The Perfect Weapon

Great martial arts movie

Not only does this have a real martial artist with several Black belts in Kenpo Karate as well as different styles, it has several Asian martial artists such as James Lee, Jeff Imada, Professor Tanaka and several talented Asian actors as Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mako, Seth Sakai and James Hong. This movie is the Gold Standard of realistic karate movies. The hero doesn’t just go around taking a few scratches, but he gets hurt and knocked out in his quest to solve a murder. Jeff Speakman plays Jeff a guy who at a young age took up martial arts to control his temper and deal with losing his mother. He grows up to be a well disciplined well trained black belt in Kenpo Karate. Things take a turn for the worse for Jeff whole still a teenager after he defends his little brother from a football player bully who was at least 5 years older than him. His father doesn’t want to hear any excuses so he throws his still underage son out of the house even though it was his only mistake in many years. Jeff’s only friend at that point is Mr Kim who takes young Adam in and was the one who said Kenpo would put him on the right path. Many years later Jeff decides to visit Kim and during his visit, Kim is murdered by one of the Korean Mafia bosses. From that point forward, Jeff is on the hunt to find the killer responsible and avenge his friend. He is used by one of the mafia bosses to avenge the death of Kim which means that using an outsider wouldn’t bring war to the Korean War families. Hence the moniker The Perfect Weapon. He has to decide who is friend and who is foe. Meanwhile his younger brother who is now a detective, also on the case, warns his brother he will turn him in if he commits murder. How far is Jeff willing to go and will he risk it all to avenge a family friend? He has to discover for himself the difference between a Tiger and a Dragon. Tigers strike first without any thought. A dragon always has a choice in between where to hit if countered or if it really wants to attack in the first place.

I had this movie on DVD before and some how it had a crack in it it took 6 months plus and when I found it on Blu Ray I was so happy

Hollywood's action scene was left poorer by releasing Jeff Speakman: the kenpo master had the looks, moves, charisma, and would've been on his way to becoming the next Van Damme or Seagal had Street Knight not come along. Still, we can't change the past, and instead of imagining of what could have been, let's look at the obvious: "The Perfect Weapon" is a very good action movie, possibly within the top ten American martial arts films of its time. I'd even go as far as to call it a model of the action scene at the time, for if you dig the likes of Rapid Fire, Above the Law, or Showdown in Little Tokyo, then this little opus of is definitely for you.The story: Jeff (Speakman) is a young delinquent who grows into an amazing martial artist with the help of his mentor, Kim (Mako, Conan the Barbarian). When Kim is assassinated by the Korean mafia for not submitting to their whims, Jeff sets out to find the killer and avenge his old friend.Granted, the plot deviates minimally from the standard tale of revenge explored by dozens of action heroes who came before him, but both he and director Mark DiSalle (Kickboxer) make it his own. Speakman has a light load to carry when it comes to acting, but in this case, actions truly speak louder than words. The martial arts are shown more respect in here than in your typical beat-'em-up flick, beginning with Speakman delivering a flawless kata and later delving into the history of kenpo; you certainly end up knowing more about the fighting style at the end of the movie than you did at the end of, say, Bloodsport. Of course, this wouldn't be nearly as impressive if the film didn't serve up some cool fight scenes, and these it has. Speakman battles a variety of well-matched opponents in several nicely-choreographed encounters, from a three-on-one competition against tae kwon do practitioners to a speed-against-strength bout with the tank-like Toru Tanaka (The Running Man). His real-life proficiency in fighting shines through and has been expertly translated to Hollywood cinefighting, easily putting him up there with the best authentic movie martial artists when it comes to making it look both real and exciting.As said before, Speakman doesn't give a performance to rave about, but the rest of the acting instills no grief. John Dye ("Touched by an Angel") as his detective brother, James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) as the Korean crime boss, Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") as the mandatory hot babe, and the indispensable Mako all leave a worthwhile imprint on the movie, playing their roles solidly. Even Tanaka is convincing in his role as an unstoppable human bulldozer. The only definitively weak player of the crew is young Dante Basco (Hook), whom nobody had the heart to tell that he quickly got very, very annoying. Like most other action movies, "Weapon" has more profound weaknesses, although these are of a less common variety than you'd expect: at times, the film attempts to be something it's not with a handful of lengthy conversations and monologues that both explain too much of the plot at once and try to prove that the actors actually can act. The cast's efficiency has already been vouched for, but the aforementioned scenes are simply too long and slow the movie down at times when this should not be afforded.However, do we begrudge the movie these things? - of course not! It's an action movie, and at the end of the day, it's one of the most entertaining ones I have seen in a long time. If you just came upon this review by accident, don't let the fact that you don't know who Jeff Speakman is deter you from giving it a chance: Speakman is twice the action hero of many of the old codgers still hanging around today. Fans will already have this movie, since Jeff was never given a chance to top himself.

You need to watch this. Kenpo Karate, Mako, and..... "It's getting, it's getting, it's getting kinda hectic."

Great movie excellent condition no damage.

The 80s had a little bit of B acting bit this movie was really good...bringing back the childhood

Love this! Jeff Speakman is a wonderful actor..

It came in great condition. Thank you.

Perfecto

Speakman is one of the most underrated martial artists and little-known in the UK. This was the first film designed to show his art. The story is only so-so but perfectly enjoyable. He also has the distinction of being one of the few of his genre who can act a little. If you do not know Speakman you should grab this. Another plus is that the film never made it to DVD (only poor copies of the original VHS tape exist), so it is good to have it on Blu-Ray.

J'ai adoré ce film. Pour ma part, cedt un classique

livrais dans les temps ce film je l avais vu il a long temps a la télé sa était un plaisir de le revoir je cherchais ce film mais je ne me souvenais plus du titre merci