Badge of Silence is undoubtedly the worst of the Maniac Cop series. The title is cool, and some of the movie is pretty good, but overall, it feels quite dull and lacking in comparison to the tense, suspenseful first movie and it's balls-to-the-wall horror action sequel. I suppose it's best viewed as a mix of the two, but it's unfortunately not quite as good as that sounds.
For instance, the movie pulls in some good suspense moments, like a chase through an underground pipe system, and a fantastic closing chase segment, but generally these are quite tame and uneventful in comparison to the similar moments in the first two, and won't wring genuine scares out of you.
Again, some cool action segments are present, but they're few and far between, and most leave you wanting for a little more than they provide. For instance, an early sequence in which Cordell (the titular Maniac Cop) throws a man up in the air then shoots him several times on the way down was very exciting, but then nothing like that happens for the rest of the movie.
From the script and direction point of view, this movie is pretty interesting, involving a blacklisted cop in a coma that Cordell is trying to clear by killing everyone involved in her framing, and a lot of similar cop-thriller style direction from Lustig, but the movie just lacks any real spark.
Don't get me wrong, Badge of Silence is still a reasonably fun watch. The dialogue is as snappy, well delivered and sarky as we've come to expect from the series, and Cordell is still quite an impressive presence thanks to the excellent Robert Z'Dar, but it just lacks oomph this time round. I can kind of see why it trailed off and they never made a fourth outing despite this movie's open ending.
For instance, the movie pulls in some good suspense moments, like a chase through an underground pipe system, and a fantastic closing chase segment, but generally these are quite tame and uneventful in comparison to the similar moments in the first two, and won't wring genuine scares out of you.
Again, some cool action segments are present, but they're few and far between, and most leave you wanting for a little more than they provide. For instance, an early sequence in which Cordell (the titular Maniac Cop) throws a man up in the air then shoots him several times on the way down was very exciting, but then nothing like that happens for the rest of the movie.
From the script and direction point of view, this movie is pretty interesting, involving a blacklisted cop in a coma that Cordell is trying to clear by killing everyone involved in her framing, and a lot of similar cop-thriller style direction from Lustig, but the movie just lacks any real spark.
Don't get me wrong, Badge of Silence is still a reasonably fun watch. The dialogue is as snappy, well delivered and sarky as we've come to expect from the series, and Cordell is still quite an impressive presence thanks to the excellent Robert Z'Dar, but it just lacks oomph this time round. I can kind of see why it trailed off and they never made a fourth outing despite this movie's open ending.