Sworn to Justice

Vigilante martial arts & sci-fi film. Professional woman is attacked by burglars, which causes her to somehow acquire psychic powers. She uses her new powers to become a vigilante by night while being a forensic prosecution witness by day. Not exactly plausible, but okay if you like sci-fi martial arts action with Cynthia Rothrock kicking ass. Mild (tasteful) topless Rothrock love scene thrown in, perhaps to balance chop suey with her feminine side.

A bit of an oddball mix of cringy corny acting, broody seriousness, goofy slapstick, violence, courtroom drama and martial art street fights. Cynthia brings her usual badass sexual on-screen presence, which just about carries her wooden acting. The soundtrack is out of place and the psychic stuff is just lazy nonsense. Entertaining enough if you like your 90s action with a female flavour.

There is a weirdly innocent quality to this violent film about vigilante justice.

I really enjoyed Cynthia Rothrock in this role. This movie has everything! It's got the fight scenes, romance, goofy villans, courtroom drama, supernatural elements, some comedy, and a lot of bad hair.

No one is winning any awards for acting, and there's a real made for TV quality to the whole thing. I enjoyed the shifts between bubbly happy psychologist and killer vigilante though I'm not sure that was an intentional choice on behalf of the film makers. It definitely indicates that our protagonist is a complete sociopath, which I found entertaining, but again, can't be sure that was their intent.

This movie probably is not as good as my review but Cynthia Rothrock is the the Queen of martial arts action women. She was ahead of her time and it is not her fault that many of her films were weak in script and cinematography. She has great screen presence and her fight choreography is terrific. This movie is from the heyday of "straight to VHS" martial arts movies that fueled a generation of martial arts movie fans. This American attempt to be more focused on plot and acting is effective. The supporting cast is good. The Direction and cinematography are solidly "B" but the fighting is great. If you are unfamiliar with Rothrock, this is a good place to start. If you are fan this is a great one to enjoy, or enjoy again.

I've seen several of Cynthia Rothrock's films - both her Hong Kong and her American ones - and one thing they have in common is that her femininity is usually largely ignored: she is there mainly as a fighter, not as a woman (though sometimes the tight outfits she puts on leave little doubt about her physical attributes). But in "Sworn To Justice" she makes probably her boldest appearances ever: 2 lingerie scenes, 2 sex scenes. And truth be told, she is very sexy. She could work as a living ad for practicing martial arts - "you do it too, and you'll have a body like that when you're 40". This focus on Cynthia's body is not the only aspect that separates "Sworn To Justice" from most of her other vehicles: there is also a slapstick comedy fight sequence, psychic powers, a lesbian love confession at a tragic moment, and a bad guy discussing with his brother's burnt corpse! The fighting highlight of the film comes when Cynthia goes up against an acrobatic Asian guy - you can see her Hong Kong days living again in that scene. Disappointingly, the climactic fight scene goes to her male co-star, Kurt McKinney. The other problem is the plot, which has a few too many scattered sub-plots. But as I already said, if you want to see Cynthia Rothrock going sexy, this is your best chance. (**1/2)