{"id":11498,"date":"2025-03-22T19:07:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T23:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11498"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:07:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T23:07:58","slug":"martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/03\/22\/martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Martial Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Martial Law<\/strong> (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Westwind Productions\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Steve Cohen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Brandes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elliot Solomon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Huneck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 16, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chad McQueen, Cynthia Rothrock, David Carradine, Andy McCutcheon, Philip Tan, Tony Longo, V.C. Dupree, Jim Malinda, Rick Walters, Patricia J. Wilson, Lars Lundgren, Professor Toru Tanaka, John Fujioka.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The title Martial Law<\/strong> comes from the nickname bestowed on Officer Sean Thompson (McQueen, The Karate Kid) for his superior martial arts skills. Everybody calls him that. It\u2019s no lie either. This guy kicks ass. In the film\u2019s opening scene, he foils a jewelry store robbery by posing as a Domino\u2019s Pizza delivery guy bringing sustenance to the hungry hoods. He delivers their pizza with a side order of beatdown, kicking one scumbag through the front window and smashing another\u2019s head through a glass display case. When the owner starts whining, he says, \u201cWhat? You\u2019re insured.\u201d He then drives off into the night for an opening credits roll set against a backdrop of nighttime L.A.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Steven Cohen (Devil in the Flesh), the direct-to-video actioner Martial Law<\/strong> co-stars the agile and attractive Cynthia Rothrock (China O\u2019Brien) as Sean\u2019s partner (on the street and in bed) Officer Billie Blake. Together, they attempt to take down crime kingpin Dalton Rhodes (Carradine, Lone Wolf McQuade). He mainly deals in stolen cars and illegal arms. He operates out of a karate school which is where he recruits his employees. One of them is Sean\u2019s little brother Michael (McCutcheon), a troubled youth who hasn\u2019t been the same since his dad died and big brother Sean went off to Hong Kong to up his martial arts game. His job is to steal cars. Great cop that he is, Sean has no idea Michael\u2019s working for the guy he\u2019s after until he catches him in the act.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s not a lot in the way of plot here. Sean and Billie get into a lot of fights during the course of their investigation. Sean keeps after Michael about his choices, telling him that he\u2019s breaking their mother\u2019s (Wilson, Demon Seed) heart. Carradine is a bad dude who deals with other bad dudes like the shady Chinese businessman (Fujioka, American Ninja) in the market for stolen luxury cars. You know the guy is shady because he has a hulking bodyguard played by none other than Professor Toru Tanaka (The Running Man). He also has dealings with an American colonel (Walters, Laserblast) looking to get his hands on some high-grade weapons. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. His signature move is something called the \u201cDeath Touch\u201d which entails an open-handed blow to the chest. It kills instantly. I think this might be where QT got the idea for the deadly blow (\u201cThe Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique\u201d) that takes down Carradine\u2019s character in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004).<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are some interesting side characters in Martial Law<\/strong>. Dalton\u2019s right-hand guy is Wu Han (Tan, Showdown in Little Tokyo). He\u2019s Asian and speaks with a British accent. He smiles a lot. He has mad kung fu skills. Also, he\u2019s a cold-blooded killer. Then there\u2019s Faster Brown (Dupree, Friday the 13th<\/sup> Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan), a former employee of Dalton\u2019s who keeps trying to get back into his good graces by bringing him information he thinks might be valuable. He never goes anywhere without his trusty nunchuks yet he still gets his ass kicked every time. Tony Longo (The Last Boy Scout), the go-to guy when directors needed a dumb gigantic imposing type, shows up as one of Dalton\u2019s main henchmen. This is a guy who thinks the National Enquirer is great reading.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cohen, working from a screenplay by Richard Brandes (The Nurse), fills Martial Law<\/strong> with cliched scenes like the training montage featuring Sean working out on a beach while jazzy sax music plays on the soundtrack. That\u2019s classic 80s action movie stuff! That\u2019s followed by Sean going undercover in Dalton\u2019s organization to gather incriminating evidence of his misdeeds. Will he or won\u2019t he be found out? We get a scene showing Michael rethinking his life after a close call with the law. There\u2019s the sad scene where a cop shows up to deliver bad news during a birthday celebration for Sean and Michael\u2019s mother. Then, of course, there\u2019s the finale in which Sean and Dalton finally go head to head. Yes, the Death Touch figures into it. Is there any reason to think it wouldn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The fight scenes in Martial Law<\/strong> are cool. The best has to be when Sean and Billie go to arrest Faster at a nightclub. He\u2019s none too happy when Sean flashes his badge. Before you know it, the two cops are taking on multiple patrons while heavy metal band Tempest jams on stage. But before that happens, a sexy lady (Mary Reid) welcomes Sean to \u201cThe Rubber Club\u201d with a deep kiss and the gift of a condom while Billie looks on in mild disapproval. The climactic battle between Sean and Dalton is fine, but I was more impressed by the simultaneous fight between Billie and Wu Han. It\u2019s like something in a cheap kung fu import from the 70s. Rothrock has some mighty impressive moves.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What can I say about the acting that I haven\u2019t said in regards to other DTV action flicks from the 90s? It\u2019s not great, but it\u2019s not exactly terrible either. It\u2019s just right. McQueen, tooling around on a motorcycle and sporting early 90s fashions, is okay. He\u2019s the son of old school action star Steve McQueen, the undisputed king of cool in the 60s and 70s. He\u2019s a decent fighter, but he has nothing on martial artists like JCVD and Don \u201cThe Dragon\u201d Wilson. Rothrock is a better actress and martial artist. She\u2019s a true bad ass babe! Carradine is fine but unexceptional as the suave, stylish and sociopathic villain. Dupree overacts mightily as Faster, a wild-eyed psycho who delivers each line with relish. Tan is also great as Dalton\u2019s assistant. McCutcheon leaves no impression whatsoever as younger brother Michael. Is it any wonder he never acted in another feature film after this?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Martial Law<\/strong> is basically trash. It\u2019s the type of movie you rent when all the big titles are out. It\u2019s flawed but enjoyable. It entertains even if it doesn\u2019t completely satisfy.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martial Law (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Westwind Productions\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Steve Cohen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Brandes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elliot Solomon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Huneck\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 16, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chad McQueen, Cynthia Rothrock, David Carradine, Andy McCutcheon, Philip Tan, Tony Longo, V.C. Dupree, Jim Malinda, Rick Walters, Patricia J. Wilson, Lars Lundgren, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Martial-Law-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11528,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11498\/revisions\/11528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}