FORTRESS 2 gets a lot of flak from a lot of people, but I think the criticism is unjustified. Sure, go into this film expecting CITIZEN KANE and you'll be disappointed. Go into this film expecting the same level of quality as the first FORTRESS movie offered and you'll be disappointed again. But there we go – sequels have always been subject to the law of diminishing returns and this film is no different. The cast are gone, apart from the lead actor; the story is a simple retread of the first film's, and there's less money all round which means the effects are worse and the film has an emptier feel to it as a whole.Despite these negatives, the film as a whole is fun for a B-movie. It's short, fast paced, and never runs out of steam. There's plenty of incident along the way and, while most of it is derived from similar stuff in the first film, it was fun to revisit a B-movie classic. Stuart Gordon did the first film and while nobody can match his gory take on the genre, Kiwi director Geoff Murphy directed one of my all-time favourites, UNDER SIEGE 2 and does a perfectly good job here. The CGI space effects are pretty cheesy but then that's the film's tone as a whole: you can't watch Lambert battle a guy with a flamethrower or get ejected into space only to fly back into the airlock and expect to take it seriously.As for Lambert himself, he puts in another sterling turn, one of his most likable yet. I've never not enjoyed this guy in a movie and I think he's seriously underrated. There's an interesting supporting cast here too. Brit Patrick Malahide is a bit subdued as the main bad guy – the trouble is, Kurtwood Smith did this stuff really well in the last film and Malahide doesn't have a chance to come close. But there are bit parts from engaging character actors. Pam Grier has an extremely weird extended cameo, and seems totally out of place; veteran nasty old guy Carl Chase is a prison thug; Nick Brimble, FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND's monster, is a fellow convict; Liz May Brice is a pretty prisoner whose lengthy shower scene – a running gag in the movie – is one of the highlights. Sure, it's not fine art, it's not even a great movie. But for a cheap sci-fi B-flick it never gets boring or too stupid, and I came away with a warm fuzzy feeling. So yeah, I liked it.

I think most people who regularly watch movies will be somewhat familiar with the (unofficial) genre of the "good bad film"; movies so bad, it makes them actually quite entertaining to watch for reasons entirely different from the intentions of the people who made them. I find it somewhat hard to determine though, whether or not I can consider "Fortress II" to be such a movie.Sure, all the ingredients for an unintentionally funny film are there: ludicrous script, bad acting, lousy effects, laughable dialogue and a gross neglect of even the most basic laws of physics (where did this space station's gravity come from, again?). Fortress II goes flat on its face at every turn which, in theory, should make it a blast. But for some reason I felt somewhat embarrassed rather than really amused while watching it.I still can't really tell for sure why I didn't like this film, even as a parody of itself. Maybe the actors just seemed a little too desperate as they struggled to "look cool" despite the meager story and amateurish dialogue, which actually made me feel a little bit sorry for them. Or perhaps it was because it was a bad film, but perhaps just not blatantly bad enough to be really, really funny. Or perhaps the problem was just simply the fact that it was broadcast on a Wednesday night in the middle of a working week, so my mind was still mostly on work-related issues. But whatever the reason, I didn't really enjoy this film in any way. I didn't think it was all that funny and I just can't possibly make myself think of it as a serious sci-fi/action flick either. All in all, I could advise you to perhaps take a look at this film when the chance happens to present itself (read: some network uses it as schedule filler while there's nothing else on). Maybe you'll be better able than I was, to appreciate the undeniable potential for unintentional comedy in this scholarly example of how not to make a movie. But under no circumstance waste your time and/or money purposely looking for it, buying it, renting it or even downloading it. Not even if you did like the first "Fortress". It's just not worth your trouble, not as a worthy sequel to the actually quite bearable first "Fortress" and not even as a "Plan 9 from Outer Space"-like dud.

Well well well, words simply can't describe just how s**t this film really is. tragic? hold on, i need a thesaurus. appalling, awful, bad, calamitous, dire, dreadful, grim, lamentable, painful, pathetic, pitiful, terrible, wretched.... and that's just a few. I totally didn't understand how they used the retarded guy to gain entry into the office. he remembered the tones of the numbers pressed, but surely a secure system would only have one tone for every key, it ain't no bloody telephone. some funny bits with the computer annoyingly naive computer system. and the nudity, well it always helps. and the stereotypical funny black dude who always swears was kinda funny, but that's only cos i like those kind of characters. and the bit with the cockroach going into the office, oh my... to think that woman was in jackie brown.....like the previous comment, she needs a new agent, not only a chat with her current one.one of those films worth seeing because it is just so bad!!!

I am a huge fan of Christopher Lambert. I've enjoyed some of his 'worst' films such as Mean Guns, Gunmen and The Sicilian. I loved Fortress to death and proudly have it in my DVD collection. As soon as I seen Fortress 2 in the Wal-Mart DVD bargain bin, I could not resist. I loved the original so much that I just HAD to have Fortress 2. Like most sequels, I was letdown. I loved Kurtwood Smith as the 'warden' in the original but the new guy...he just is no Kurtwood Smith. I just wish that Christopher Lambert would get better movie deals than this crap. This film was only $5...and it isn't worth much more. I now wish I would've rented it for 99 cents from the video store....2/10