Undercover Brother 2 is a 2019 action comedy blaxploitation film directed by Leslie Small, starring Michael Jai White, Vince Swann, Barry Bostwick, Laila Odom, and Jeff Daniel Phillips. Sixteen years after a mission-gone-wrong put Undercover Brother into a lengthy coma, his little brother decides to finish the job they started by pursuing the leader of a racist, worldwide syndicate.

The story picks up with after the events of the first film in which Undercover Brother tracks The Man to his hideout in Austria. He, along with his brother, are frozen for 16 years during an avalanche. Undercover Brother’s young brother wakes up first and joins the Brotherhood to stop The Man’s new plan. That’s the story in a nutshell and honestly, it’s pretty ridiculous. The entire film basically picks at our current social climate of feminism, political correctness, identity politics, racism, sexism yet it feels contrived and over-the-top. There’s no meaning to it, nor does it seek to be informative. There’s literally no character development. Lionel comes off as a joke in his introduction and the film ends with him being that same joke. There’s this forced romance between Lionel and Honey that lacks any kind of buildup nor conclusion. The ending is anti-climatic with the obvious sequel baiting. (2 out of 5)

The characters are just ridiculous. Yes, they are character troupes but there could’ve been some level of depth given to them. Unfortunately, despite the title, Undercover Brother isn’t given much to do outside of monologing about the events of the story and social commentary about the social climate. The movie really follows Undercover Brother’s brother Lionel, who’s just trash. What could come off as humorous dialogue or a funny moment, he’s just stupid and over-the-top. There are scenes where he just does something stupid out of the blue for no reason. The supporting characters are just there and although they’re troupes (much like the first movie) they don’t really seem interesting in the slightest. (2 out of 5)

Michael Jai White is a decent actor but he does nothing for the character. Eddie Griffin gave the character personality and was fun, White just feels too serious. And also, he isn’t given much to the do. I don’t mind Vince Swann but his acting’s just out there. Other performances include Barry Bostwick (The Man), Laila Odom (Chief Honey), Melanie Loren (Unattainable Sistah), Gary Owen (Military Brother), Affion Crockett (Sarcastic Brother), and Brandon Hirsch (Harvard Brother). (2 out of 5)

The quality is decent but you can definitely see the poor production value. Many of the set pieces look poor and the locations are pretty laughable. The costumes are decent but lack any style or flare. The editing is just messy and very choppy. The action scenes are hurt by the shaky cam and lack of consistent shots. (2 out of 5)

The music isn’t bad. Actually, it’s probably the best part of the movie. It’s definitely got a bit of vibe but it’s not enough to make the movie any more enjoyable. In the end, by the end of the movie you’re probably not going to remember a thing. (2 out of 5)

Let’s talk about the writing and direction. The movie was directed by Leslie Small who’s had his hand in a lot comedies and stand ups. Sadly, it doesn’t show. The writing and setup is piss poor. What could’ve been great in terms of addressing social issues was poorly approached with off handed humor that comes off as campy, poorly executed, over-the-top, and just plain ridiculous. There’s nothing thought provoking about the movie’s message, if there is one. There’s one scene where two women raving at Lionel about women objectification who both just up and twerk on each other in front of him. Hell, the fact that the writing revealed The Man instead of keeping him this mysterious figure hurt the story. (1 out of 5)

In the end, Undercover Brother 2 is wasted potential all around. It’s the type of movie you and your friends get together to make fun of. Though I’ve tried not to compare the film to the first one the sequel is clearly inferior to the first. There’s hardly anything worthy of watching in this movie, though to be fair there are some funny moments here and there. The acting and characters are just forgettable, the comedy is poor and forced, the story is lacking, and the direction and writing is probably some of the worst I’ve seen this year. Undercover Brother 2 gets 2 out of 5.