Sworn To Justice (1996) sees the legendary Cynthia Rothrock cast as Janna; a psychologist with clairvoyant powers who moonlights as a vigilante. When Janna’s sister and nephew are brutally murdered she vows to put an end to their reign of terror. As she investigates these criminals she uncovers ties to the police department. With the help of her boyfriend Nicholas (Kurt McKinney), her pal Lorraine (Katie Mitchell) and Dr. Breitenheim (Walter Koenig) it isn’t long before Janna is kicking some serious ass.
Cynthia Rothrock was thirty-nine years old when she starred in Sworn To Justice. This is one of her pictures where she got to be the lead rather than the lady sidekick. While Sworn To Justice may not boast her best martial arts battles it is pretty inspiring to see a woman her age leading a straight to video action flick.
When Rothrock isn’t beating the living crap out of bad guys or having psychic visions or steamy, soft-core sex scenes she’s playing the dramatic scenes with total camp. This doesn’t disrupt the tone of Sworn To Justice in any way; it merely compliments the ludicrous narrative. The best case for Rothrock’s campy performance as a natural outgrowth of the films general style comes in the form of Lorraine’s death scene. Mutilated by a car bomb, Lorraine whispers her dying words to a sobbing Janna. Lorraine comes out to Janna with her final breaths and Janna clasps her corpse to her breast and sighs “Oh Lorraine”.
To be honest, no one has ever watched a Cynthia Rothrock vehicle for the plot or the characters. The “cool” factor of movies like Sworn To Justice is derived from the awesome fights and how seriously Rothrock can deliver her badass quips. Sworn To Justice delivers on both fronts more than adequately so it’s a shame that the franchise never took off. The world needs more movies where Cynthia Rothrock has psychic powers.
