Following his extended break in San Diego, Hunter has accepted the offer of a move and now works robbery/homicide with Dee Dee McCall, who has switched roles following the loss of her fiancé. When Hunter learns that a murderer (Randall Skags) he thought had been given a death penalty, he is obviously pretty annoyed but, before he and McCall have time to launch on a rightwing rant about liberal parole boards they are called to a bank robbery. They lose the gang in the mall but get enough to find out they are dealing with a crew of four young women. While this investigation continues, Skags starts killing his way across San Diego in an attempt to draw out Hunter and take deadly revenge on him.
As if proof was needed that I have too much spare time on my hands, I decided to give Hunter another go on a wet Sunday evening even though the previous movie had been nothing special. Now that all the characters have been re-established from "Return to Justice" the plot has more of a freehand to carry on as if nothing happened so I had hoped this would make it flow a bit easier. In a way it does but this doesn't meant that the plots are that good. The main thrust is actually about the bank robberies and is dragged out for so long with the twist that one of the suspects is in jail already. This is so-so stuff that didn't really engage me that well. Without a strong and urgent narrative the toughness is very superficial and, although it distracts on this level, it doesn't do much else.
The other thread sees Skags sort of drifting in the background and his part doesn't mean a great deal. It gets tiresome after a while because you quickly realise that he is being kept for a strong finish. Neither plot is strong enough to fill the film but what surprised me was how half-baked the film was even with the two of them. Attempts to dove-tail one into the other towards the end is clumsy and too little too late. The action count is low and the bagginess of the plot means the inherent toughness of Hunter's approach is for naught.
In fact, apart from one early bit of a moan about Skags getting released there isn't much that makes Hunter Hunter in this film. Dryer continues to grimace and squint his way across San Diego but really he has no character to speak of. I'm not sure why they made such a personal aspect to the plot but then did nothing of interest with it in regards Hunter himself. Despite this Dryer is good enough for this level of material. Kramer is better than the last movie because she actually fits into the story this time round and she seems more natural leading on the "bank robbery" aspect. Cummins is a strange villain I was never sure if I was suppose to hate him or sympathise with him. His late scenes suggests he was trying to find depth but he can't do it and, if he was, the film generally doesn't share his interest.
Overall this is a basic cop TV movie that is a bit of a mess but might satisfy those with very low expectations. Waste potential is all around the film as two plot threads are dumped on the screen and not a great deal is done with them. Serviceable but nothing more than that.
