This may seem a high score for a film that has rather a lot of very average acting, gaping plot holes and continuity mistakes a plenty, but, it works. And how! Most 'blaxploitation' has good bits, slow bits and bad bits culminating in a rousing ending. This one goes from the very start and doesn't stop. Moreover,
whilst like in others, we see lots of outrageous costumes spread across amazing bodies, here the action is rugged throughout. These people don't just seem mean, they are mean. The scenes of Pam's abduction are painful, shocking (and sexy!) and she plays hurt just as well as she plays kick ass. And does she play kick ass! In a surprising scene in a lesbian bar a challenger tells her to watch out and says something like, 'I'm a black belt in karate.' Pam decks her with a stool and yells back, 'I'm a black belt in bar stools.' Fabulous stuff. In fact this innovative film has great dialogue as well as action and there are scenes that would fit well into a movie dealing with racial issues even today. You wouldn't be permitted to show a lot of the action, however. Not too many leading ladies get raped a couple of times and have to suffer the indignities this young lady does before she can get back on top and then show herself to be just as torturous!
January 28, 2008
Top Critic
