IMDb user comments for
Sworn to Justice (1997)

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
I see you, I know where you are, 18 dicembre 2005

Author: sol da Brooklyn NY USA

**SPOILERS** Interrupting a burglary at her sisters, Shelly, high-rise apartment criminal defense psychologist and martial-arts expert Janna Dane has it out with the four robbers and then, when they open fire on her, ending up jumping from the balcony and after breaking her fall. Janna ends up slamming into a tree-branch and lands smack dab on her head knocking herself out cold.

With the police later on the scene of the crime it's found that both Janna's sister and nephew Michael were brutally murdered by the robbers. Later Janna also finds that her experience of almost cracking her head open also opened up her ability to get in touch with her psychic self.

Working in the court system as a defense expert witness on the criminal mind, and what makes it tick, Janna is now bothered by getting killers, like those who murdered her kid sister and nephew, off by day while a the same time being a vigilante avenger against those same types of hoods by night. Janna later learns by touching a murder suspects weapon, a knife that he killed a policeman with, whom she's defending was one of the thugs who were involved in her sisters and nephew's murder. This makes it very difficult for Janna to do her job, as an expert witness for criminals like Slate, in the courts anymore.

The group of thugs who killed both Shelly and Michael belong to a gang of ex-convicts run by this sadistic psycho Eugene who's being controlled and used by someone very high up in the city's justice system.

Janna goes after this "Mr. Big", or what he likes to be called "The Man", but to get to him she has to take on the entire Eugene crime organization which turns out to be a task that not only taxes her fighting an psychic abilities but takes the lives of those near and dear to her as well.

Cute, as well as beautiful, and spunky Cynthia Rothrock, as Janna Dane, is in top form and is far more effective and believable in her fight sequences then her love interest in the movie, and also martial-arts expert, Kurt McKinney who plays lawyer and psychic book publisher Nicholas who comes across as a long behind second in the fight scenes that their both in. Being an five-year undefeated martial-arts woman champion in real life Cynthia doesn't need to have a double or any special effects to make her role look genuine and her kicks and punches are powerful enough to put down and knock out not only one but a couple of men, at one time, twice her size.

Going out in the streets at night to grind down the Eugene Gang in a number of sizzling fight sequence's Janna finally gets the person behind all their criminal activities non other then Santa Martin Police Detective Sgt. Briggs, Tony Lo Bionco. Sgt. Briggs has been blackmailing Eugene & Co. by threatening to put them back behind bars for life if they didn't follow his orders. Which were to shake down car shops and dealerships in the neighborhood and force them into chopping up stolen cars, that the Eugene Gang hijacks. Then have the gang pay more then 60% of the profits back to the gangsters which Briggs gets a nice chunk of change off.

With Eugene and his friends put out of action by both Janna and later her boyfriend Nick Sgt. Briggs is left all alone to not only face the music but also Janna's lethal and lighting-like "Scorpion Kick".

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Poorly plotted, poorly acted, poorly paced - stay away!, 9 febbraio 2005
Author: aloep da Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

This is the third movie with Cynthia Rothrock movie I've seen after Guardian Angel and Redemption and by popular opinion this is one of her best so if that is anything to go by, I will certainly not be actively seeking out anymore of her movies. While she demonstrates her martial arts skills to good effect in this, the plot is stupid, the production values are poor and above all, it's boring.

Starting with the positives, I'll give Cynthia Rothrock credit in that she certainly knows what she's doing when it comes to the fight scenes. The choreography is pretty good and one such scene where she fights off robbers with a roll of tape is fun to watch and just about the only nice touch here. The rest of the action scenes are passable although there's little that really stands out and they are far too few and far between. Much of the movie is mind numbingly boring and for much of the time I ended up turning towards my computer and doing other things and glancing at it when something interesting happened rather than paying full attention. Half of the problem lies in Cynthia Rothrock herself. I'll give her credit that it does seem she's trying a bit harder than she did in Guardian Angel as her character is a little more upbeat and displays more than one facial expression throughout the movie but really she is bad although the main problem lies in the character she is given. It's obvious they wanted the character to come off as sexy but it doesn't work. Dressing a wholly unattractive dumpy 40 year old woman in short skirts and heals certainly isn't fooling me and just makes the character completely unbelievable as a psychologist and even harder to like. Not only that, but this film has some of the least erotic sex scenes I've ever seen which I found myself skipping through. The rest of the movie is so dull and forgettable that I can barely remember it despite only having watched it a couple of days ago. However, one part that had me roaring with laughter was towards the end when the lead villain shows Cynthia Rothrock's character the burnt corpse of his dead brother. Instead of using a dummy, they have applied makeup to the actor himself and you can even see him blink! How hard is it to cut that? Such bloopers shows that nobody really cares, and neither should you.

Overall I could never recommend this to anyone. Fans of Cynthia Rothrock (there appears to be such a thing) will watch it regardless but anyone expecting a good martial arts flick will be sorely disappointed. A poorly plotted, poorly acted, poorly paced flick with little action and no likable characters. Avoid.

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she is very sexy in this but..., 30 dicembre 2007

Author: kostin12 da Romania

2 days ago i've seen no retreat no surrender 2 and i was really impressed by the queen of martial arts performance so i decided to watch sworn to justice after this.what can i tell about this movie is that 'lady dragon'is very sexy in this and has 2 sex scenes and the fight scenes are decent (not spectacular)but too short unfortunately,the end is very disappointed, male co-star beat the chief villain instead our favorite female.the story of this movie is mediocre but the performance of cynthia in this is decent so i think that fans of this lady will enjoy this movie but others no.but sworn to justice is much better than outside the law for example but i expected more from this movie which is supposed to be her best American movie.***/*****

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Still looking good at 40, 29 giugno 2007

Author: lastliberal da Florida

I haven't seen a Cynthia Rockrock film in a long time, and it only cost me a buck, so what the hell. besides that she shows some skin in this movie.

I have to say that she still has some good moves at 40 and still has one hot bod. Just seeing her smash some bad guys is worth the buck. But, she has slowed down considerably, so don't expect Jet Li action, and the schoolgirl giggling at 40 is really off putting.

Don't expect anything in the way of dialog in the picture. The premise is as corny as Ghost Whisperer and the acting is terrible. She needs to get a scriptwriter that has graduated from high school and knows more that BIFF! POW! BAM! The attempt at humor several times in the pic were lame, and "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours," is bad even if it is karate they are talking about.

Hell, it was just a buck.

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formulaic thriller with martial arts and psychometry, 10 luglio 2005

Author: loza-1

I can see the script committee meeting before this film was made. "Let's have a thriller. We'll have a female protagonist.let's make her a cop; no, a lawyer; no, a psychologist. Let's give this one psychic powers and make her an expert in wu shu. And we'll make her a blonde with long legs." The result of that little meeting is this film. You know what's coming next. You've already figured out who Mr Big is, as soon as the words "Mr Big" are first uttered.

On the plus side, the fight scenes are pretty good, and Cynthia Rothrock is an efficient actress. The film is watchable if you have nothing else to do.

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Cynthia's best, 22 marzo 2001
Author: Looney Toon joe (jdempsey@maltanet.net) da Gozo Malta

I've Seen this movie recently and i must say i was really impressed with Cynthia's skills not only as a martial artist but her growing skill in acting.

Ok she might not be an A list star, but she surely deserves more credit

then people give her.The best bit about this movie is her acting which by far is her best work.I recommend this movie to all Cynthia fans and anyone who likes a good martial arts movie.

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Cynthia at her sexy best!, 24 gennaio 2005

Author: Thomas Jolliffe (supertom-3) da Marlow, England

This is widely regarded as Cynthia Rothrocks best American movie, from director Paul Maslak. I can also safely say that it is. Despite a ludicrous plot which has Cynthia developing psychic powers when he sister and nephew are brutally murdered, the film is fast paced, fun and filled with neatly choreographed action. Not to mention Rothrock in her sexiest role yet. The film is wildly inconsistent with a comical action scene when Rothrock foils a store robbery, complete with sill sound effects as large men are made fools of. Also a very steamy martial arts display in a skimpy negligee from the Queen of flying fists. What helps though is a good cast helping Rothrock, who also gives her best performance, although that does not say a lot! Also starring is Kurt McKinney known primarily from No Retreat No Surrender. Then there is good support from Oscar winner Brad Dourif and Mako.

The film has plenty of nice action and never gets boring while there is a good production value to this, especially compared to many other of Rothrock's movies. Standout scenes include the sexy Cynthia taking on several large men with some masking tape and defeating a warehouse full of bad guys. Cynthia is unbelievably sexy in this and the film overall stands out as one of her best achievements. ***

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0 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Rothrock makes the movie....and Kurt McKinney breaks it, 8 marzo 2005

Author: gridoon

Cynthia Rothrock's acting is no great shakes, but it's OK for the genre, plus she is exciting to watch in her fight scenes (some of which are top-notch, especially the first one and a later confrontation with an Oriental guy), plus she's got a knockout body. The main problem with this movie is her co-star, Kurt McKinney; not only is he a very bad actor, but also too much time is devoted to their unbearably cheesy "romance", and at the end HE also gets to fight most of the villains!. As if we rented this to see a no-name moron in the fight scenes instead of Cynthia Rothrock. The film has many ridiculous moments (the lesbian love confession is perhaps the prime one), and Cynthia's "psychic powers" are little more than a convenience for the (purposeless) plot. One good line: a killer/rapist/burglar gets his a** kicked by Rothrock, returns to his apartment and says "The streets are not safe anymore!" (**)

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0 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Just for fans, 25 settembre 2003
Author: marychase (marilina@gensys.com.ar) da Buenos Aires, Argentina

I would recommend this movie to Cynthia Rothrock fans only... Her acting skills are almost laughable...still her fighting scenes are awesome. This movie seems as if it was written just for her, due to the martial arts scenes. But I would definitely say Cynthia has to stick to her martial arts and not her acting career.

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