Feisty ace martial artist Pastor Debra (a flat performance by the lovely Sherlee Knudson) gets fed up with the corrupt city officials and scummy dope pushers who are selling junk to the kids in the city of Westgate. So Debra, along with help from the Fist (the wooden Leo Fong), the Hammer (a pudgy Fred Williamson), the pressure point guy (tubby wonder George Dilman), and reformed drug dealer Cholo (decently played by Ken Moreno), decides to clean up the town by opening up a king-sized barrel of chopsocky ferocity on the no-count slimeballs. While the premise certainly has promise, alas said promise is severely undermined by Fong's heavy-handed (mis)direction, the sluggish pace, the talky script, a complete lack of any hardcore sleaze and graphic violence, hit or miss acting from the variable cast (only the always reliable Stack Pierce manages to rise above the general mediocrity with his smooth portrayal of the crooked mayor), the meandering narrative, and the insipid score. Granted, this movie delivers the sporadic unintentionally hilarious moment (Pastor Debra's rough'n'tumble fight scenes in particular are absolutely sidesplitting!) and some cool rousing bust 'em up martial arts action in the last reel, but overall this pretty dull and underwhelming wash-out is strictly humdrum stuff.
Review of Transformed
