Name: Retro Film Review: Terminal Justice (1996)
Item: Terminal Justice
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

Photography, motion pictures, polaroids, VCRs, Internet, DVD – all those technological wonders had their first mass practical applications in the areas of sex. Authors of Terminal Justice, 1995 science fiction thriller directed by Rick King, speculate that the same thing would happen with human cloning.

The plot is set in 2008 AD. Protagonist is Bobby Chase (played by Lorenzo Lamas), policeman who still didn't get over traumatic experiences of the war against Russian mafia. After exhausting struggle with addiction to war drugs, he now supplements his income by working as security guard in affluent neighbourhood. Because of this he is able to rescue Pamela Travis (played by Kari Wuhrer), popular star of virtual reality sex. She was targeted by gangsters who want to use her body for cloning purposes and thus create the army of sex slaves for selected and wealthy clientele. Chase must protect the woman and after the death of his partner, he gets replacement in the form of inexperienced Tod Thawley (played by Hiroshi Takamura).

Script for Terminal Justice looks very complicated and the film gives impression of being rather ambitious for low budget science fiction thriller. The cast contains rather respectable names like Chris Sarandon and Peter Coyote, but few viewers are going to be fooled enough to believe that they are watching something more than exploitation film. Terminal Justice contains few funny scenes and Kari Wuhrer briefly appears topless, but this isn't enough to compensate for the film's biggest and fatal flaw – protagonist. Lorenzo Lamas' acting, to put it mildly, leaves much to be desired and that, combined with predictable ending and low budget, is disappoint even those viewers accustomed to the low standards of mid 1990s "virtual reality" movies.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on April 2nd 2003)