one of my absolute favorites!

Don't Believe the Hype

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Lethal Woman has a preposterous premise. The main character is Christine, an army lieutenant, whose Commanding officer rapes her when she refuses to obey his orders to "pull back a little" as her credentials are top-notch and the Colonel feels that it may make her male counterparts uncomfortable. She apparently puts up no resistance, neither does she shout for help( even when two duty officers are right outside the door.) Afterwards she walks down the building where her fiancé is waiting for her. Looking at her state, he asks her most casually-"did he rape you ?" as though it is normal to expect such occurrences. Then the fiancé walks up to the Colonel and demands an explanation, but keeps shut when he is threatened to be court martialed. When Christine fails to get justice in a military tribunal, she does the most fantastic thing that can be imagined. She buys a private island ! Yes, she buys one and recruits help from similar women who have all been wronged. Together these women invite their tormentors to their island on the pretext of an 'erotic vacation'( it makes sense, since all these women are the gorgeous supermodel kinds). Once taken there, the men are hunted and killed. Meanwhile, after the disappearance of 20 US military personnel in 7years, the Army finally realizes that something may be wrong, and begin to suspect the retired Lt. Christine's hand in it.Only then an army Major is sent on the trip to capture the"lethal woman" and her gang, before things get worse.One of the trashiest movies which you could probably see. Best avoided, it is no wonder this movie remains obscure on VHS tape, with no DVD release as yet.

Of course, it's a piece of crap and non sense. I totally agree with the other comments. This films was made for cable TV or video release.Acting, directing and editing are obviously made by people who don't care of anything. But, I love this crap, and only because of the story. Yes, I love this topic about a bunch of bad gals - not so common, after all - for whom we can feel some sympathy. All these amazons have their own story of pain and persecution because of the men and their brutal and animal behavior for women. So, their taste for revenge and killing is perfectly understandable for the audience. Yes, it could have been much better, with more dedication for this film. Yes, I repeat, it's pure crap, but the story suits me much. You have no here the usual "bad guys vs good guys" scheme. The real hero is not so a pure hero, after all. The "bad women" he kills, well...

A female army cadet, assaulted by her commanding officer and unable to obtain justice through a military court, decides to get even. So she buys an island (as you do) recruits other rape victims to help (naturally all beauty-queen-supermodel material) and invites each of the men who have wronged her on an 'erotic adventure' – in fact to be hunted down and killed. As the movie begins, the last of them, the CO himself, sets off cheerfully and alone to the mysterious island – even though he must know that all the others have vanished. And so a tough guy hero type from special ops is sent to sort things out.The story is nonsense, the plot full of holes big enough to drive a tank through, the d-list TV actors patchy to poor, the characters paper-thin and the dialog corny. There are no surprises and the action is never that exciting or convincing. The island locations are pretty, but this is very low budget stuff. Some people will no doubt enjoy the women undressing every chance they get, but there is no sex, little graphic violence and this wouldn't get an 18 rating today.The biggest problem is the premise, not so much idiotic as idiotically presented. Top of all her classes, including unarmed combat, we're told several times how the cadet has just creamed a male soldier in the gym. Her CO asks her to back off so the poor men in her class can have a chance. When she refuses, he simply lays her across his desk and rapes her. Does he use a weapon? No. Does he hit her? No, she is unmarked by the attack. Does this unarmed combat A-student fight back? Not at all that we see. Does she scream or call for help? No – soldiers posted just outside the door hear only feeble whimpers. Someone who could be overpowered so easily by a single unarmed assailant can never be effectively transformed into the threat needed to make this movie work.

I'm kind of surprised that this movie isn't better known. Maybe it came out at the wrong time - it would have been more at home in the more daring 70s. The premise - a role-reversal of "The Most Dangerous Game" with an army of women led by an abused ex-soldier hunting down and decapitating corrupt military men on a remote island - is simply irresistible. Sure, it may be heavy-handed as a feminist allegory, and it doesn't make much sense either (it takes 7 years and 20 missing men for some thick army heads to figure out that something is wrong, and when they do they send only one man "undercover" on the island, much like a sheep is sent to the slaughterhouse), but it is great fun on a trash/cult level, with some intense moments especially near the end. After all, we all got to leave this world sometime, and dying by the hand (or the foot, or the knife, or the arrow) of Merete Van Kamp must rank as one of the best ways to go! (**1/2)