The Perfect Weapon (1991) Paramount/Action RT: 85 minutes Rated R (strong martial arts violence, language, drug references/themes) Director: Mark DiSalle Screenplay: David C. Wilson Music: Gary Chang Cinematography: Russell Carpenter Release date: March 15, 1991 (US) Cast: Jeff Speakman, John Dye, Mako, James Hong, Mariska Hargitay, Dante Basco, Beau Starr, Seth Sakai, Professor Toru Tanaka, Clyde Kusatsu, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Box Office: $14M (US)
Rating: ***
Meet Jeff Speakman, the action star that never was. The producers of the martial arts actioner The Perfect Weapon tried to create a new action star much in the same way that studio executives introduced Steven Seagal (Above the Law) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport) to the moviegoing public. Alas, he would not achieve the same level of success as his esteemed colleagues. His big debut bombed at the box office with a wimpy take of only $14 million. That’s pretty lame even for an R-rated action picture.
The Perfect Weapon marks the one and only solo gig of Mark DiSalle, the co-director of the JCVD flick Kickboxer. It’s essentially a big studio version of two B-movie genres: the kung fu actioner featuring a disgraced student looking to redeem himself in battle and the revenge flick starring a lone wolf vigilante looking to avenge somebody. Jeff Sinclair, the character played by Speakman, fits both descriptions. He’s an expert in Kenpo, a 2000YO form of martial arts that combines ancient fighting techniques and modern scientific principles. Basically, it’s an unending flow of motion designed to overwhelm one’s attacker. Now you know.
Jeff’s been training in the art of Kenpo since childhood. Family friend and personal mentor Kim (Mako, Conan the Barbarian) arranges for him to take lessons from a local master (Sakai) as a way of dealing with the anger caused by his mother’s death. He becomes quite proficient at the physical aspects of it; the emotional part is a different story. As a teen, he uses his skills to protect his younger brother Adam from a bully and nearly kills the big jerk. His frustrated father (Starr, Halloween 4), a member of the local PD, kicks him out of the house and orders him to stay away from his brother. Master Lo expels him in disgrace. Jeff leaves town and gets a job in construction.
Jeff returns home after several years to find that Kim is in trouble with the Korean mafia. He refuses to allow the gangsters to use his antiques store as a front for their drug-smuggling operation. Three hoods pay him a visit and start destroying his inventory. Jeff shows up just in time to soundly thrash the gangsters within inches of their lives. That night, an enormous hit-man (Tanaka, The Running Man) shows up and murders Kim in his bed. Devastated and angry, Jeff intends to find out who killed his friend and exact his own brand of swift justice.
One of the detectives on the case is Jeff’s little brother Adam (Dye, Best of the Best), following in the footsteps of their now-retired father. He tries to make Jeff stay out of it, but headstrong big bro wants to take care of it himself. He has a slight edge because nobody in Koreatown talks to the police. It’s too dangerous. They don’t talk to outsiders either. He gets into a scrape or two before a man (Hong, Missing in Action) claiming to be a friend of Kim’s offers to lead Jeff to the guilty party. It soon becomes obvious that his true intentions are anything but altruistic.
The Perfect Weapon doesn’t get the love it deserves. It might be just like any other kick-ass actioner from the late 80s/early 90s, but the style of fighting is something audiences never saw before. It’s pretty fierce and looks very painful for whoever’s on the receiving end of it. I’m particularly fond of the scene where Jeff beats down the football goon that picked on the wrong little brother. It’s always gratifying to see a bully get his ass kicked. It’s also a perfect display of the smooth flowing motion of Kenpo.
I like a great many things about The Perfect Weapon and the presence of the late Professor Toru Tanaka is at the top of the list. A behemoth among villains, he is a force to be reckoned with. You might not know the name offhand, but you probably recognize him as “Subzero” from The Running Man (1987). He was also in An Eye for an Eye (1981), Revenge of the Ninja (1983), Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Shanghai Surprise (1986), Dead Heat (1988), Black Rain (1989) and Darkman (1990). Anyway, it’s always great to see him pop up as a bad guy.
The problem with Speakman isn’t that he can’t act. I mean, he’s not very good at it, but that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that he has no screen presence. He lacks a distinctive personality. That’s something you can’t say about action stars like Chuck Norris, Seagal and JCVD. All of them had presence and personality. Speakman is so wooden, he makes Dolph Lundgren look like a master thespian. Don’t strike any matches near this guy; he might go up in flames. To his credit, he kicks ass real good! The man has mad martial arts skills. Isn’t that what matters most when it comes to action stars? I sure think so.
As I recall, Speakman starred in one more movie (1993’s Street Knight) that bypassed theaters and went directly to home video. According to IMDb, he’s been in about a dozen other action flicks (all straight-to-video), but none of the titles sound familiar to me. I haven’t given up on Speakman though. I fully expect him to make a comeback in The Expendables 3 alongside Brian Bosworth (Stone Cold) and Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja).*
Although she’s fifth billed, Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) doesn’t have a single line of dialogue. Why? That always puzzled me. Now I finally have an answer to that burning question. According to Wikipedia, her character was supposed to be Jeff’s love interest, but her scenes were cut from the theatrical release. I’d love to get a look at them at some point. She’s a great actress and I’m curious to see how Speakman handles romantic scenes.
Essentially, The Perfect Weapon is a big studio version of the kind of B-movies that Cannon Films used to churn out by the dozens in the 80s. It’s exactly the kind of action flick that I used to love catching at weekend matinees in my teenage years and beyond. Who cares if Speakman can’t act? Who cares if the plot is formulaic and predictable? Who cares if it’s filled with clichés like the wise ass teen sidekick (Basco, Hook) who’s a lot like the hero when he was that age? The Perfect Weapon contains the most crucial things. It’s full of kick-ass action and bone-breaking fights. What else could an action junkie ask for?
*= Well, that didn’t happen.
