THE STORY: If I ever get around to making a list of "movie universe rules" one of them will be that in any American made martial arts flick there has to be a bar fight. Real bar fights suck. I got my ass kicked in one. (I was just an innocent bystander too, which really made it suck. I don't even know why the dude hit me!). But, a bar fight in a b-movie can either be silly, annoying or kind of cool in a violent kind of way. Well, this movie had its bar fight and it was kind of cool. But I'm going to feel that way regardless, because this movie stars Cynthia Rothrock.

Policewoman Christine McKay is having a really lousy day. While trying to bust up a counterfeit money operation her partner gets killed. Shortly after that while going after the originators of the crime her fiancée, who is also a cop, is murdered in cold blood by one of the ringleaders, a vicious female named Nina. So you can imagine that McKay is really pissed off. Her temper then gets her into trouble. After Nina's trial she attacks the woman in front of the courthouse causing a scene. Police Chief Goddard tells McKay to take a vacation, but McKay quits the force, more out of anger and frustration then any real trouble she may have caused herself. There's also another cop named Ostendorff that says sarcastic remarks to McKay in any scene he's in, like "Try not to get anyone else killed!" etc. At first I thought Ostendorff was just a loudmouth Jerk with a grudge against McKay but after awhile I realized that he had a purpose. Hs purpose was, of course to get his behind stomped later in the film by McKay. That's another rule of the movie universe. In order to truly be cliche a movie about a tough cop has to have another cop in it that can't stand the main character. Usually these characters are complete dick wads...they have to be so we'll cheer when they get their asses handed to them.

We've seen it before, but it was still interesting to see a woman in this position...McKay spends some time feeling herself and getting drunk in her trashed out mobile home. You know, just like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. (She even has a dog she talks to about her troubles.) Meanwhile, Nina breaks out of prison. A millionaire named Laughton Hobbs hires McKay as a bodyguard because Nina was a former girlfriend of his. He fears that she'll come after him for revenge. He refused to help her and hire a lawyer when she got into trouble.

Nina does come after him, and McKay protects him saving his life several times. Eventually McKay learns that the ringleader of the counterfeit ring was Hobb's estranged brother. Nina shot him earlier in the movie and left him for dead, but he's really alive and in a mental hospital. He hid the plates for the phony money and that's what Nina really wants. Nina believes that Hobbs has them. When Hobbs loyal butler, Clayton, is killed in one of Nina's attempts, Hobbs fires McKay...not because she's not good at the bodyguard thing, but because there's the prerequisite movie romance going on. Hobbs doesn't want McKay to be the next to die at Nina's hands. Goddard assigns Ostendorff to protect Hobbs, but McKay soon finds out that Ostendorff is helping Nina and rushes to the rescue for the fight to the finish.

Like most of Cynthia Rothrock's movies there are plotholes you can drive a U-Haul through, but this one was better than her other flicks.The plot is fairly consistent and the action is paced well so there aren't any boring parts. The fight scenes are the usual martial arts affairs, but they're choreographed well enough to not look stupid, even though I'd like to meet anyone who can take ten plus kicks to the head and not go into a coma. Cynthia Rothrock was McKay. Nina was played by Lydie Denier.

Best Lines: "You hit like a girl!"-  Ostendorff to McKay during their big fight.

"Thanks!"- Mckay's response to Ostendorff as she proceeds to whomp him. She hits like a girl maybe, but she takes a punch better than most men!

1.)  McKay's method of trying to stop two rival criminal gangs from shooting each other? She runs up beside them and fires her pistol into the air. Gosh, do ya think the sound of gunfire will make them drop their weapons and not fight? That was actually a stupid thing for McKay to do, but not as stupid as the baggy pants she's wearing! She looks like Charlie Chaplin's hot little sister!

2.)  Speaking or ridiculous clothes, Goddard has the prize for that sewn up. She wears the UGLIEST jacket I have ever seen. She looks like Beetlejuice! I'm not joking, my droogies, you have to see it to believe it.

3.)  When McKay is chasing Nina on a horse why doesn't she just shoot the horse? I don't know why people just don't shoot the ****ing horse!! Screw PETA. If a madwoman killed my wife or fiancée and my chance for revenge hinged on stopping their escape on a horse I'm capping the [unwrite]ing horse!

4.) McKay tries to escape a boat that's on a collision course with some rocks by grabbing a rope from a helicopter. I felt no tension because I would have just jumped into the freaking water!

5.)  Nina must have gotten into a really friendly prison. She's killed TWO cops in one night and the the cops didn't kick her ass back at the station house? Right.

NUDITY AND SEX:  None, but dammit, Cynthia is hot in that black party dress.

HUH? : At the end of the movie McKay makes the *ahem* request for a little noogie from Hobbs. Of course he accepts. I just find it interesting because if the roles were reversed...if Rothrock were a man...this would have been considered kind of sexist. The romance between McKay and Hobbs never really got off the ground floor, past mutual attraction. So really McKay is willing to sleep with a guy she just kind of likes. As I said, if she was a man no one would think twice...they'd just figure "The hero always gets to get laid.".

Ostendorff makes a lot of sexist remarks about women on the police force...to Goddard who is a woman and his boss! I'm suprised he wasn't walking a beat in the ghetto after that.

When McKay finds out that Nina has broken out of prison she calls Goddard and asks why she wasn't told. Goddard tells her "You're not a cop anymore! I don't have to tell you anything!". Fine. But when Goddard finds out that McKay is working for Hobbs she tells her "you let me know if you find out anything." If I were McKay I'd have said "Hey, I'm not a cop, anymore. I don't have to tell you jack...Eat [unwrite] and die, Mrs. Beetlejuice.".

THE FINAL JUDGEMENT:  While this movie isn't spectacular or anything its really enjoyable. Cynthia Rothrock isn't the best actress in the world, but she does well enough in this movie and she looks great in it. Man, I have to stop falling for women like her and Kate Bush since I know I'll probably NEVER meet them. Too bad. Cynthia's from my home state, too....