A typical actioner in the vein of an early Steven Seagal flick, this one marks the debut of stubbly Jeff Speakman, once marketed as the new action hero of the 1990s. The film is cheap but enlivened by plenty of fight sequences, executed with style and speed by the surprisingly impressive Speakman whose chop-socky skills could prove to be a fair match even for Seagal himself in his prime. The main problem the film has is that it's incredibly clichéd: right down from the "avenging the death of mentor" storyline to the street attack by a gang of thugs. Every plot twist is well choreographed in advance, so it's best to just concentrate on the plentiful action the film offers, from a stunt-packed car chase to plenty of one vs. many street battles. Speakman is typical as a martial arts actor, largely wooden but getting by on his skills alone and watching him fight dozens of bad guys dynamically is great stuff.
Filling out the one-dimensional roles are plenty of notable faces. As the film takes place in a Korean district and is made in America, all of the staple Asian actors show their faces in various roles: Mako as the Kempo teacher, James Hong as the slimy villain, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a henchman and my personal favourite, Professor Toru Tanaka. Tanaka has a great role here, stereotyped as a massive bodyguard who proves to be indestructible until the fiery climax, where he dies an impressive death. Perhaps a bigger budget would have resulted in some better locations and effects work, but THE PERFECT WEAPON works well as a perfectly serviceable B-movie full of action but no brain. My only complaint is the running time; clocking in at under eighty minutes I think I must have seen some truncated version.
Filling out the one-dimensional roles are plenty of notable faces. As the film takes place in a Korean district and is made in America, all of the staple Asian actors show their faces in various roles: Mako as the Kempo teacher, James Hong as the slimy villain, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a henchman and my personal favourite, Professor Toru Tanaka. Tanaka has a great role here, stereotyped as a massive bodyguard who proves to be indestructible until the fiery climax, where he dies an impressive death. Perhaps a bigger budget would have resulted in some better locations and effects work, but THE PERFECT WEAPON works well as a perfectly serviceable B-movie full of action but no brain. My only complaint is the running time; clocking in at under eighty minutes I think I must have seen some truncated version.