Trancers II

 The Return of Jack Deth

It came to my mind as I was watching the sequel to Trancers that you can have the lowest of budgets, not be able to afford the effects and such you would love to have available to accompany a grand vision in script, and must unfortunately deal with the lack of funds at your disposal the best ways possible, but if the film has a cast with a genuine chemistry and some really fun characters that are reasonably developed, it can work wonders.
***

I imagine a lot of Helen Hunt fans snarl their noses at the Trancers films she was a part of since they are B-movie sci-fi flicks not considered of particular value/quality when compared to her mainstream Hollywood Oscar bait work. I love to look back at this period and see how well she performs alongside Tim Thomerson as his girlfriend/wife in the first few films. It is just there; they really have these wonderful moments and, to reiterate, chemistry that is authentic on screen. I think it is important in any film depicting a couple, contending with life-threatening difficulties and complex issues involving mind-controlled minions--led by a sociopathic cult leader seeking universal power-- trying to kill the descendent of a leader on a counsel in the future, that they have a semblance of unity and integral love that allows them to deal with all that comes at them. When Jack Deth makes the decision to send his former wife “down the line” so he can remain with the woman he truly loves, forsaking a prestigious “seat on the counsel”, it isn’t surprising because Hunt and Thomerson convince us that they’re love and affection for each other is worthy of such sacrifices.

I really felt as I watching Trancers II that director Charles Band was inspired, even though his style is to shoot faces with the actors talking directly to the camera as if to us. I’m not a fan of this technique, as I enjoy seeing the characters converse with each other, not with me. This technique does expect the cast to deliver the appropriate performances when their characters are conversing about or going through any given situation. Still, I was curious as to why Band didn’t want to shoot a small distance with the characters in conversation all in frame; perhaps, this was just Band’s preferred method of directing his cast. I always felt, though, that Band had a particular fondness for the Trancers franchise.

Out of his series, I think the Trancers films were soundly built and almost always well cast (at least, especially, the first three). Band was able to load this sequel with a heavy cast of great faces. Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Megan Ward, Telma Hopkins, Jeffrey Combs, Martine Beswick, and Richard Lynch. I wouldn’t want to leave off the delightful Biff Manard as the protected former baseball pro, Hap Ashby, whose life is importantly vital to the future of America. Art La Fleur doesn’t have a huge part but makes the most of his time in the film. He remains in the future, under a deep sleep as his “spirit” travels through time into a more adult female of his descendent in the past. Band had connections with a lot of B-movie talent willing to work in his minuscule-budgeted Full Moon productions.

I don’t think Megan Ward has ever been more beautiful. What a difference a year makes as she was such a teenage kid in Crash & Burn and seems to have blossomed into a lovely woman. I think you see why her re-emergence into Jack Deth’s life causes a bit of friction and discomfort. Her character is the monkey wrench that disrupts the harmony of a strong marriage between Hunt and Thomerson. That’s part of what I think is the true strength of this sequel. Imagine you believe your soldier husband is dead while oversees. You remarry and move on with your life. Then, he returns and you’re stuck in a fix.

That’s basically the gist of Jack Deth’s problem here. His wife was presumed dead (she was actually, dying in Jack’s arms), returning to his life during a current Trancer conflict with cult leader (and brother of Whistler from the previous film) Richard Lynch. He’s married to Hunt, they are contemplating the purchase of their own home (he currently resides with Hap, who he still feels emboldened to protect from what he considers a looming Trancer attack on the horizon (although it had been six years since any threat of the Trancers)), and the two are as in love as ever before. Ward didn’t purposely try to infiltrate his happiness, but she was once the love of Deth’s life. The whole love triangle storyline is given much credence and purpose; this could very well be the structural integrity of a film held together with sticks and mud.

Lynch uses Green World as a front to indoctrinate and mind-control inmates, from state asylums or derelicts with no real place in society, into a supposed Trancer army. Prior to her death, Ward’s Alice is commissioned by the future Council to travel in the past to assist in the dissolution of Lynch’s master plan. Deth certainly plans to halt such an endgame: a Trancer hunter to the end, he’ll not fail to hunt and kill Trancers. Can his beloved Lena (Hunt) handle the sudden return of Alice, though? Can Jack keep Lena and Hap alive while dealing with the Trancer threat? We see that Alice does pretty well taking care of herself…you see why Jack fell in love with her. She’s a brave one, that girl.

We see how Alice is inside the Green World institution, looking for a certain watch that has a “tap back switch” used to “call” a TLC chamber (a two-seat travel vehicle sent from the future into the past and vice versa) to its location. It’s like a beacon of sorts. Here’s what is interesting about Alice. The “consciousness” of Alice was “sent down the line” into the body of a young woman in the form of Megan Ward. Right before Alice was killed, a “technician” from the future made sure to “rescue” her. It was to send her to 1991 to use the tap back switch to bring the TLC chamber to its location so Jack Deth could return to where he belongs, in the current body he lives, his old future body now “unfit” to return in. I got a good giggle at the fact that Alice was sent into the body of a loony in the Green World institution. Kind of a bit of a pickle, her predicament, trying to keep from suffering harm as Beswick might concoct some way to put her to death. A nuisance not worthy of tolerating; her attempts of escape can be seen as insubordination. A lot of convoluted plot for such a small, itty bitty sci-fi film. I applaud the efforts of those involved in this sequel. They thought big and did the best they could with they had.

Don’t worry, ladies…they’re biodegradable.

What would these films be without Thomerson, though? He’s definitely the glue, the adhesive that holds even the tiniest of Trancers films together. He’s so smoothly in control of and comfortable with this Jack Deth character. It’s like Kurt Russell with Snake Plisskin; Thomerson has an effortless charisma and cool. He owns the screen without having to work too hard to get our attention. This film plays up his resistance to technology (Hunt is always ribbing him about not embracing the computer; she is wholly in favor of technology), and his falling prey to humans invaded by Trancers, having to depend on the “slow motion watch” in order to evade catastrophe. With a pair of shades, trenchcoat, and always-lit cigarette, Deth is right out of a detective magazine or noir—even though from the future, he’s as hard-boiled as those Raymond Chandler types.

Alyson Croft has a grand ole time sending up Art La Fleur’s McNulty; mimicking his mannerisms, chauvinistic tendencies, penchant for talking aggressively, and taking to a cigar, Croft embodies a man’s man. I thought she was fun to watch. I love how she spars with Thomerson over helping him “singe” Trancers and go on the offensive against Wardo’s “Trancer farm”.

Green World, as used by Lynch’s Wardo, is supposedly an ecological company dedicated to organic substances to help the environment. This is the kind of front needed to keep his master plan under wraps. It allows him to look saintly when taking bums and loonies from their current entrapments, under the guise that through his company they can be put to good use and actually benefit the world, only to instead mentally influence them into following him into the abyss.

How many crazy people you know making $63 dollars a week?

Sonny Carl Davis is a flat hoot as a certifiable loon working as an orderly with a smile that hints at how “off” he is. He is constantly making mistakes that irritate Beswick and company, until the point where he is to be inducted into the Trancer farm himself, from orderly to patient. He resists and when Lena was kidnapped by Wardo’s goons, actually helps her inadvertently. Alice tries to convince him to do this or do that and, for the most part, Davis’ “Rabbit” doesn’t adhere to her requests or manipulation (allowing her to get the watch or escape before being drugged). When Rabbit accidentally destroys some of Wardo’s organic plants (containing a drug that was sent through from the future to 1991), that seals his fate.

McNulty, the next time someone hands you an exploding ham, I’m going to pass the mustard.

The film has quite a soap opera and a bundle of problems Deth must untangle. He can’t help but smooch some with Alice, which just (rightfully so) infuriates Lena. Alice tells Lena she’s in the way, and Jack needs to be able to concentrate on the task at hand without worrying for her well being. Hap’s taken to the sauce again, concerned that his death is imminent. Deth knows that once Alice’s mission is over, and she returns to her future, she’s to die as fate has prepared. The two-seat TLC chamber must have Wardo inside to be taken back to the future where he belongs in prison, but Alice only knows its location in the barn. Lena drives off, leaving a note telling Jack she’s removing herself from the equation so he can focus on Alice and the mission. Jack’s pressured by all of this but tries, not without a bit of aggravation and frustration, to get his head in the game despite Hap running off somewhere to get wasted, Lena’s leaving, and the knowledge that Alice will be dead in 24 hours…a lot on this guy’s plate.

Ultimately, some of names in the cast just don’t have a lot to do. Combs and Beswick both have the look of comic book villains operating under the orders of their leader, Wardo. But besides looking like a villain, Combs is totally in the background, subservient to Lynch and Beswick. He’s the third lieutenant who obeys his master, but besides taking orders he just looks evil. There’s not much else for him to do.

Barbara Crampton is the host of a television show, questioning Wardo’s farm and the rumor mill surrounding it. She looks beautiful for the seconds she appears, but it is merely a forgettable cameo that does nothing that leaves any sort of impression. A shame. I’m not sure why she never quite factored in any of the films much under Band’s production company (besides Robot Wars) besides Castle Freak (even this part is basic, disgruntled wife to Combs’ misstepping husband) but with minor bits in Puppet Master and in Trancers II, Crampton isn’t an actress with any significance to the actual plot itself. It was like she was doing Band a favor (or maybe it was Band offering to throw a little cash her way just to get her name in the credits) by showing up in his films from time to time. I guess, if looking at her work for Band, that Robot Wars was her major contribution to a Full Moon type product.

Band allows for plenty of exploding squibs and shootouts, with Deth and gang killing plenty of Trancers. Deth using a pitchfork on Lynch was a decent spot. But seeing Ward shooting a gun was hilarious; she doesn’t exactly fire that gun with authority; her grip not good.

I take away from the film, primarily, the unique situations plaguing Jack, and how he deals with each dilemma was a lot of fun to me. I enjoyed Trancers II quite a bit, although it has quite a loaded plot. Lots going on. Probably keeps Deth busy unlike any other Trancers film.

It was the last significant Trancers film for Hunt, and the ending is a nice, warm close with Deth and Lena in a romantic embrace, having bought a house and joyous about a future together. Too bad, the series would not allow for such a happy ending. Still, it was an ending that lovingly treats our couple with kid gloves. What Deth does for Alice is also a nice touch that proves just how he can salvage a messy set of circumstances and find a way out for the other woman he cares so strongly for. Again, performers that really work well together can lift a film higher than it might if not as well cast. The principles deliver.