Outside the Law (2002) starring Cynthia Rothrock, Jeff Wincott, Dan Lauria directed by Jorge Montesi Movie Review

Outside the Law (2002)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Cynthia Rothrock in Outside the Law (2002)

Rothrock Follows Suit

Julie Cosgrove (Cynthia Rothrock) was a top agent, that is until she saw her boyfriend killed during their final mission. That is when she decided to just walk out of the agency, technically going AWOL and heading back to America to start a new life in some sleepy small town where she can't be found. But whilst the agency are desperately trying to track down their rogue agent Julie has walked in to a new battle as the small town she settles in having made friends is tied to the Florida mob and when one of her new friends is murdered she can't stop herself from becoming involved in sorting things out.

The first Cynthia Rothrock movie I ever watched was "Above the Law" and that was back during the late 80s early 90s when I had a thing for martial arts movies. I watched a few Rothrock movies back then but hadn't watched one of her action movies in a long time when I stumbled across "Above the Law"; I say action movies because I did watch the less than impressive "Santa's Summer House". Now the good news is that Rothrock still is great when it comes to the action, the bad news is that like so many action stars the movies they now appear in do them no favours.

Dan Lauria in Outside the Law (2002)

So as to "Outside the Law" well whilst we have the storyline of the FBI or what ever agency it is which Julie works for trying to track her down the main story is an oldie as she walks in to a town with a bad elements thanks to the mob and she sets about dealing with the bad guys. I suppose when you think that Seagal, Van Damme and Lundgren have all appeared in similar movies it would make sense Rothrock would to but it is a far too predictable sort of story to work as anything other than a vehicle for action which in fairness is why most people would choose to watch this.

But here is where the problem with "Outside the Law" lays as whilst Rothrock is still in amazing shape the action scenes fail to highlight how good she still is. Extreme close ups, shaky camera work and a head ache inducing amount of edits all contribute to it being disappointing. And sadly when the action is weak the cheesy dialogue ends up sticking out like a sore thumb and making it weaker. What this does is frighteningly make the scenes which Rothrock shares with a small Jack Russell dog some of the movies more entertaining scenes.

What this all boils down to is that "Outside the Law" is not a great Cynthia Rothrock movie and unfortunately the editing and camera work robs the audience of what they watch the movie for which is Rothrock kicking butt. But for action fans it is just about watchable even if it is all incredibly familiar.


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