Plot: After almost being beaten to death by burglars, who killed her sister and nephew, a female psychologist/defence witness serves justice by day but turns avenger by night after she develops psychic powers.
I love vigilante stories and in Sworn to Justice Cynthia Rothrock is perfectly cast as a defence witness turned nighttime avenger, Janna after her sister and nephew are killed.
Throughout the film we are wondering who the mysterious villain is known as “The Man” with Kurt McKinney (No Retreat No Surrender) the main suspect but things are not what they seem. It’s great to see Rothrock and McKinney kick some ass together in the film and as you‘d expect we get fight scenes every few minutes and an explosive climax where the real villain is revealed.
The most jarring scene of the film is when Janna is protecting a convenience store owner from a group of thugs where we get funny music and cartoon sound effects. The rest of the film has a generally serious tone so this feels out of place and like it belongs in another movie.
We get a blink or you miss it cameo from Ian Jacklin who is sadly underused and doesn’t get any fight scenes. Bizarrely Star Trek’s Walter Koenig also shows up for one scene early on as well, but I hear that he was difficult on set and didn’t have a good relationship with the director. Chucky himself Brad Dourif also appears as a suspect so it’s one of the most impressive supporting casts Cynthia Rothrock has worked with.
Sworn to Justice is well paced clocking in at just over 90 minutes with enough action to keep things moving. There is the odd wonky line delivery but nothing too bad; this is one of Cynthia’s sexiest roles too as this was her first film where she had a love scene with her male co-star.
Overall, Sworn to Justice is a fun vigilante picture with Cynthia Rothrock at her best with plenty of fight scenes and the added bonus of Kurt McKinney; the convenience store fight is a jarring tonal change, but the rest of the film is generally gritty and entertaining.
