Rage and Honor (1992) Movie Review

Rage and Honor is an American action crime martial arts film written and directed by Terence H. Winkless. It stars the DTV action movie team up Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton, along with Terri Treas, Brian Thompson and Catherine Bach as a police chief. Interestingly enough, with this film Rothrock would start becoming an associate producer in a lot of her following films.

Schoolteacher and martial arts teacher Kris Fairfield (Rothrock) joins forces with justice-seeker policeman Preston Michaels (Norton) in order to eliminate a dangerous and powerful drug lord after a student gets murdered by the criminal gang.

The lack of Rothrock in favor of more protagonism for Norton is kind of what keeps this one from coming alive, especially at a time when Rothrock could carry a film by herself. However, the two do have some nice quips and their overall chemistry is endearing. Their moves are just as phenomenal as in other films, their fighting skills are top notch and the choreographies in this particular film are nothing short of competent and well done.  Unfortunately, the entire production is a very by-the-numbers affair, ending up as a very standard DTV product with little variety or changes.

Some stylistic flourishes are present, such as the handheld videocamera shots from the opening, which relate to a character in the movie, but not much is done with this device and when the character is practically out of the movie it just disappears. The rest is a very formulaic plot executed appropriately, only slightly memorable because of some peculiar scenes, like the alley fight with the female gang members, the slow motion sequence and the scene where Rothrock has to battle Norton. The climax is a bit underwhelming and the storyline isn't as engaging as other films of this kind but it's enjoyable as a beat 'em up flick.

Recommended for Rothrock completists and fans of cheesy action films from this era.

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.

Lady Reporter (1989) [Blonde Fury] Movie Review

It might have taken a while but this is actually Cynthia Rothrock's first starring role. Yeah, even if she was a relatively big name in the industry, this is the first movie that features her carrying the storyline, the protagonist. Something that seems strange considering how relevant and how much of a highlight her appearances were in previous movies. Technically, 24 Hours to Midnight from 1985 was supposed to be her first starring role but production issues kept that from happening. 

At any rate, the success and quality of today’s film showed that she could lead a feature film.

Lady Reporter (also known as Blonde Fury, Born to Fight, Above the Law II: The Blonde Fury and Righting Wrongs II) was released in 1989 and was directed by stuntman Hoi Mang, he is known for his work in movies like Yes, Madam! (1985), Royal Warriors (1986), Righting Wrongs (1986) and She Shoots Straight (1990). Mang was also an actor and appeared in Enter the Dragon (1973), Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) and The Stunt Woman (1996).

In this film, Cindy (Rothrock) is an FBI agent who meets with her college friend Judy Yu (Elizabeth Lee) in Hong Kong in order to investigate a counterfeit ring run by a powerful newspaper director. 

While not too dissimilar from other Hong Kong action movies, we do have an entertaining addition to the genre. The fights are undeniably dynamic, we have less shootouts but more martial arts hand-to-hand combats than usual. Elements found in the environments are also used more often here in the fight choreographies than in other action films of this kind. A lot of great stunts, shot in wide shots and slow motion, which give you a good look at the work these stuntmen and performers do.

For once, the subplot in one of these movies is pretty decent, and unlike some other Hong Kong action films, you actually do care about every single character, they grow on you. The silly comedy helps to give us more sides of them and conveys their personality quite well. The gags hit a lot more and harder than in some other outings in the genre. The story may come off as a bit awkwardly structured for some, but it's fairly straight for a film of this kind, the disjointed nature of them is always interesting anyways.

Rothrock is just as charming and skillful as ever, always with a good attitude, this specific character she plays here is quite joyful, always smiling and breezing through challenging situations. Her skills are once again wonderful and put to good use in this film. 

Beyond just having people fight, the movie actually focuses more on the set pieces and always tries to give you something interesting and creative to delight yourself with the action sequences. The ending set-piece is quite imaginative and well executed as well. Not a typical climax but with a very average, but likable, ending. It helps that the film was directed by a stuntman, who managed to successfully integrate himself into the girls with guns genre with this impressive entry. Too bad he only directed one other movie, he could have had a longer career.

Totally recommended for every martial arts movie fan, even if the film is lighter than usual, you will get a lot out of it. A fun and highly hilarious 80 minutes for everyone.