Sexy Asian Babes, Kung-Fu & Some Gun Violence | Naked Weapon [Region 2]

Very dark and entertaining, but overall not a very good movie | Naked Weapon [Region 2] | Marit Thoresen, Almen Wong Pui-Ha

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	• Naked Weapon [Region 2] Marit Thoresen, Almen Wong Pui-Ha average customer review:based on 28 reviews
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A Man is at his Weakest when he is at his Happiest moment.... qouted from Madame M.

NAKED WEAPON is another foray into the "girls who kick butt" genre. Maggie Q has been getting a lot of attention in the U.S. for MI-3, Live Free and Die Hard and Balls of Fury; I have quite a collection of her Hong Kong films and this is the film that helped break her into the action genre. Tony Ching Siu Tung directs and choreographs the fight sequences; the film is an entertaining mix of martial arts action with cool set designs. "Naked Weapon" is unrelated to Wong Jing's "Naked Killer". Wong Jing started the film but turned it over to Tony Ching in mid-production; the result is not the expected "exploitation flick" but pure action "junk".

Synopsis partially derived from the back cover:
Like a contagious virus, pretty and athletic girls in their teens are disappearing from all over the world. The mastermind behind the abductions if Madame M (Almen Wong), who plans to train the girls into cold merciless killers. After several years of intense training, only Charlene (Maggie Q), Cat (Anya Wu) and Jill (Jewel Lee) survive and become the world's best professional assassins. On a recent mission to assassinate some one in Hong Kong, Charlene crosses paths with her long-lost mother and as a result she comes face to face with a young C.I.A. agent (Daniel Wu), who vows to aid her in cutting her ties with Madame M.
However, the past threatens to catch up with Charlene and Cat....

It's quite hard to judge "Naked Weapon"; despite the usual wooden acting (mostly by Daniel Wu) and the very stiff dialogue; I did kind of like the film. The film starts off strongly enough but gets lost in the middle with the usual morality lessons and the canned melodrama. Surprisingly, the film is shot in its entirety in English and I saw both the U.S. and the Asian releases; I was amazed how the U.S. cut was differently framed and edited on some scenes, the Asian cut showed more skin and nudity. (Especially in the shower scene with Cat and Charlene and the love scene between Jack and Charlene) I suppose the best way to describe the film's weaknesses is that while it contains the all the opportunity for "exploitation" it just uses them to provide wanna-be emotional sequences. Then, it turns around and shows a rape scene that most people may find distasteful; that it is a cheap shot to emulate raw violence. Looking at the special features, I rather thought Maggie Q, Jewel Lee and Anya Wu were a bit bothered by the footage. I guess critics may say that avoiding the obvious (if harmless) exploitation scenes but instead add a rape scene leaves a bitter taste in one's mouth. For me, I thought it was rather an attempt to shock and to express the cold, bitter world of the female assassins.

To the film's credit; Naked Weapon looks incredible. During the action scenes, there are more shots of individual shots than a good perspective view. The action sequences have the usual use of wires and trampolines that may look a bit over-the-top at times but darned if they didn't look sexy and cool. Realism is pushed out the window with the kinetic action sequences. The use of slow motion is used occasionally, and boy, Maggie Q sure looks awesome with the slo-mo action. Thankfully, Daniel Wu only have a very brief action sequence (he doesn't do them well). The film has its redeeming qualities: decent martial arts action, scantily clad beautiful women dancing, bullet ballet, and limited Daniel Wu screentime.

Naked Weapon has a very strong potential and there is always "guilty pleasure" watching ultra-hot women perform mano-o-mano fights in very "short" shorts and tank tops. The film is a visual feast for the eyes; especially for testosterone-driven males (like me). I rather expected more of Tony Ching. Despite the poor script, wooden acting and that it fell to the canned melodrama entrapment that falls like a stone in water; the film did redeem itself with the stylish fight sequences reminiscent of "The Matrix". The film starts off strong and ends with the usual climactic final fight; the film's lasting impression would be how cool Maggie Q and Anya looks. I still remember the very sexy posturing...

Recommended timidly; definitely worth a rental. [3 ½ - stars]

VIDEO/AUDIO: 1.78 Anamorphic Widescreen. The U.S. and Asian release both share the exceptional video transfer with deep contrast, natural colors and strong blacks. The transfer is sharp and clean. What tips the scale in the Asian release's favor is that it has a powerful 5.1 DTS track that magnifies the viewing experience. The Mega Star version is the one to get!

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Sexy Asian Babes, Kung-Fu & Some Gun Violence

My Tittle says it all, If you like these 3 things than this is the dvd for you. DVD shows: Gruesome violence & Sexy women. Also shows a mix of realistic & Charlies angel type Kung-Fu fights. Does rip off La Femme Nikita a little but in that movie the trainees were not all female & did not have to kill each other to stay alive

Very dark and entertaining, but overall not a very good movie

Almen Wong plays a woman who runs a camp that kidnaps 12 and 13 year old girls and trains them to be assassins. They start out with about 30 girls and only one of them will survive. After the girls are trained for 6 years they are forced to kill eachother in different competitions. In the second of these competitions it is decided to let 3 of the girls live instead of 1. 2 of the the girls (Maggie Q and Anya) are very close to eachother and the other one (Jewel Lee) is a cold blooded killing machine. When the girls take up their positions as assassins, the movie all of a sudden becomes extremely boring and mindless. The cop that is following the assassins is one of the most incompetent lead actors I have ever seen. Nothing he does is believable and while he looks to be about 23 years old, he acts 14. Then you would think it would be exciting when the girls go on their missions, but there is no thought put into it. Some bad guy is inserted at the end of the movie and him and one of the girl assassins fight to the death. It is completely ridiculous! The movie is produced by Wong Jing so I did expect it to be stupid, but the budget and style are much higher caliber than most Wong Jing movies. And it lives up to its title by having plenty of good looking women in tank tops and short shorts and some brief nudity. Anya and Maggie Q alone make this worth watching.

The fights are what you would expect from Ching Siu Tung. There is tons of wirework involved and the editing is very unique. It's too flashy for my tastes, but still fun to watch. The final fight is like a comic book and if you enjoy other Ching Siu Tung movies, then you are gonna love this. I hated the final fight in The Blacksheep Affair (another Ching Siu Tung movie), but the final fight in this is a little more fluent. If you started watching kung fu movies because of The Matrix, then you are probably going to like the action in Naken Weapon. If you are more of a fan of the old school movies and don't like wirework, then this is not for you. Like I said it is too flashy for me, but I do appreciate the hard work and creativity put into it.

If you are looking for a really good new age girls with guns movie then I highly recommend Corey Yuen's So Close.

2.5/5

This movie was shot in English and the voice acting is a little above average. The picture quality on the Hart Sharp Video DVD is good and is widescreened. The 5.1 audio is decent.

The special feature included is a 23 minute making of featurette. This has interviews with all the lead actresses and actor, and the director. Unfortunately Ching Siu Tung does not speak English and there are no subtitles. But the rest of the interviews are very good. Only one other person doesn't speak English.

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Great Spy Kun-Fu Movie

This is a Great Movie for your Oriental Collection. If you like Spy + Kun-fu and hot girls this is your movie!!!!

Pretty Weak on Story, but Nevertheless Very Entertaining!

Naked Weapon is one of those films that isn't very original, but still has a nice, may it be pretty weak, story and is very entertaining. It is a film with which actionfans won't be dissapointed and fans of sexy girls in action will absolutely love. There is enough gunfighting and martial arts in there to keep you satisfied.

The story follows Charlene (Maggie Q, before she got famous with "Mission Impossible III" and this years "Live Free or Die Hard"), one of the many girls who got kipnapped at young age by Madam M (Almen Wong Pui-Ha), who takes them to a secret island and trains them to become the number one hitkillers in the world. The training is very hard and most of all brutal and not everyone will survive. When Charlene gets back in the real world, everything gets out of hand. When she sees her mother and gets in touch with the good cop Jack Chen (Daniel Wu) her life gets turned upside down and choices have to be made.

Yes, an interesting story even though it isn't that original. The movie only is 88 minutes and you feel that the story could have been worked out better. But still, it doesn't really matter. You must take this film for what it is: an entertaining actionpacked sexy-women-in-action film. And when you do that, this film will give you a very nice 88 minutes.

Maggie Q plays the mainlead and does an ok job. Her acting isn't fantastic, but with that beautiful voice and that look in her eyes, you'll believe everything she says and you'll believe that she means it. Also, I found her good at the dramatic scenes.
Daniel Wu is very nicely cast as the good cop Jack Chen. He plays his role in a fun way and even though also his acting isn't that great, it is, just like Maggie Q's, very pleasant to watch.
Anya plays Charlene's best friend and for me was the one that could have been better considering acting. She isn't terrible, but could have acted better. Still, she does an ok job and doesn't bother.
Almen Wong Pui-Ha as Madam M also isn't great considering acting, still, the way she does things as her character with a coldhearted look in her eyes still makes her pretty evil and hateable, in other words, believable as a bad woman. The things Madam M does to the girls sure is brutal and as coldhearted as it can be.
So, having read some reviews at different sites before watching this film, I had expected the acting in this film to be Horrific, but it wasn't that bad at all. Some surporting roles are pretty bad acted, but still, it's all part of the fun. The acting is good enough to keep you watching and having a fun time.

The action is well shot, watches easily and is good entertainment. You will be going from one action scene to another with some small quiet scenes in between. Seeying beautiful girls shooting and fighting there way through alot of guys sure is fun to watch.
Another positive thing to mention about the film is that some of the locations used are very colorful and nice backgrounds to the nice girls.

So overall a nice and actionpacked film that is pretty weak on story, sometimes a bit messy, but very strong on entertainment value. Just sit back, don't expect too much and see it for what it is: an average fun popcorn action film and you'll be pleasantly entertained. And hey, thats what it's all about right?
A film I will definitely watch again.

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