Metacritic reviews

A Force of One, has a simplistic plot, low budget sets and sloppy editing. It's pretty good. Not only does it move along at a faster clip than many a higher-budget film, but it's done without a lot of gore -- no small feat in a martial-arts movie. [12 Oct 1979, p.39]

A typically plot-heavy script from Ernest Tidyman survives unimaginative direction to deliver that current rarity, an unpretentious action movie. A bit out of its depth at the top of a bill, but vastly superior to the ostensibly similar Jaguar Lives.

After Bruce Lee's death, a gaping hole plagued the martial arts genre, but former karate champ Norris helped close that gap.

One detects flickering intentions of enlarging on the formula material -- especially in the byplay between the actors playing narcs -- but the prevailing mood of the entertainment is decidedly bargain-basement. [11 Oct 1979, p.D15]