China O'Brien (1990)

Wonderful character development!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

How does this have such a low ranking on IMDb? Obviously the only people whom would actually watch this film are Cynthia Rothrock fans. Hence, they should all love this movie. The story works perfectly.The plot: This is obviously a rehash of 'Walking Tall' except Cynthia Rothrock is a lot more eye pleasing than Joe Don Baker! Cute little China resigns as a big city cop after shooting a criminal in self defense. Isn't that a requirement of being a cop in the first place?Whatever, it gives China an excuse to "never hold a gun again" and move back to her small home town where her father's the sheriff.But just like 'Walking Tall' Norman Rockwell's small town as become crime ridden and too corrupt to stop by legal means.Richard Norton is also along for the ride (a requirement of all great Rothrock films) as an Australian who left the US special forces to become a small town school teacher. Whatever, just go with it.The big event comes when Sheriff O'Brien and his deputy are killed in a car bombing. Meaning it's up to China herself to run for sheriff.There are obviously many mob tactics to destroy China's campaign, giving us plenty of scenes for Rothrock to beat the living crap out of people. LOTS of groin kicks, and Rothrock's patented over her head back kick.So this organized crime syndicate is affective enough to just let criminals walk free from jail and bold enough to car bomb the entire police force? But when it comes time to dealing with China all they have are a bunch of fat unarmed thugs? As with most Kung Fu films, random objects become weapons. Aren't these organized criminals smart enough to bring their own weapons? Like clubs, knives, or even.... guns? Rothrock's films have never been accused of being logical so why start now? She's going with what works. And in 'China O'Brien' everything works. It's the classic story of a lone sheriff taking on a crime ridden town, Rothrock looking cute as always, Richard Norton, and most importantly Rothrock beating the living crap out of everyone for 90 minutes! How can you NOT love this film?

I got both the China O'Brien and Rage & Honor movies on video recently, and I must say that Cynthia Rothrock is great at both martial arts and acting.The first China O'Brien film is very enjoyable. However, there are problems, the main one being that the bad guys are pretty faceless. The main one for the most part is Deputy Lickner, who manages to be loathsome, but the bad guy leader doesn't do much at all.Richard Norton makes a great partner for Ms. Rothrock, as does Keith Cooke as the mysterious Dakota. The action is non-stop as well, with lots of bad guys being sent flying by our three main heroes. China O'Brien is a great movie. I give it 6/10.

Saw this on TBS the other night, expecting the usual poor substitute for a good action movie. True, I did get a mediocre film overall, but as a form of reimbursement, I received a bunch of quality martial-arts sequences.Yes, the plot is amazingly uncomplicated - the most unexpected thing (and also the dumbest) is when not just one, but TWO car bombs explode within two days of each other. But besides the improbability of a Utah native growing up with an Australian accent (can we assume he picked that up in the "Special Forces"?), at least it's not too unrealistic.But this movie was basically created to showcase Rothrock's abilities, and they are readily apparent. Someone mentioned that this film was meant as a vehicle for Jackie Chan; this is also easy to see based on the beautifully choreographed fight scenes that make good use of the available props (the scene in the high school's weight room is particularly fun).Overall score: With regards to the filmmaking process, this one gets a low rating thanks to bad sound effects, cheap production and minimal writing talent. However, the great fights more than make up for it. Five (5) stars out of a possible 10.

This film and its sequel remain among the best Western showcases for Cynthia Rothrock's martial ability. Lori 'China' O'Brien (Rothrock) plays a cop who also teaches martial arts. One night, in an attempt to prove to a disbelieving student that martial arts could be applied to the street, she ends up killing a kid to defend a friend. Overcome with remorse, she resigns from the force and visits her parents. Unfortunately, instead of getting away from the trouble, it found her... As martial arts fare goes, this is not bad. You really felt like Rothrock's performance when she sheds tears at a very nasty incident was quite convincing. Another thing that works in the film's favour is the chemistry between Rothrock and co-star Richard Norton (Australian Karate exponent). As you might expect, though, the fights are what this and its sequel are really about, and these are some of the best Western fights ever, I reckon. None of the slowness of later efforts, and Rothrock's blows look very powerful (Hong Kong actor/director Sammo Hung says they ARE powerful). A big hand to Keith Cooke for his lethal boot-work, though. Switch your brain off and enjoy an early slice of real girl power.