Sequels, by virtue of their less than stellar track record, make most film fans nervous or feeling dubious. This emotion is doubly so when it takes 17 years for the sequel to come out. Such is the case with Undercover Brother. The first one, starring Denise Richards, Chris Kattan, Dave Chappelle and Eddie Griffin, was released in 2002. Of course, the cast is completely different this time around with Michael Jai White, Barry Bostwick and Vince Swann jumping on board.
The premise is not a complex one. It is basically a farce of action/spy films. With the jokes coming in fast and furious like. Also, because the lead characters are African-American there are more than a couple racial gags. Here new director Leslie Small and screenwriters Ian Edwards and Stephan Mazur do not go about reinventing the wheel.
While the first one had merits – like it was pretty funny – this one most certainly falls into the straight to video category. Don’t expect much more than that quality, folks. It is definitely low budget. Let the Blacksploitation farce begin.
Sixteen years later the deep freeze the brothers were iced in has thawed and they are back out in the real world. Or at least one of them is as Undercover Brother (played by Micahel Jai White) is in a coma. So this leaves his younger and less cool brother Lionel (played by Vince Swann) to work the case against The Organization and its leader The Man (played by Barry Bostwick) alone.
Well, not quite alone as previous foe The Brotherhood helping him out along with…strangely enough…a vision of his older brother helping him out. Stumbling blocks are not only the evil and slippery enemy, but the fact that times have changed and Lionel has not really. “Wokeness” will trip him up constantly.
