Martial Law

Despite her being all over the cover, she's barely in this. Instead you get sub-Joe Piscapo look a like Chad McQueen in a dorky jacket stumbling through fight scenes and looking like a goof. Nothing to see here.

Cheap DVD + Cynthia Rothrock + David Carradine + Chad McQueen as a butt-kicking cop whose nickname is Martial Law = Instant winner.

Chad McQueen stars as Sean Thompson, a cop whose martial-arts skills are so good that even his brother Michael calls him Martial Law more often then Sean. Sean teams up with another cop, Billie Blake (Cynthia Rothrock) to beat bad-guys up and stop a gang of car-smugglers and drug-runners under the command of Dalton Rhodes (David Carradine). Sean and Billie are going to need all of their skills to take on Dalton, as he has a nasty habit of killing nearly everyone he meets.

Plot? What plot? Just remember the term 'Dim Mak', and you'll know how Rhodes goes about killing people. There are some points where McQueen and Rothrock seem to forget that they are in an action B-movie, as McQueen's character laments that he abandoned his brother to go to Hong Hong, and has nothing to show for it apart from martial-arts championship trophies. Awesome.

'Martial Law' has some nice fight scenes, although none stand out as being anything special. It is entertaining, and all that really matters is we get to see Cynthia Rothrock and Chad McQueen in plenty of butt-kicking action.

As far as action B-movies go, 'Martial Law' is nothing special, but is fun to watch - 6/10

Although her role is actually secondary to Chad McQueen's (who is an OK action lead), Cynthia Rothrock is at her near-best in "Martial Law", both looks-wise and fighting-wise. She even goes 1-on-1 against Benny "The Jet" Urquidez at one point, though her highlight is probably when she delivers 6 or 7 rapid kicks in a row to a guy's head! But the script & direction are perfunctory, the "family drama" stuff is so lame and tiresome that it should have been left out altogether, and David Carradine is a weak, boring villain. If you find yourself watching this movie, my advice is to fast-forward through ALL of the dialogue scenes and focus only on the fight scenes - you won't be missing a thing, and you will be getting the maximum value for your money. (**)

At this point it was clear that Hong Kong movie studios have surpassed the quality of American B movie production studios. This is a movie that features Cynthia Rothrock, but if you compare the quality of the production of this movie to the ones she's starred in in Hong Kong, there's no comparison. There're very little redeeming quality to this movie.

Like other bad B movies, the movie is almost entirely constructed out of low importance teaser. The real action doesn't start until the very last minute.

The story of this movie is so derivative, and the way it's shot is mediocre to bad. There are many scenes with hard shadows that makes them difficult to see what the subject is.

Even with these negatives, if you're a Cynthia Rothrock fan, you'd probably be entertained.

This is a real B movie, and a bad one. Best stay away from it.

Here's a martial art film I say is a real keeper. "Martial Law" is fine, fast, and running and it's full of great action. Chad McQueen(Steve's son) plays a cop who teams with Cynthia Rothrock who also can kick some serious butt. I like it when she does that over the head kick that's really stealthy. David Carradine plays the sinister crime boss, Dalton Rhodes. It was amazing when he does that lethal palm strike to the heart of that huge guy. When done right, it can kill. Unfortunately, Sean's brother Micheal(Andy McCutcheon) fell the powerful impact of it when he was working for Rhodes. I liked the scene where Sean(McQueen) and Billie(Rothrock) took on the thugs, and Billie does the split and did some repeated groin punches on one the thugs. That's enough to make Johnny Cage jealous! I also like the confrontation fight between Sean and Dalton. It was great to see Dalton get a taste of his own blow. That blow is only good for defense, not for fun among friends. This movie is a lot of fun, and it's a keeper in my book! 3 out of 5 stars!