RAGE AND HONOR belongs to an era of generally good low-budget fare starring Cynthia Rothrock, but it's far from being among her best work. Completists will be able to watch it secure in the knowledge that the Lady Dragon had yet to begin her cinematic descent, but aside from boasting some good production values and a strong cast, it's not anything special.
The story: When an Australian police officer (Richard Norton) becomes witness to a crime of corruption, he teams up with a martial arts-practicing schoolteacher (Rothrock) to secure a tape of the crime from the underworld entity who orchestrated it (Brian Thompson).
The above-average B-movie cast also includes Terri Treas as Thompson's cohort, Catherine Bach as the American police captain, Toshihiro Obata as the former's enforcer, and Alex Datcher as the eccentric leader of an all-women gang. They're directed by Terence Winkless, who has the honor of having directed more episodes of POWER RANGERS than any other filmmaker and does a pretty good job of maximizing his resources and making everything in this film look good, with the exception of a few unnecessary slow-motion shots. He also wrote the movie, and therefore deserves kudos for the surprising twist between Cynthia and Brian for and incorporating Norton's real-life experience as a "rock & roll bodyguard" into his character. He's also dealt negative points for not following up after establishing Thompson as an artsy John Woo-type villain: save for his silly mullet, he's a pretty boring bad guy.
The film's main falling point is its fights scenes, which it has eight of but only a couple which are actually worth watching. There's nothing very wrong with the choreography (highlights include Cynthia performing a somersault ax kick and turning a scorpion kick into a head-scissors), but the camera-work is restrictive and unflattering towards the action. The kicking cast also includes kickboxing legend Peter Cunningham but he has only one fight (of which he is not the star) before being knocked down a flight of stairs by a wino. The rematch between Cynthia and Richard Norton pales in comparison to their stellar bout in MAGIC CRYSTAL. The single standout fight belongs to Norton and Toshihiro Obata, who have a so-so initial bout but whose rematch steals the show, with the latter performing some nifty aikido moves before throwing Norton out a window.
As a whole, the action content ought to tide over casual viewers but won't impress fans of Rothrock and Norton who know what technical mastery they're capable of. The same can be said for the movie as a whole. It's a good Cynthia Rothrock flick, despite her being regularly overshadowed by Norton's character, but as is the case with most stuff from these guys, the film's strengths are balanced out by its deficiencies to provide an ultimately average outing. It's good, but it could have been so much more.
