Terminator Woman

Terminator Woman is hilarious, obviously for all the wrong reasons!

There is no terminator, but there is a woman. In fact, a few. But the one in question is co-star Karen Shepard who looks fantastic in her action scenes, and isn't the worst actor in the bunch.

In fact, everyone kinda passes the acting bench okay. Typically mid 90's dress sense, lifestyle and humour makes for more than a few unintentional laughs though, but that just ads to the charm!

Shot in South Africa, cops on holiday, Karen Shepard and super kicker Jerry Trimble are soon brought into the action against super bad ass and director Michael Qissi. This in turn leads to some fantastic fight scenes, some of which are probably both of their best and are fun to watch.

Terminator Woman may not be a classic, but for fight fans or that of the stars, its worth a place in anyone's collection!

Police sergeants Jerry Trimble and Karen Sheperd track down chief villain Michel Qisi and engage in martial arts against various baddies in this movie.

There are lots of dumb sequences, like Ms Sheperd leisurely descending a rope ladder from a helicopter for her big final fight with Myra Bolo; Ms Bolo doesn't seem to notice any of this until Ms Sheperd in on deck. Otherwise, barring the lead role of Ms Sheperd, this seems to be a standard and otherwise unremarkable martial arts film. Ms Sheperd was rated #1 Women's Black Belt Forms Champion for the "Karate Illustrated" ratings in 1979 and 1980. She parlayed this into a movie career for ten years. She has appeared in movies and TV subsequently, and on the stage.

Bickering California cops Jay Handlin (ex-kickboxing champ Jerry Trimble) and Julie A. Parish (ex-karate champ Karen Sheperd) have to escort a witness back to South Africa because he knows the hidden location of a gold stash belonging to crime boss Alex Gatelee (Michel Qissi, who also directs). Why do these two cops dislike each other? Seems Jay handed Julie her ass in a mixed karate finals a few years back. Really. So when Julie is kidnapped by Gatelee's men, Jay kinda starts looking for her to save her. Don't get your hopes up (like I did) and think you are going to get a robotic woman kicking ass in this a la LADY TERMINATOR (1989). Julie just happens to be a lady who terminates with no cyborg connotations to be had. Aw shucks. Believe it or not, this is the first leading role vehicle I've seen for both Trimble and Sheperd. Both of them are quite good at what they do (kicking, punching, doing the splits) and aren't as stiff as some of their contemporaries. Trimble kind of looks like an Estevez/Michael Douglas hybrid, but he throws some pretty amazing kicks that put him on the level of someone like Hwang Jang Lee. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the film is that debuting director Qissi - better known as KICKBOXER's Tong Po - knows how to shoot some effective fight scenes. I guess all the time spent hanging out with Van Damme paid off. He does have a bit more trouble in the plot dynamics as Jay doesn't really seem to be looking too hard for his missing partner and is absolutely no help in her escape at the end. He does kick Gatelee onto a stalagmite though.

Not a bad martial arts film. Fight scenes were good. Michel Qissi did a good job directing his first film without Van Damme. Story worked without foul language and too much blood. Screenwriter Jeanette Francessca has a good line to the story that works. IT would be great to see something else from her in the same genre. She likes the art and having strong women promenant. IT was definitely worth watching. I recommend the film to all drama and martial arts lovers.

It's been too long since I have watched Terminator Woman until today. I am kinda feeling little sorry for myself (I've been given a few days off from work) because I fractured my wrist in sparring while doing martial arts the other night but this little gem managed to keep me entertained as I'm waiting for the pain killers to kick in.

I have a feeling the previous reviewers who had bad things to say about this movie don't like other films of this genre...I love them.

In Terminator Woman we have plenty of martial arts action. Jerry Trimble Jr and Karen Sheperd make an awesome team together. I give this 10 out of 10 because the movie involves many great fight scenes, yes the acting is really bad but if you are like me and can watch a movie for the fun side of it, then I am sure you can enjoy this nice little martial arts gem from the good old day as long as you don't take the movie too seriously.