User reviews

Saw this on TBS the other night, expecting the usual poor substitute for a good action movie. True, I did get a mediocre film overall, but as a form of reimbursement, I received a bunch of quality martial-arts sequences.

Yes, the plot is amazingly uncomplicated - the most unexpected thing (and also the dumbest) is when not just one, but TWO car bombs explode within two days of each other. But besides the improbability of a Utah native growing up with an Australian accent (can we assume he picked that up in the "Special Forces"?), at least it's not too unrealistic.

But this movie was basically created to showcase Rothrock's abilities, and they are readily apparent. Someone mentioned that this film was meant as a vehicle for Jackie Chan; this is also easy to see based on the beautifully choreographed fight scenes that make good use of the available props (the scene in the high school's weight room is particularly fun).

Overall score: With regards to the filmmaking process, this one gets a low rating thanks to bad sound effects, cheap production and minimal writing talent. However, the great fights more than make up for it. Five (5) stars out of a possible 10.

An obviously low-budget effort: the sound is lousy, the editing is sloppy, the writing is cliche. The acting, while not Oscar material, is surprisingly well done. But what really shines are the fight scenes (and that's what you wanted to see the film for, anyway -- right?) They're very well choreographed, and the actors very obviously know what they're doing. And of course, Cynthia Rothrock is a total babe (and that's *really* what you wanted to see the film for -- right? :)

Average story which should be expected out of a martial arts movie. The major reason to watch this movie is to Cynthia Rothrock kick the villains butts. Originally was written as a project for Jackie Chan before the story was changed around as a film the Cynthia Rothrock. The action sequences are well choreographed. The negatives of China O'Brien(1990) are the sloppy editing and the low budget structure.

Its a Cynthia Rothrock movie about a cop who goes on a revenge spree. And based on this blurb I thought I had watched this at some point but turns out this one had escaped me. But was it worth the watch in 2024?

These were some of the first Rothrock movies to be based in America, although you can still see the influence of the Hong Kong production style.

Of course these movies only exist so that Cynthia has an excuse to kick people, so in this movie she accidentally shoots and kills and young gangbanger. Which forces her to leave the police and return to her parents and home town. Her father is killed by the local yahoos and we have a reason for Cynthia to kick lots of men in increasingly complicated ways but very quickly.

Some of the action is fine but its not on the same level as the Hong Kong stuff, although the HK people seem a bit crazy because they for some odd reason think things should look real so actual injuries occur. Watching this in 2024 with HD video its far more obvious when a male stunt double in a wig stands in for Cynthia. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments like this. Other areas that stand out as funny but not supposed to be are the usual "martial arts philosophy" lines, which try to paint them as something lofty when its really just trying to batter people.

The China O'Brien movies are probably some of her most famous movies, but I wouldn't rank them as the best. These are mid-tier at best but you know exactly what they are so that's fine.

This film and its sequel remain among the best Western showcases for Cynthia Rothrock's martial ability. Lori 'China' O'Brien (Rothrock) plays a cop who also teaches martial arts. One night, in an attempt to prove to a disbelieving student that martial arts could be applied to the street, she ends up killing a kid to defend a friend. Overcome with remorse, she resigns from the force and visits her parents. Unfortunately, instead of getting away from the trouble, it found her... As martial arts fare goes, this is not bad. You really felt like Rothrock's performance when she sheds tears at a very nasty incident was quite convincing. Another thing that works in the film's favour is the chemistry between Rothrock and co-star Richard Norton (Australian Karate exponent). As you might expect, though, the fights are what this and its sequel are really about, and these are some of the best Western fights ever, I reckon. None of the slowness of later efforts, and Rothrock's blows look very powerful (Hong Kong actor/director Sammo Hung says they ARE powerful). A big hand to Keith Cooke for his lethal boot-work, though. Switch your brain off and enjoy an early slice of real girl power.

Cynthia Rothrock,(China O'Brien),"Manhattan Chase",2000, made this film enjoyable to watch and of course,e this cute petite gal burned up the screen with her artistic abilities and hot sexy body. China O'Brien gets upset as a police officer and decides to call it quits and go back home to her hometown and get back to her roots and her dad, who is the local sheriff. Her dad is getting older and the town has changed, gangsters have taken over the town and started to get the local women to start turning tricks and the city people were getting sick and tired of their town going to Hell. Well, you almost can guess what happens, and you are right, China O'Brien fights back after great tragedy strikes her life. Bad acting through out the picture, but Cynthia Rothrock brings this film to a wonderful conclusion.

China O'Brien (1990) was an attempt to make Cynthia Rothrock a star in the United States. This Golden Harvet production was helmed by veteran director Robert Clouse. Sadly he was either lucky with Enter the Dragon or he's lost his touch because he's not that great of a director. The only reason to watch this movie is to see the fighting skills of Ms. Rothrock and Richard Norton. If this movie was directed by Corey Yuen or Hoi Meng it could have been an action classic instead of a cheesy straight-to-video action flick.

China O'Brien returns home to help out her dad. He's having trouble with the local mob and he needs her help. So she returns home and restores order (with the help of two unlikely people). But will they be enough to topple Mister Big and his evil cronies?

If you're a big Cynthia Rothrock fan then this movie's catered for you. I only enjoyed the fighting scenes, everything else is rubbish. Why didn't Raymond Chow shell out a few shekels and hired a top notch action director?

Recommended.

I actually saw China O'Brien II before I ever saw the original China O'Brien. And I have to say that the first incarnation is actually worse. But: worse = funnier! And funnier = better. If you're a bad movie fan like I am, this is great material. If, however, you are looking for any sort of meaningful plot, acting ability, or movie-making skill, this is best avoided. The best part is how they filmed all the fighting sequences in stuttering fast-forward. Hilariously bad. See it for a laugh, see it for mindless entertainment, but whatever you do, see it for free on TV.

Martial arts supremo Cynthia Rothrock (think: the American equivalent of Michelle Yeoh) heads the cast in this engaging straight-to-video effort that packs more punch than a dozen similar offerings, thanks to the surehand direction of Robert Clouse (down on his luck, but occasionally recalling his ENTER THE DRAGON glory days) and a ton of scintillating action scenes that never let up. The film has an almost Jackie Chan-style atmosphere going on in the various battles, as our three heroes use all manner of scenery and props to battle and bruise the gangs of bad guy henchmen that pop up at every opportunity to do some damage. Fridge doors flip into faces, dumbbells smack the faces of the unwary, bodies smash into mirrors and there's almost as smashing glass as in the finale of POLICE STORY (well, not quite).

After a decent run of Chinese films in the late '80s, Rothrock was billed as the next martial arts sensation a la Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal et al. Well, that never happened, and Rothrock has never risen from the straight-to-video genre, but that's the general population's problem, not the B-movie fan's. Because Rothrock kicks ass. She also happens to be lithe, sexy and quite sweet, but the main emphasis is on her ass-kicking prowess and it never lets up. Whether kicking some Chinese guy's head in slow-motion across the room, breaking a bad guy's neck or punching a hulking brute of a man out with one hit, Rothrock lights up the screen with a martial arts energy possessed by only a few. Here, she's equalled by Richard Norton, another crossover from Hong Kong cinema and Jackie Chan's regular sparring partner. Norton is alive, his flame burning with kung fu excellency, and watching him whup ass over and over again is a real treat. The final member of the heroic trio is the unknown Keith Cooke, whose body seems possessed with the spirit of Bruce Lee in his great fights.

The plot is a highly predictable one that reminded me of WALKING TALL. There's a rough town out in the wilderness that needs cleaning up – so step in Rothrock, Norton and Cooke. Most of the other cast members are relatively unskilled, both in acting and in martial arts. None of the opponents really provide the heroes with a real test of their skills, like you'd seen in an '80s Hong Kong film; all are knocked cold after a few moves. Most of the actors were seemingly hired on the street, boasting this sole film on their CV; even the bad guy Sommers, played by Steven Kerby, only ever appeared in this one film. The only other distinguished person in the cast is Patrick Adamson, who makes his corrupt cop loathsome without even really seeming to act much – I guess that means kudos is deserved for this man.

So, in all, CHINA O'BRIEN is a B-movie martial arts flick that covers old ground but covers it in such an exciting, well-directed way that you'll end up loving it. Massive bouts in a school gym and a bar-room brawl are the real highlights of the movie, but it all moves so fast and with such a pace that you'll never resort to checking your watch. The three good guys returned for CHINA O'BRIEN II; and I'll sure as hell be checking that one out as well!

Play Mystery Theater 3000 at home with your friends! Rent this movie for the laughs! The acting is poor, the sounds is terrible and the fights are ridiculously unbelievable. I thought the movie was a joke until I looked it up on IMBD. I can't wait to rent the sequel, China O'Brien II.

Cheesy but fun. Pure Battle sequences, lots of action. Whether intentional or not it was hilarious. In the beginning when the disgruntled student does not believe in the power of Kung Fu he wants China to go into an alley in the middle of a City to prove Kung fu! first Bruce Lee I don't think would do it with all the guns in the cities. Second she is Kicking arse one by one and explaining all the moves. Even better the Kung fu Muslim Brother comes to aid her. And the best comedy relief of the movie is the australian guy with his version of Kangaroo Kung Fu! what a riot. He has some martial arts moves but He manages to splice it with street gymnastics and drop kicks, yes two legged dropped kicks landing on the booty in the middle of a serious fight. Good for straight action raw on story 5 out of ten

I caught this movie on FX last night, and as I was sitting there watching it, it occurred to me that it could quite possibly be the worst movie ever. Bad acting, bad cinematography, bad sound, totally unbelievable fight sequences, stupid characters. All these made it up to be the most laughably bad movie I've ever seen. It was so bad, I was enthralled by it's sheer lack of anything semi-competent that I had to keep watching... and they made a sequel!

China O'Brien; big city police woman; martial arts trainer, is forced to hand in her badge and head home to her father and the small town where she grew up. The peaceful town she knew is now struggling against the clutches of organized crime. When her father, the town sheriff, is killed China decides to run for his position and clean up the town. The poll results spark a series of confrontations that finally decide who runs the town . . .

Cynthia Rothrock displays her martial arts prowess in this enjoyable B-film. The low budget is obvious, the acting is a little amateurish, but there's a strong aura of a sense of right reeking from the three protagonists, especially from Rothrock, and you're rooting for them. Rothrock comes across sincere, sweet and likeable, but of course her main appeal is kicking the bad guys to oblivion and she does that numerous times in some well-choreographed fight scenes. There's enough spinning kicks to send you in a tizzy. And she is ably supported in the kicking the posterior league by Richard Norton and Keith Cooke, both are equally as impressive as Lady Dragon Rothrock. The fight scene in the gym is a standout and inventive. An enjoyable Rothrock vehicle, which I think is her best.

I thought that this was excellently Americanized movie for something Golden Harvest made. Then I see that Fred Weintraub produced it, and Robert Clouse wrote and directed it. No wonder it looks all American.

Australian actor Richard Norton who appears in many Hong Kong movies also shows up in this film, making it a truly international production.

Cynthia Rothrock was the only female American actor who's good enough to play the lead in a martial arts movie. This is a good movie that fills the need of for us who wants to see good looking actor kick her way through the bad guys.

The movie looks low budget, and they could have worked on this a little bit more. They also should have used the stunt choreographer that did the "Inspector Wears Skirts" to take maximum advantage of international production.

If the bad guys were bit bigger, and the profession of Chyna was more sinister, they could have made this into another "So Close".

This movie is about karate and the great state of Colorado, or California, or maybe Oregon? I own the movie, I could just watch it again to know for certain, but I choose to write this review on memory alone- so that means I remember pine trees and red colored rocks. People use their bodies for a variety of reasons, in this movie people use their bodies to fight each other. Sometimes I use my body to fall asleep in, I don't think their is any footage of anyone falling asleep in this movie. This guy from Australia shows up to help China O'Brien, like a third a way into the movie, he has a weird looking neck. I don't know what it is specifically about his neck that's weird, too many lines?

I suppose this was an early attempt to fuse Hollywood with eastern martial arts films, thoroughly flaunting the fact that Robert Clouse (the director of Enter The Dragon) was at the helm.

Unfortunately, Robert Clouse was really just a working director, and was there solely to see that things got done on time rather than make a piece of art.

The plot isn't deep, but it's not awful either, plus I like the reason that China never uses a gun and it was a nice explanation for all the action. It has a TV quality feel and some ropy acting, but none of that matters because the fight scenes are fantastic!!!!!

All the fights are superbly directed by fight choreographer Nijel Binns (who plays the white hatted Jonesy at the start of the film - a character i was sad there was not more of), and really show off the different talents of the three main fighters.

Keith Cooke really steals the show with his amazing kicking techniques, while Richard Norton opts for a more wrist lock and throw style which is very unique and cool. This leaves Rothrock as a good all rounder, and you feel like you are getting your money's worth with the action. What this variety does is allow you to pick your favourite depending on what style you like, very much like a video game.

There's a bit too much 'acting' between the combat sequences, but not so much that it becomes tiresome, and there's a nice song by a then unknown Tori Amos which adds a bit of emotion to the movie.

The real down point to the film, and a lot of these east/west films suffered from this, is that there was no final threat. The main antagonist is an ageing man with zero fight capability, and It was just really wave after wave of goons for the heroes to dispose of at the climax. This is no bad thing in itself, but it would have been better with a really threatening figurehead and a great end fight between China and a Boss.

The film was, in many ways, far ahead of it's time, and ticks a lot of boxes with regards to the feminist movement. The China O' Brian character is the superior authority in the film, with all the lawmen working beneath her. Rothrock also gets top billing in both opening and closing credits, and she is not sexualised in any scene, and never wears anything lewd or revealing. For 1988 that was pretty much unheard of even in Hollywood, let alone a low budget martial arts film.

A great one to watch with mates, or even a girlfriend. The sight of a woman kicking scumbag arse is universally appealing!

I never was a fan of Cynthia Rothrock, and thus I never got around to watching this 1990 action movie titled "China O'Brien" back in the day. But I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it here in 2024, and opted to do so. Though I have to say that I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations.

However, I have to stand corrected, because writers Robert Clouse and Sandra Weintraub, with the former also directing the movie, actually put together an enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. It was an archetypical 1990s action story, for sure, but it worked and it was enjoyable, and that is a movie's sole purpose, now isn't it?

I was only familiar with Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton on the cast list. It should be noted, though, that the acting performances in the movie were good. In my opinion, then it was David Blackwell, playing Sheriff O'Brien, that put on the most memorable performance in the movie.

There is a good amount of action and martial arts fights in the movie, which definitely helps to add enjoyment to the movie. And I will say that it was actually nicely choreographed action and martial arts scenes. Thumbs up for that accomplishment.

The sounds for the punches and kicks in the movie are ridiculous, to the point where it is a nuisance to listen to.

I found the movie to be a nice surprise and it definitely was an enjoyable martial arts action movie.

My rating of "China O'Brien", from director Robert Clouse, lands on a six out of ten stars.

This a good action story built on a very good premise. This could be a very good TV series for Rothrock and her ensemble cast of Keith Cooks and Richard Norton. Walker Texas Ranger was some what of a spin from Norris's "Lone Wolf McQuade" film where he played the infamous Texas ranger JJ McQuade.

In this feature film we see Rothrock succeeding her father (who was murdered by a local corrupt business tycoon) as the town sheriff. Rothrock displayed a lot of passion in her character's quest to avenge her father death. She did great justice to this role as well. Her supporting cast of Norton and Cooks were second to none in terms of their chemistry with Rothrock as well their excellent fighting abilities.

Yes, budget constrains was a factor in regards to the overall quality of the film. Nonetheless, Clouse did the best with what he had. To do a sequel was pretty much a given. China O'Brien deserves to be a TV series like Walker.

Chuck I hope your reading this...

• "What do you girls talk about?"

• "GIRL TALK."

Cynthia Rothrock: strong fighting woman. I remember magazine ads for this movie when I was a kid, but I never watched it because I was probably way too scared. So now's the time to put my big boy pants on and face my demons.

1990: Year of action. Dumb bad guys. Garbage dialogue. Hair. Rooms full of men. Dark alleys. Wood panelling for walls (a lot). The first 15 minutes of China O'Brien is ridiculous in a good way, and made me think it was going to turn out a bit like Roadhouse. However it soon got a tad serious (not exactly melodramatic, but more like how the occasional episode of TJ Hooker might get serious, for a while) because the plot takes over. I would've prefered the crazy no-plot shenanigans of the first 15 minutes to carry on, but I suppose a proper film has to happen, and the theme of this film is 'standard revenge'.

I will admit I'm no martial arts expert, but I'd say Cynthia Rothrock is probably in the top 0.0538% of blonde female non-asian martial arts leading actors I've seen in a movie so far this month. She is dynamite either with bare hands or with a big stick, or with a metal fence/door thing. So don't go near her.

Cynthia's greatest power move is what I will call the 'Take 'Em Bowling' effect, where she manages to strike a bad guy in such a way that he will then fall backwards and wipe out literally every other guy standing behind him, even if it's about 20 guys. Very useful in a mass brawl, especially when you're pressed for time.

There also seems to be some other guy (boyfriend?) who muscles in on the action here and there, and does some fighting as well. He's not bad, but he's no Cynthia Rothrock, and I think he's all too aware of this, as am I.

It's also worth pointing out that Cynthia Rothrock in this film would absolutely demolish Steven Seagal in Marked For Death in about 3 moves. Not even close.

In the end I wanted to like this movie more than I did, it's not really a grade A classic of its kind. But it does have that magical retro so-bad-it's-good vibe in a few places, and if you're generally into this era of action flicks and you somehow haven't checked it out then I cannot imagine it being a fully fledged disappointment either.

How does this have such a low ranking on IMDb? Obviously the only people whom would actually watch this film are Cynthia Rothrock fans. Hence, they should all love this movie. The story works perfectly.

The plot: This is obviously a rehash of 'Walking Tall' except Cynthia Rothrock is a lot more eye pleasing than Joe Don Baker!

Cute little China resigns as a big city cop after shooting a criminal in self defense. Isn't that a requirement of being a cop in the first place?

Whatever, it gives China an excuse to "never hold a gun again" and move back to her small home town where her father's the sheriff.

But just like 'Walking Tall' Norman Rockwell's small town as become crime ridden and too corrupt to stop by legal means.

Richard Norton is also along for the ride (a requirement of all great Rothrock films) as an Australian who left the US special forces to become a small town school teacher. Whatever, just go with it.

The big event comes when Sheriff O'Brien and his deputy are killed in a car bombing. Meaning it's up to China herself to run for sheriff.

There are obviously many mob tactics to destroy China's campaign, giving us plenty of scenes for Rothrock to beat the living crap out of people. LOTS of groin kicks, and Rothrock's patented over her head back kick.

So this organized crime syndicate is affective enough to just let criminals walk free from jail and bold enough to car bomb the entire police force? But when it comes time to dealing with China all they have are a bunch of fat unarmed thugs? As with most Kung Fu films, random objects become weapons. Aren't these organized criminals smart enough to bring their own weapons? Like clubs, knives, or even.... guns?

Rothrock's films have never been accused of being logical so why start now? She's going with what works. And in 'China O'Brien' everything works. It's the classic story of a lone sheriff taking on a crime ridden town, Rothrock looking cute as always, Richard Norton, and most importantly Rothrock beating the living crap out of everyone for 90 minutes!

How can you NOT love this film?