Traci Lords stars in her second actioner for producers Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi and director Charles T. Kanganis. It’s rated NC-17, but unfortunately, it’s for violence and not sex. (It was the first film to receive the rating for that reason.) Pepin and Merhi probably refused to cut it back thinking the publicity of having an NC-17 movie starring Traci Lords was too good to be true, even if she did keep her clothes on the whole time.
Things kick off with a big action set piece involving a car chase, shootouts, exploding cars, and Traci dressed up like a hooker. From there, it settles down to address some themes that are largely absent from your typical DTV action flick. Traci stands up to her lecherous boyfriend, and when she catches him cheating, she blows up his classic car. She also sticks up for a rape victim and beats the shit out of her attackers. Traci even teaches self-defense classes for battered women. This stuff is all well and good. I just wish I gave a crap about the villain’s plotline. (He’s an ambitious South American drug dealer angling to make himself the kingpin of the city.) The subplot with two rival cops fighting over the affections of Lords is pretty unnecessary too.
At twenty-three, the fresh-faced Lords isn’t very believable playing a tough detective who doesn’t play by the rules, but that’s kind of the appeal. She is a lot of fun to watch as the feisty badass cop in a black leather jacket. We also have Yaphet Kotto on hand as the stereotypical Yelling Police Captain who is driven to drink thanks to Traci’s antics.
Whenever Traci isn’t on screen the whole thing grinds to a halt. When the plot focuses on the wannabe Scarface villain, it becomes dull as shit. Also, even though the movie was rated NC-17, the violence really isn’t that over the top or anything. I commend the film for putting in the various subplots that strive to empower women, but everything else is kind of a snooze.
