WFG RATING: B+

An M&M Film Productions production. Directed by Alan Delabie and Michael Morris. Produced by Monika Gergelova and Malcolm Winter. Written by Alan Delabie. Cinematography and edited by LH Chambat.

Stars Alan Delabie, Michael McKell, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Michael Morris, Shaina West, Mark Strange, Jo Price, Rochelle Ashana, Haskell V. Anderson, Natasha Killip, and Lee Arenberg.

“The Shepherd” Alex Lapierre is back and thrust into the world he once left in this far superior sequel to the original film.

After his final mission, Alex “The Shepherd” Lapierre has finally retired from his life as a hitman and is attempting a new life in Portugal. He has become the coach for an up-and-coming MMA fighter who is gearing for a major match but has decided to put a chance for love on the back burner. However, his shot at peace is about to take a turn for the worse.

Lewis, his former mentor and handler, has been kidnapped and taken to London. Alex must return and meet up with his best friend Matt Daniels. Together, they discover that Blake Dumont, the former leader of rival organization Widows, is responsible. They thought they had killed him five years ago, but he’s alive and out for revenge. With the help of enforcer Sanders, Alex must hatch a plan to rescue Lewis in order to finally get the peace he deserves.

2024’s The Shepherd Code was a typical low-budget action thriller that had its flaws, but was still watchable in a sense, helping continue Alan Delabie’s passion as a potential action hero. However, if there is one thing it’s about, that is if there is a follow-up, one would wonder, would it be as “so bad it’s good” like the original, or would it improve as a far superior follow-up. Safe to say, it falls into the latter.

Delabie improved in the acting department as we see him conflicted with his attempt at peace and the past coming back to haunt him. For the first half of the film, we see a juxtapositioning of present day and flashbacks to five years ago in Los Angeles, where Lapierre, mentor/handler Lewis, and fellow hitman Matt attempted to wipe out their rivals the Widows as they are seen as disrespectful in their profession. This leads to the setup of the plot, which involves Lewis’ kidnapping and Lapierre forced back into the fold to rescue him.

Don “The Dragon” Wilson reprises his role of Lewis and Michael Morris not only returns as Matt, but this time, Morris serves as co-director with Delabie. Even Jeff Langton returns as boxing trainer Jarrod in a flashback and Natasha Killip briefly returns as local waitress Rachel. However, Lapierre and Matt find themselves a new ally in the tough as nails Jessica, played by The Killer’s Game and Jade herself, Shaina West.

Michael McKell plays the villainous Blake Dumont, the Widows leader who was though to have died five years ago from a car bomb. McKell’s performance is sometimes laughable as he tends to come off as a Bond-like villain. However, like Silvio Simac in the original, we have a major martial arts villain in Dumont’s new enforcer Sanders, played by the powerhouse Mark Strange. Strange is made to play villains as he churns in a hell of a performance in and doesn’t have to just dial it in.

Delabie handed the fight choreography reins to Kiran Pande and in essence, it’s a good thing. The fights here are more polished, allowing Delabie to really show off his moves as well as a nice weapons fight with West dealing damage to some of the Widows. Mark Strange even gets to shine when he confronts Lapierre’s old MMA instructor and gets to take on Delabie and in a bold move, we get to see Wilson in action in two fight scenes, including a boxing sparring session with James Bennett, the star of Ireland’s first martial arts film, 1998’s Fatal Deviation.

The Shepherd Code: Road Back is a much polished and improved sequel that could be set to put the stamp on Alan Delabie’s status to action star status.

The film will be released in UK theaters on September 19 followed by a Digital release on October 9.