We are dealing with an early Cynthia Rothrock vehicle that really kind of isn't. You see, Rothrock shot the film as her American film debut in 1985 but due to a heated discussion she and her boyfriend had with the producer of the picture the female action star decided to bail out of the project, leaving director Leo Fong (Fight to Win, Showdown) with an unfinished movie. The veteran martial artist and actor then finished the film without Rothrock, her role was filled in by actress De'Ann Power in a ninja costume.
According to an IMDB review, the work-print for the movie was resurrected in 1991, so most of the footage was shot 7 years after Cynthia Rothrock left the project. Because of this, the movie feels like three different films stitched together, not to the level of a Joseph Lai production, but it's a notable discordance.
Since action movies with female leads were taking off in the American market at this point in time there needed to be a proper implementation of the heroines into the typical models for such films. The best answer was to simply swap roles and maintain the overall structure. A very natural solution. In this case we see a revenge plot that instead of featuring a murdered wife features a murdered husband and the wife´s path to avenge her dead spouse. The premise is as old as the western movie days but it's all very modernized and brought to a grounded setting.
Harry Grady (Juan Chapa) is a witness that could take down a big crime organization led by White Powder Chan (Stack Pierce) but before he can talk he is shot down by Chan´s goons. Harry´s wife, Devon Grady (Cynthia Rothrock), was trained in martial arts by her husband and after fighting her attackers she flees, get´s into her black ninja suit and plans her revenge, embarking on a quest to murder all of the men involved in Harry´s killing.
This is one hell of a trashy joint, it's right out of the gate excessively melodramatic and one note. The first minutes present a weak introduction to our heroine, no real attempt at trying to properly introduce her personality or normal life before the inciting incident actually happens, the husband takes up a few of the opening minutes. There's also a lot of blunt exposition that's too direct and makes you realize this is gonna be one of those talky films that fill narrative gaps with lines of dialogue. Also, you can see boom mics and the shadow of the camera every now and then, adding to the ultra cheap trash aesthetic.
There´s no real narrative flow or cohesion and it's structured very haphazardly, it feels like scenes were thrown in at random places within the narrative. This is understandable due to the backstory behind the messy production, but even aside from the Rothrock sequences the film has a very disjointed feeling to it as it constantly changes location, characters and subplots rather abruptly and for no real reason other than you need the info the characters talk about to get what's going on. There are also some very reiterative flashbacks to things we saw less than 10 minutes ago just to hammer in the protagonist's motivation but it's quite unnecessary. Harry´s murder is also shown several times but each time with a new close up of the criminal Devon is going after next.
Having said that, the protagonist's quest to avenge her dead man is amusing at the very least. I love certain sequences like when she strangles a man with a cable, when she drops from the sky to stab a man with a sword, or when she forces a helicopter pilot at gunpoint to fly over a boat and proceeds to drop dynamite on it to blow it up. That's the kind of insanity we are dealing with.
Once the main character puts on the black ninja outfit then that's how you know the second actress came in, but luckily for us her scenes are not boring, the murders she commits add to the sleazy nature of the movie and, while out of place, they feel rather necessary for this type of movie. Some of these scenes don't even show the character herself! The heroine is sometimes off-screen while the victims of her wrath are shown getting shot at.
The fact that the movie constantly reuses the old Cynthia Rothrock scenes not only makes you think that they are there for padding but also to give the impression that Cynthia is in this movie far more than she actually is, considering that you can only see the character´s face at the beginning and at the very end. Cynthia only has two fights at the beginning and then she bails. There's also filler of all kinds, not only dull dialogue but also with singing.
We also have two cops who simply spout nonsensical dialogue, their scenes are considerably worse acted than the rest of the picture, they are not the weaker part of the film, that credit goes to a gang of youngsters wasting time in the streets. The performances, particularly Rothrock´s, are also hurt because of the distractingly obvious ADR.
The storyline is confusing and convoluted but without any impact, there´s zero emotional connection and the actual direction is bland and strictly functional, not visually arresting or interesting at any level. Even the fight scenes are kind of dry, you see very direct and monotone shootouts and static and tired fight sequences.
One can enjoy this one simply for its exploitation content, I can't say that the scenes involving Rothrock/Power aren't entertaining but you are gonna have to put up with some boring stretches to get there. Only for Rothrock hardcore fans and for those who want a really strange action flick. Because of all of this, 24 Hours to Midnight is the lowest rated and most disliked film Cynthia Rothrock starred in, not counting her non-action movies and her supporting roles.
Is it really the worst one? I can't say for sure, there's some I haven't seen yet but it is definitely the worst one in terms of pure quality that I have seen up to this point. A lot of its nonsensical attributes are accidental and you kind of have to give them credit for trying to come up with an interesting picture despite their production issues.
The film had no sequels and is not considered to be a mandatory Rothrock outing but it lived a healthy life in DVD and VHS. It's also somewhat infamous because it's one of Leo Fong's directorial credits, who also gained a certain cult following among trash action movie fans.
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