Jeff Wincott plays a tough karate cop who turns in his badge in protest to mismanagement in the force. He’s a good cop, but it’s the system that sucks. A glamorous mayoral candidate called Dr Larkin (Nielsen, ice-cold and fabulous) is gaining popularity due to her hard-line stance on crime. But as soon as she introduces her bodyguard brother, played by Matthias Hues, it’s pretty obvious that she’s not totally on the level. She runs an elite team of street-fighting vigilantes known as the ‘Peacekeepers’ who are a bit like a pseudo-religious martial arts cult. This slightly bizarre initiative (particularly for a politician) sees her portrayed in the media as something of a philanthropist, but in reality, her ‘mission of justice’ is a front to disguise acts of intimidation, blackmail and murder of those individuals who stand in her way. When she kills one of Wincott’s old boxing buddies, he goes undercover to infiltrate the Peacekeepers and take his revenge. The final part of his training involves a Shaolin-style battle through a gauntlet of fighters, like something out of an old kung fu movie. Nielsen may be phoning it in, but she is still majestic in bleached blonde hair, severe dress and bright lipstick, like an archetypal femme fatale. Karen Sheperd is also excellent as Wincott’s no-nonsense, purely plutonic cop partner, kicking ass and taking names. The moral of the film seems to be: never trust a politician, particularly one with their own private militia.

AKA: Martial Law III.