Police officer China O'Brien (Cynthia Rothrock) is a good cop who also teaches her fellow officers martial arts. However, when an altercation with some hoodlums ends with the accidental death of a young boy, China resigns from the force and returns to her hometown of Beaver Creek, Utah. China's father is the town sheriff, but he is gradually losing control of the town to corrupt businessman Edwin Sommers. When China's father is killed in a car bomb left by one of Sommers's henchmen an emergency election is held to elect a new sheriff. A deputy on Simmers's payroll is running for the position, so China decides to run against him and also starts to clean up the town with the aid of her former high school sweetheart Matt Conroy (Richard Norton) and Native American biker Dakota, who also has his own score to settle with Sommers.

It's a real shame that I haven't seen more Cynthia Rothrock movies. The only other movie I have seen that she was in was No Retreat, No Surrender 2. That movie was pretty crappy, but that was no fault of hers. It didn't stop me from wanting to seek out more movies with Rothrock in though. I just wish that the movies were easier to find. I would be lucky if I could even find any of the movies as foreign imports.

Prior to this movie Rothrock had a pretty successful career making movies in Hong Kong. This movie was an attempt to raise Rothrock's career in her native America. Before all this movie nonsense, Rothrock was a five-time champion martial artist. Rothrock also holds seven black belts and sashes in various martial arts. Cynthia Rothrock might be a dinky little lady, but she could easily beat any man. Rothrock still makes the occasional movie appearance, but nowadays she spends most of her time as a martial arts instructor.

Richard Norton will be a familiar face to any fan of Jackie Chan movies. I remember him best for his villainous roles in City Hunter and Mr. Nice Guy. He would work with Rothrock again in China O'Brien II and Lady Dragon. He started out as a bodyguard for the likes of David Bowie and ABBA before getting a start in movies. He is also a legitimate martial artist and is even an instructor in his own martial arts school.

The acting was a bit iffy in places, but you don't watch these sorts of movies for a lesson in high art. You want to see Cynthia Rothrock kicking in a bad guy's face and this movie doesn't disappoint on that front. The fight scenes are probably the best thing about this movie. Fans of martial arts movies will probably get more of a kick out of this movie. I doubt there is much for non-martial arts fans though.

My rating: 3 stars.