China O'Brien
China O'Brien
R | 01 February 1990 (USA)
China O'Brien Trailers

China O'Brien; big city police woman; martial arts trainer, is forced to hand in her badge and head home to her father and the small town where she grew up. The peaceful town she knew is now struggling against the clutches of organized crime. When her father, the town sheriff, is killed China decides to run for his position and clean up the town. The poll results spark a series of confrontations that finally decide who runs the town . . .

Reviews
Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
chow913 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?
whpratt1 Cynthia Rothrock,(China O'Brien),"Manhattan Chase",2000, made this film enjoyable to watch and of course,e this cute petite gal burned up the screen with her artistic abilities and hot sexy body. China O'Brien gets upset as a police officer and decides to call it quits and go back home to her hometown and get back to her roots and her dad, who is the local sheriff. Her dad is getting older and the town has changed, gangsters have taken over the town and started to get the local women to start turning tricks and the city people were getting sick and tired of their town going to Hell. Well, you almost can guess what happens, and you are right, China O'Brien fights back after great tragedy strikes her life. Bad acting through out the picture, but Cynthia Rothrock brings this film to a wonderful conclusion.
hershiser2 As long as you go into this movie knowing that it's terrible: bad acting, bad "effects," bad story, bad... everything, then you'll love it. This is one of my favorite "goof on" movies; watch it as a comedy and have a dozen good laughs!
hondaboy 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.