Terminator Woman (1992)

Brilliant and touching

Better Late Then Never

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I say this about a lot of folks, but darnit if Karen Sheperd isn't an under-appreciated action heroine if ever there was one. Forever in the shadow (and strangely tied to the career) of Cynthia Rothrock, she's a well of limitless martial potential but always ended up on the short end of the stick, either getting duped by Corey Yuen or needing to settle for roles that Rothrock turned down. A 1993 low-budget flick by longtime Jean Claude Van Damme protégé Michel Qissi seemed like it might break this streak, but alas, poor Karen isn't even afforded an undiscovered gem, 'cause not only does TERMINATOR WOMAN have a very misleading title, it's also pretty bad for a B-movie.The story: Police officers Jay Handlin (Jerry Trimble) and Julie Parish (Sheperd) are tasked with transporting a convicted dealer (Len Sparrowhawk) to a South African court, but when they are split up by a human trafficking circuit and the efforts of a deadly drug lord (Qissi), they'll have to rely on their physical talents to be reunited.You'd think that with a title like this one, the movie would generally focus on Sheperd's character, but I'm pretty sure that champion kickboxer Jerry Trimble gets the most screen time among the three karate stars. Julie is teamed up with South African actress Kimberleigh Stark when the two of them are kidnapped out of the blue by a prostitution ring, and after their inevitable escape, Sheperd's quest becomes one of hiking through the bush while wearing tight pants and a very glittery top. Jay is generally the one doing the real detective work, and while he too is paired up with a rather useless sidekick (child actor Siphiwe Mlangeni), his exploits are much more interesting than his partner's. Michel Qissi - who will never live up to his intimidating presence in KICKBOXER - mostly sits in a chair and looks menacing. Sometimes he shoots people, but like the rest of the film's content, it's not terribly exciting stuff.The fight scenes range from okay to tiring. Jerry Trimble outshines everybody with his amazing kicks, which look good even when he's simply performing an impromptu demonstration in his hotel room. He gets most of the seven brawls to himself, but doesn't get any significant opponents until meeting Qissi in a cave during the finale. The movie surpassed my expectations by making this one a pretty even back & forth encounter, but it lacks both the necessary choreography that made Jerry's best fights great and the emotional gravity that made Qissi's battle with Van Damme a classic. Despite having had what was arguably the best fight scene ever filmed between two women in ABOVE THE LAW, Sheperd's encounters feel less like fights than they seem spoofs of them: when her dumb opponents aren't knocking themselves out by running into things, the choreography is slow and awkward with the majority of her blows looking weak or obviously not connecting. Don't even get me started on when she finds a staff to fight with.Production values aren't great and the acting is a shot in the bucket. The story held a bit of potential in revealing that Jay and Julie once faced each other in the fighting circuit and that Julie's eager for a rematch, but just as this is about to take place, the credits roll. Everybody involved in this one should've been doing something better, and the only satisfaction I can gain from this clunker is that the better work of my heroes here is way more prolific and well-known than TERMINATOR WOMAN. Go on ignoring it.

It's been too long since I have watched Terminator Woman until today. I am kinda feeling little sorry for myself (I've been given a few days off from work) because I fractured my wrist in sparring while doing martial arts the other night but this little gem managed to keep me entertained as I'm waiting for the pain killers to kick in.I have a feeling the previous reviewers who had bad things to say about this movie don't like other films of this genre...I love them. In Terminator Woman we have plenty of martial arts action. Jerry Trimble Jr and Karen Sheperd make an awesome team together. I give this 10 out of 10 because the movie involves many great fight scenes, yes the acting is really bad but if you are like me and can watch a movie for the fun side of it, then I am sure you can enjoy this nice little martial arts gem from the good old day as long as you don't take the movie too seriously.

One scene demonstrates the mentality of "Terminator Woman" pretty well: Karen Sheperd and another woman are trying to escape from the villain's camp. Karen runs across an armed guard, who points his gun at her, but after a few seconds throws it away and challenges her to a fight. Karen kicks him in the balls, picks up the gun and runs away! Then again, when a film is directed by a martial artist and written / produced by another member of his family, you know you shouldn't expect too much. Karen Sheperd and Jerry Trimble do get some amusing banter going early on, and the film might have turned out better if it had focused more on their love-hate relationship. But after about 20 minutes they get separated, and the film slows to a crawl, and even with the occasional fight scene to liven things up, it lacks excitement. The finale has Trimble fighting Qissi inside a cave and Sheperd going womano-a-womano against the beautiful Ashley Hayden on a speedboat, but the fights are intercut in a way that breaks their flow and diminishes their value. On the positive side, kudos to the costuming department for giving Karen the chance to show spectacular cleavage throughout the film! (*1/2)

Not a bad martial arts film. Fight scenes were good. Michel Qissi did a good job directing his first film without Van Damme. Story worked without foul language and too much blood. Screenwriter Jeanette Francessca has a good line to the story that works. IT would be great to see something else from her in the same genre. She likes the art and having strong women promenant. IT was definitely worth watching. I recommend the film to all drama and martial arts lovers.