Linda Allen (Renee Harmon) flies to Los Angeles from Eastern Europe to look into the murder of her twin sister, who was tortured to death for information that the local mob thought she held. Linda immediately gets into trouble because the mob knows she’s in town and they’re looking to rub her out, too. What they don’t know is that she’s a bonafide badass with some butt-kicking skills. She teams up with a local Fed, who is dirty and beholden to the mob, but she doesn’t know that. Instead of killing her like he’s supposed to, he falls in love and helps her out. There are some documents the government and the mob are looking for, records of illegal transactions and who is perpetrating them. This is what Linda’s sister was killed for, and what Linda is now trying to find, as well. This path will lead her to perverted Hollywood parties and even more violence. Can she shoot, stab, and smash her way to the truth?
As exciting as this may all seem, the movie itself is rather disjointed and a bit dull. When it rocks, it rocks, but there’s long passages where nothing really happens. Harmon changes many outfits and she’s stunning in them all, but she’s not so compelling that it forgives the dead spaces. The gun fights are well-done; they felt both amateurish and grittily raw at the same time. In other words, they feel real. Her martial arts leave something to be desired, but it’s always fun to watch a woman in high heels kick the shit out of a bad guy. The story itself is pretty thin, and the plot just basically carries us from one strange incident to another. This works in some films but for some reason didn’t for me here. It’s not terrible or off-putting, just…dull is the best word for it. When the action hit, though, it snapped me right back into focus. What I’m saying is, I would have liked some more violence to go along with the “investigation” scenes that really go nowhere. The biggest problem is that opening scene of torture and death. It’s very gruesome and visceral, and it sets the stage for a savage film to follow. Thing is, that movie never happens, so it’s a letdown. It does give us a rare Trace Carradine appearance, so there’s that.
Lady Street Fighter is a low budget flick that is a case of what you see is what you get. There’s no tricks here, no startling plot twists. It works that line of action and urban exploitation just fine. The problem is, it had moments where it could have gone over the top and become something more remarkable, but it did not. It stays in its lane and never tries any harder, which makes it a bit of a dud. An interesting curio but nothing much more than that.
★★☆☆