, clinical & sterile Hospital interiors this is one great looking, atmospheric & moody film. The gore was disappointing, I have no idea if the version I saw was uncut but apart from a severed head & it's headless body, a few gory gunshot wounds & someone with their face melted there isn't much to speak of. There is a really cool car chase at the end with a burning Matt Cordell behind the wheel of a police car trying to catch McKinney.Technically Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is very good, the stunts at the end are great, the photography is great, I really liked the music & it's generally well made. The acting is pretty strong by all involved & Caitlin Dulany as Dr. Fowler is a bit of a babe & easy on the eye's.I really liked Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, it lacks a bit of logic but it tries to raise a few issues & have some twisted fun with them. Not as good as the first two entry's but still a great film in it's own right, in my humble opinion. Definitely worth a watch.