Martial Law (1990) Movie Review

Martial Law is a crime action movie from 1990 directed by Steve Cohen and starring Chad McQueen, Cynthia Rothrock and David Carradine. It was a Image Organization production and was shot back-to-back with its sequel Martial Law II: Undercover from 1991.

Sean Thompson (McQueen) and Billie Blake (Rothrock) are two police officers and martial artists who use their fist to stop crime. They must investigate a cartel boss, played by David Carradine, who is also skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

After all these years, my big issue with the movie still stands: it's incredibly stale. It's not that the film is horribly made or conceptualized, but its cliches and tiresome tropes are a recipe for boredom. There's nothing particularly clever, inventive or lively about it that could potentially make it fun. It lacks the dynamism present in the usual Hong Kong martial arts efforts and its main storyline is far from interesting or engaging, which means that a lot of the time the film drags.

Cynthia Rothrock is typically adept at fight choreographies and brings some needed entertainment into the thing, but she isn't given much to do and her screen time/plot relevance is reduced to the bare minimum that's necessary for her to appear on the poster. Carradine also brings enough entertainment value to make his scenes worthwhile.

To the film's credit, there's nothing about it that's incompetent, it's just ordinary in its execution and construction. However, there are some standout moments like the brawls and the director manages to include some nice shots here and there but much of the film follows pedestrian detective procedure and lots of exposition scenes.

It's only recommended for action movie buffs but you probably already saw it if you are one. Not a favorite but skip to the Rothrock sequences for some nice fights.

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) Movie Review

Love Lies Bleeding is a neo noir crime drama released in 2024 and directed by Rose Glass. It stars the divisive Kristen Stewart and the action girl newcomer Katy O'Brian, alongside Ed Harris and Jana Malone.

Its trailer shocked and surprised people who thought that low budget indie crime thrillers were not being made anymore, at least not with enough refreshing elements to create enough noise and anticipation. The film also promised another relatively mainstream lesbian relationship that shatters conventions, Bound (1996) being the last previous film of its kind to do it to this scale. 

Did it deliver? Let's see.

In 1989, gym manager Lou (Stewart) meets beefy bombshell Jackie (O’Brian), who has been travelling in order to win a bodybuilding contest. They begin to date and their relationship and personal issues intertwine with the criminal organization run by Lou's father.

Unusually grungy, dirty and stylish neo-noir oddity, composed of corporeal obsession and savage impulses of sex and violence, love and hate. Love Lies Bleeding is a recent watchable outing in the alternative cinema field the Hollywood system has provided over the years, offering a very crude and somewhat delirious story that might puzzle some. Similar to Bound in many respects but increasing the extravagant elements of the story and adapting it for modern audiences.

Stewart actually works her way out of her typical blandness, to be fair, I think her method is fine in certain films and the disheveled, depressed, unemotional character she interprets here plays to her strengths. That's not to say she is dull, she delivers more nuanced emotions than in her usual roles, while still managing to stick to her understated style. Katy O’Brian has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw her work at Lucasfilm and Marvel, so I am glad they are able to use her more extensively here. Katy has great chemistry with Stewart and both are not only a cute couple but also create an interesting contrast in many ways.

Carefully controlled compositions, elaborate camera work, impressive production design and some good looking cinematography decorate this thrilling storyline and fluidly express the intended emotion/tone of each and every scene. The filmmaking is top notch by itself but the flaws are present and somewhat prominent. For example, the film drags during its middle part, it has the stereotypical and misguided representation of abusive relationships Hollywood uses (I can excuse it here because it's thematically important, speaking about family and people who you love but also hurt you) and the surreal scenes are somewhat useless or just odd without much weight to them overall.

It's a solid movie but hardly one that's unskippable. I think it's decently executed, the technique is more than competent and the premise was intriguing but it ran out of fuel and wasn't as hard hitting in it's emotional aspect or plot points/revelations as it should have been. A good time but it’s perhaps not a masterpiece. It also features female bodybuilder representation and lesbian themes done in a very organic manner.

Prince of the Sun (1990) Movie Review

Prince of the Sun is a fantasy/martial arts movie directed by Wellson Chin (Super Lady Cop, Inspectors Wear Skirts and its sequels) and Shan Hua (Super Inframan) starring Conan Lee (Mulan), Pak Lam Cheng, Sheila Chan (Outlaw Brothers, Madam City Hunter) and Cynthia Rothrock. Funny story, the filmmakers were so caught up in doing comedic scenarios for Sheila and Conan that they forgot almost completely about Cynthia Rothrock, who was about to leave, so they quickly decided to shoot her scenes in a hurry. You can tell by watching this flick.

In this film, martial arts master Bencheuk (Rothrock) is tasked with protecting a little boy who will claim the throne as the Prince of the Sun, a reincarnation of Buddah, who is escaping the wrath of evil monks along with a thief.

We are dealing with a typical cheapo martial arts production with a dose of adventure and comedy thrown in. Cynthia is mostly secondary, all of her scenes are so discordant and look so different from the rest of the film that you can tell she was sidelined, she barely interacts with the main characters and her sequences feel intrusive, once she does interact with them (during the third act) things get better and more exciting but there's a very long stretch in the middle where she is totally absent.

Overly talky, sluggish in its pace and often recurring to silly slapstick and goofy jokes only suitable for children's films, the film doesn't achieve many comedic highlights, at least not intentionally (the scene with the fake kid on Rothrock as she fights is hilarious). Some jokes land, a lot of them don't. It's certainly not a very notable, different or original entry in Rothrock's filmography (or in the adventure martial arts genre), but her scenes are interesting because she directly interacts with a fantasy storyline involving buddha and stuff, I can't say I have seen that before with her.

The choreographies are well executed, they do their job but I must admit that they are routinary and do mostly what's expected. Nothing more, nothing less. If you came for the cool fights and nothing else, can't say you are gonna be cheated.