Outside the Law (2002) Reviews

• Very mediocre stuff

  gridoon2005-11-09

  Even at the age of 45, Cynthia Rothrock is a superb martial artist, but "Outside The Law" / "Never Say Die" is a mediocre vehicle for her. The plot is completely uninteresting, and the scattered fight scenes don't compensate for that, because a) they are mostly shot in too-tight close-ups, b) the editing is choppy, c) the villains don't offer much of a challenge to Cynthia. Only James Lew is introduced as a worthy opponent, but even their fight scene at the end of the movie is not as long as it should have been. There is an amusing nod to Rothrock's Hong Kong film past ("You can read Chinese?", her friend asks her - "Enough to order from a menu", she responds). Sidenote: when an action film starts with a couple discussing how many kids (and pets) they will have when they get married, you know one of them is not going to be around for long. (**)

• Passable DTV action fodder

  davideo-22002-09-16

  STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs Martial arts star Cynthia Rothrock enters suddenly and unexpectedly back into our lives with this standard chunk of DTV action fodder.As a Grade-D action flick,it serves it's purpose well.The plot is a little wavey and disjointed,but Rothrock is the driving force of the show.She's not just a great martial artist,but she ain't a BAD actress either,and both these assets are in equal abundance throughout.***

• Too poorly shot to be enjoyable

  Leofwine_draca2016-04-06

  Cynthia Rothrock continues to plod a path through Z-grade material in OUTSIDE THE LAW, an entirely redundant B-movie in terms of originality or on-screen excitement. The only notable thing about this is that it was shot in Puerto Rico, which must have been fun for the cast and crew, but sadly that exotic experience doesn't translate into fun for the viewers at home. Rothrock plays a disgruntled former secret agent trying to turn her back on her old life. However, she soon gets involved with various hoodlums, and is forced to rely on her fighting skills in order to survive. I don't mind bad stories in action vehicles for stars like this, but I do demand quality fight scenes. Sadly, they're very badly filmed here, choppy and poorly edited throughout, and it's obvious that Rothrock was being doubled half the time. Even worse, Rothrock's acting isn't too hot, and she's saddled with the stupidest-looking wig for most of the running time. Fellow martial artist Jeff Wincott also appears in a non-fighting role - what's the point of that? - alongside the familiar faces of Stephen Macht (THE MONSTER SQUAD), Brad Greenquist (PET SEMATARY), and Don Harvey (DIE HARD 2).

• Definitely a must see

  aeiryl2012-10-05

  I liked this so much, I bought it. Definitely not an 'A' movie, but Cynthia Rothrock and Seamus Dever (Army Wives) make it worth watching. Dever is excellent in everything I've seen, and I think Rothrock is a good actress as well as martial arts / kick-boxing star and both are very good in this. The fight choreography is nice to watch and well executed. I personally like 'one person can take on City Hall' movies and 'don't give up when the odds are against you' movies. This is both. Very inspiring. When I first saw this, from the ending, I expected some agent was working on putting together a deal for a TV series. I still think they should have done a pilot / series about where this character goes from here as she is driving out of town. It's perfect, she helps people while on the run (The Fugitive, The Pretender).

• Oh boy... another (American-made) Cynthia Rothrock movie

  Wizard-82009-07-16

  I have not yet seen any of Cynthia Rothrock's Hong Kong-made movies. I hear they are supposed to be good, and I'll be reporting on them when I get the DVDs in the mail from my DVD mail rental service. However, I have seen a number of her American-made movies, and after seeing them I have come up with this movie rule: "Any Cynthia Rothrock movie that is American-made is bound to be awful." OUTSIDE THE LAW does not break that rule. To begin with, Rothrock in this movie is not showcased as well as with her other movies. She is given a bad hairstyle and dye job in this movie, for one thing. Also, though she is an accomplished martial artist in real life, you wouldn't know it from this movie. The fight scenes here are really bad - quick cuts, obvious doubles, and about the only time you see Rothrock making a martial arts movie clearly is when she punches someone - something ANYONE could do. To make matters worse, she's in a slow-moving, mostly uneventful (few fight sequences, for one thing) story. You could chop off whole hunks of the movie without harming the small story, for one thing. Oh, and if you are thinking of sticking through the molasses to see Rothrock and Jeff Wincott fight, let me warn you that they NEVER get into a fight. I don't think Wincott does any martial arts at any time in the movie despite being skilled in martial arts in real life! I'm hoping Rothrock's Hong Kong movies will be better, even though I am preparing myself for the worst.