Codename Viper

For reasons that I still can't figure out Kathleen Kinmont was absolutely essential to getting back a stolen microchip that if it fell into the wrong hands could lead to the downfall of the USA. She wants out of the terrorism game, but her real life husband Lorenzo Lamas of the CIA wants to drag her back in.

All Kinmont wants to do is raise her daughter, her daughter whose father is John Savage the terrorist who they think has the chip. He doesn't have it, but he sure wants it. Another group beat him to it.

For those who like their action films without too much strain on the brain this successor CIA II: Target Alexa is definitely for you. Lorenzo Lamas's fans will see him do his martial arts thing and Kinmont is pretty good herself. The one thing that this film really has going for it is female bodybuilder Lori Fetrick and Kinmont going at it. It's the ultimate in chick fighting.

But it ain't enough.

The first C.I.A. film was a hoot - an O. J. Simpson starring actioner filled with hard-hitting fight scenes - but this undistinguished sequel is a big step down. Gone is director Joseph Merhi, to be replaced by Lorenzo Lamas who can barely act let alone direct a sufficiently exciting action flick. What we're left with is the kind of film you end up forgetting about roughly five minutes after it finishes.

Kathleen Kinmont is back as the tough heroine, once more coerced by the government into fighting some nefarious bad guys in her quest for justice. Lamas is now long haired and mooches around in the background. The villains are an uninteresting bunch, aside from warrior woman Lori Fetrick, who gets to engage in some frenetic and hard-hitting bouts with Kinmont.

Elsewhere, the plot is a mess of explosions, grubby fight scenes, and general inanity. Say what you like about Merhi but the guy knows how to shoot tense and hard-hitting fight scenes which are all about the staging. The fights here are by comparison poor indeed, and nothing feels very exciting, just ho hum.

I don't get attached to that many action movies, and this isn't one of them, actually. One off-putting thing about it is a scene where a character gives a sort of "war whoop" while machine-gunning someone - what's weird is that it's one of the GOOD GUYS doing it. But one thing made me watch it. Like "Brad the Lad", I've always been mad about Lori "Ice" Fetrick. And as he says, she's very convincing in that villainous role (that smile of hers works in a role like that as much as any other way, and, needless to say, everything else about her). I just wish she'd gotten to wear the kind of skimpy clothes Kathleen Kinmont did in the previous movie. No offense to Lamas and Kinmont, but 5 stars for the movie, and 10 for her.

"CIA II: Target Alexa" is a typical low-grade action film with medium-grade fights, stunts and explosions. Which is about what you'd expect when the name Lorenzo Lamas (here as director AND star) is involved. Thankfully, Lamas is kind enough in this case to share the spotlight with two women, Kathleen Kinmont (the heroine) and Lori Fetrick (the villainess), who both have superb bodies: sweaty, muscular and fit. They even have two fights against each other, and even though Fetrick has an obvious strength advantage, Kinmont holds her own pretty well. If any of this sounds like your cup of tea (and it certainly is mine!), then you should check this film out. If not, then there is not much else to see here. (**)

Just don't be taken in by beautiful women. Security guards, computer programmers and the villain's henchmen all make this mistake and endure unpleasant repercussions. This is an action movie where the girls rule, with Kinmont impressing as a beautiful and resourceful undercover agent, while ex-hubby Lamas takes a back seat.

The plot is the usual sub-Bondian nonsense, with John Savage phoning in his performance as a routine bad guy, but the budget seems higher than average and the result is some well-staged mayhem. Alexa's first fight in a grocery store is a standout action sequence.