Sworn To Justice (1996)

Sworn To Justice (1996)- * *1\2

Directed by: Paul Maslak

Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Tony Lo Bianco, Eric Lee, Walter Koenig, Mako, Kurt McKinney, Kenn Scott, Brad Dourif, Art Camacho, Vince Murdocco, and Max Thayer










Janna (Rothrock) is a psychologist who works as an expert witness in court trials. When her sister is killed by thugs, Janna wants revenge and finally realizes the only way to get real justice is to do it yourself. She also hits her head on a tree and becomes psychic. Happens all the time. Technically she develops her psychometry, which allows you a type of perception based on touching certain objects. 

Meanwhile, a romance develops between her and fellow Martial Arts practitioner and book publisher Nicholas (McKinney) - but evil chop shop boss Eugene (Scott) threatens everything. Is a cop named Briggs (Lo Bianco) doing everything he can on Janna’s behalf? Or will Janna have to take on the baddies all by herself?

Sworn to Justice is typical 90’s Rothrock. But the cast assembled for this is truly impressive. Besides of course Cynthia herself, we have Kurt McKinney of No Retreat No Surrender (1986) fame in one of his only other action roles before he sank into the soap opera world. 

There’s also Walter Koenig as a fellow headshrinker, before he sank into the Star Trek world. Brad Dourif plays one of the baddies, in a brief role, and Mako is on hand as a blind newsagent that somehow knows it all. Kenn Scott, of Showdown (1993) fame is here and he has a run-in with Ian Jacklin at his garage. Eric Lee has a cameo as a storekeeper, Art Camacho is yet another baddie, and Vince Murdocco is here too. The mighty Max Thayer is on board as an attorney, and tying it all together is Tony Lo Biano as the cop, Briggs. To assemble a cast like this is pretty mind-boggling. But Sworn to Justice isn’t as epic as this might imply.

While we liked the idea of a “psychic vigilante”, and the fact that this is one of Cynthia’s more glamorous and feminine roles goes a long way as well, there are some weird tone shifts in the movie. One minute there’s a comedic brawl with wacky sound effects like “BOIIIING!” and elephant blarings (all for no reason that we can discern), and the next minute Janna is crying over her dead sister. But the fight scenes are what we’re all here to see, and there are some good ones. The fight in the garage was a movie highlight, and is even reminiscent of the one from Misson of Justice (1992), which was a standout scene in that film as well. There is another Wincott/Mission of Justice parallel in addition to that one, because Cynthia uses Arnis sticks to fight baddies, just as Wincott does in that movie.

There are some classic 90’s-style tunes on the soundtrack by bands with names like Buddah Heads and Addict Sunday. It’s good that they didn’t blow their budget on the hot hits of the day, like The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) foolishly did. Of course there is the time-honored sax on the soundtrack as well. While Rothrock fans will certainly want to see Sworn to Justice, it might be worth watching in general, simply for the cast they managed to assemble.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)

No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Corey Yuen

Starring: Kurt McKinney, Kent Lipham, Timothy Baker, J.W. Fails, Kathie Sileno, Tae Chung Kim, Peter Cunningham, Ron Pohnel, Dale Jacoby, and Jean-Claude Van Damme

Tom Stillwell (Baker) is an L.A. Karate instructor, and his son Jason (McKinney) is one of his students. When the elder Stillwell runs into some trouble with gangsters, notably the evil Ivan “The Russian” Kraschinsky (Van Damme), the family heads up to Seattle to start a new life. Things are looking up when Jason makes friends with R.J. (Fails), but then a series of bad events causes Jason to despair and re-evaluate his life. Jason is an admirer of - nay - obsessed with Bruce Lee. He attempts to model his life after the legendary figure, even going to his gravesite and talking to him. Meanwhile, his confidence begins to grow, and it all leads to the final confrontation with Ivan. But Jason will have help from a very special trainer...

No Retreat, No surrender is classic 80’s fun at its best. Well-known director Corey Yuen invests the film with a lot of energy, whether it be fighting sequences, training sequences, or just scenes of over-the-top drama or comedy, something is always going on and you’re never bored. The great music even inspires several dance sequences apropos of nothing, and even R.J. gets in on the fun with an impromptu rap/dance when he first meets Jason. Isn’t that what you did when you met your new best friend?

A lot of the conflict in the film is not driven by the supposed antagonist Van Damme, but by nefarious fat kid Scott (Lipham). There are plenty of hijinks as this corpulent busybody inexplicably commands an army of fellow no-good punks. He even kicks things off with the disparaging comment (directed at Jason), “he said L.A. Karate is better than Seattle Karate”. Who knew this ancient rivalry stirred such forceful feelings? Or that it existed at all? Yes, the time-honored “L.A. vs. Seattle” Karate battle started it all.

While Van Damme is always front-and-center on all the artwork for this movie, his screen time is very limited. He shows up at the beginning and the end, and has minimal dialogue. Pretty much all he says is “I’m the best” and maybe a few other brief things, though he does find time to do one of his trademark splits. His character of an evil Russian named Ivan who is emotionless and says little seems modeled after Rocky IV’s Ivan Drago. During the final end brawl, the “Seattle Sidekicks” which consist of Dean “Shooting Star” Ramsay (Jacoby) and Ian “Whirlwind” Reilly (Pohnel), battle Ivan, who, also without explanation, enters the ring not with the gangsters from earlier in the film, but a posse of Hispanics.

And while Van Damme’s credit in the opening sequence is “Ivan the Russian”, his end credits name is, once again with no explanation, Karl Brezdin! Could this be an oversight? because if so, what an oversight! Or is it yet another movie where Van Damme does a double role? Who knew that trend started here?

Seeing as the movie was written by Keith Strandberg, it has some familiar trademarks of his style - he also wrote the two NRNS sequels, as well as King of the Kickboxers (1990), American Shaolin (1991), and Bloodmoon (1997), among other items, so if you’ve seen any of those, you get the idea.

The song “Stand on Your Own” (and if I may add some more lyrics: “There’s no retreat and no surrender-er-errrrr!!!”) by Paul Gilreath is memorable, and it’s no wonder, as Gilreath is also credited with additional music for the classic Knights of the City (1985).

It’s fun, upbeat, and even childish (in a great way), so like Jason and R.J., make “No Retreat, No Surrender” a personal motto to live by.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty