Billie Morin
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Michael Ledo
The film opens with traditional Chinese ceremony being performed to "whack-a-da" music to an audience of black people. TNT (Jeanie Bell) is attempting to locate her missing brother and ends up finding out his killers were heroin dealers. The movie has the uppity black woman using era phrases like "dig it" and "tell is like it is." It is a part of town where you can't walk down the street without engaging in a karate fight.The best fighters are those that can make their fingers look the most crooked and broken. TNT has a body double thick in the waist do her back flips. The production includes a classic ripped open blouse scene and ridiculous in the dark fight that follows.Guide: No swearing. Brief sex. Nudity (Jeanie Bell, Pat Anderson + uncredited Asians) Part of a badly restored 50 DVD set)
arfdawg-1
The Plot. Her name is Diana Jackson, but you can call her T.N.T. When T.N.T.'s brother is killed by ruthless drug dealers, the beautiful young karate expert goes to the most dangerous part of Chinatown to find the killer. In trouble with the law since she was 13, T.N.T. wants no help from the pigs; but she does befriend a guy named Joe, whose impressive martial arts skills prove useful more than once. In her quest for the killer, she'll meet the white drug lord, Sid; Elaine, his bitchy girlfriend; his suspicious Chinese assistant, Ming; and Charlie, his handsome black assistant with criminal ambitions of his own. Before her search is over, she'll find herself making love to Charlie, trading insults with Elaine, and fighting criminals while nude and in the dark. Just call her T.N.T.This amounts to one of the worst exploration films ever made. And it's not "good" bad. It's just bad.The story-line is random and impossible to follow. The actions scenes are horrible and unreal.There is no direction to speak of and the locales are crumbling.Oh, and it goes without saying that the acting is horrendous.
Comeuppance Reviews
Diana "TNT" Jackson (Bell) is a fish out of water - a tough, foxy lady from Harlem now on the mean streets of Hong Kong looking for the drug dealers who killed her brother. When she arrives in HK, she wants to go to the section so dangerous, her cabbie won't even take her there. It's a good thing she's a Martial Arts expert. During her quest, she ends up meeting the charming Charlie (Shaw), a cool brother with designs on TNT. Her rivals include Elaine (Anderson), who works for the criminal organization headed by Sid (Metcalfe) - the nefarious syndicate she's trying to bust up. With only her wits and her fists and alone in a strange land, will TNT's revenge be truly explosive? Find out today! TNT Jackson is the earliest Cirio film we've seen to date, and one of the first we had seen by him, period. We would certainly end up seeing many more in the future from this prolific director. The movie is a Blaxploitation classic, and even has some of the themes Cirio would use throughout his career, well into the 90's - namely, the show-stopping nude (or nearly so) fight scene. Hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it. He stumbled upon a winner with that idea, and used it again in such films as Silk 2 (1989) and Angelfist (1993). The movie is certainly entertaining enough, and at a brief 72 minutes, you really can't go wrong. It also features great, funky music by Tito Sotto and some great, pre-political correctness dialogue. For example, many characters refer to TNT Jackson as "that Black chick", and the most dangerous section of Hong Kong is called the "Yellow District". Add to that some amazing 70's hair and fashions, and you have a mild winner.Mild because there's not exactly a lot of substance here, and the fight scenes are sped up, slowed down, and tinkered with in a lot of ways...but it's all in good fun, and we realize Jeannie Bell isn't supposed to be Donnie Yen. The fights are more like the ones seen on the old Batman TV show. Maybe this is all the concoction of J.Lo, a person we were frankly surprised to see credited as Martial Arts instructor. (In case the deadpan humor of that isn't coming across, that's supposed to be a joke. But there is a guy named J. Lo in the credits, which was fun to see). While it's unfair to compare Bell to someone like Pam Grier, who pretty much remains the queen of the Blaxploitation era, Bell can certainly hold her own, appearing in Trouble Man (1972), Black Gunn (1972), and Three the Hard Way (1974), among others.When seeing this movie, make sure you see the DVD included as part of the Roger Corman Lethal Ladies collection, released in 2011. This version blows away any released before it. Throw away your old VHS or gas station DVD's. It's in widescreen, with crisp, clear colors. The movie has never looked better. If you're going to see, or re-see this pleasant-enough entry in the Blaxploitation canon, there has never been a better time than now.
Sparky48
As another piece of fine programming recently featured on the newly created "Bounce Channel," a TV network devoted to the exclusive showcasing of African-American programs, many of which, unfortunately, are B-films, former black Playboy model Jeannie Bell stars in this movie as a kung fu gal who--in Pam Grier, super girl fashion--is out for vengeance against the bad guys in Asia who killed her brother.All of the typical elements of sub par B-movie/Blaxpliotation filming are at work here--wooden acting performances, cheap dialogue, vague movie direction, and a confusing story line, all topped off by some of the cheesiest and most bogus kung fu "fight" sequences ever filmed for the big screen.Perhaps the only good thing about this movie is that it makes for ideal fodder for the guy and his two robotic buddies over at "Mystery Science Theater 3000" to tear up.