(6.00)This is the sequel to 2002's Undercover Brother, but can be enjoyed without seeing the prior movie.
This movie starts in 2003, right after the events in the previous movie. Undercover Brother (played this time by Michael Jai White) is still an agent for The Brotherhood, the secret organization fighting for black civil rights; he is sent to Austria to investigate a sighting of The Man (the enemy from the previous movie, who runs a secret white-supremacist organization). During the confrontation, Undercover Brother is surprised by the surprise assistance of his dog-grooming brother, Lionel (played by Vince Swann). In the first movie, The Man was never clearly seen; this time, they finally see him face-to-face (The Man is played by Barry Bostwick). The brothers are about to capture The Man, but he sets off an avalanche and escapes.
Skip forward to 2019: The brothers are discovered locked in ice. Undercover Brother is in a coma, but his brother Lionel is revived and looking for revenge against The Man! He convinces the new Organization head, Chief Honey (Laila Odom), to accept him as one of her agents.
As in the original movie, there's a team of Organization operatives: Harvard Brother (Brandon Hirsch), Sarcastic Brother (Affion Crockett), Unattainable Sister (Melanie Loren), and Military Brother (a white man who identifies as black, played by Gary Owen). Also playing a key role is The Man's son, Manson (played by Steven Lee Johnson).
Lionel returns to the hood to discover it's been gentrified, and the old Club Hood has been turned into a coffee shop. He quickly discovers that people in 2019 are super-sensitive and easily triggered.
For the Organization, Lionel is key – he's the only agent who can identify The Man. Can they stop his latest plot?
As a matter of continuity, Michael Jai White is nothing like the actor in the original movie, and he is playing a Shaft-type character more than a black James Bond. However, he is super fly. His role in the movie is small but crucial, so don't expect the movie to be about his character.
I also found it hard to buy Laila Odom as both 'the chief' and Lionel's love-interest. Having a female chief was a laudable goal, but combining that character with the girlfriend role undermined the opportunity.
Barry Bostwick pretty much steals the movie as the racist mastermind.
This movie is not as sanitized as the original. The Man is explicitly a white supremacist, supported by klansmen in hoods and Nazis with armbands. The Organization is not working for the "Black American way" but for civil rights. However, the situation is still played for laughs.
The script is funny, as Lionel's jump from 2003 to 2019 gives the opportunity to mock how 'woke' people are today. The racist bad guys are thoroughly mocked. The humor sometimes goes too far. Beating up an old man and almost setting him on fire isn't funny, even if he's a racist mastermind. Dragging a sex-doll around named Brenda was tasteless to me (but unleashing a squad of Brendas was quite funny!). A drug-crazed bad guy who shoots his followers when he loses control wasn't very funny.
Can you game it? Yes, see my comments on the first movie, but this time you can field klansmen and Nazis too.
There is some silly violence (heads exploding) and limited swearing. No nudity, but some intense kissing and butt-dancing. And sex-doll jokes.
If you liked the first movie, you'll probably like this one. There's more comedy this time, less action, and the secondary agents aren't featured as much this time (and nobody here is at the level of Dave Chappelle from the first movie).
I enjoyed the movie.