Before I go any further, I would just like to say, the version I own does not have the absolutely hilariously stupid cover that is shown here, and if you hadnt figured it out, that picture was done ,poorly, on computer and Maggie Q and Anya Wu NEVER appear like that in the movie.

Why I own this movie is a mystery to me. A bad habit of mine is going to the pub, then going up the town to shops afterwards and blowing my money on crap I don’t really want. Such adventures have also brought me Billy Idol's Greatest Hits and a plethora of rubbish Nu Image movies.
To be honest I could see my motivation for buying it. In a drunken state, my brain probably just saw Martial Arts+Sexy Women and decided it was worth whatever price they were charging (£20 I believe), so, how did it turn out?

The movie was original conceived as a sequel to the movie Naked Killer, but this idea was scrapped, although it does share a few plot elements in similar. Or so I have heard, I can’t claim to actually have seen Naked Killer.

Naked Weapon (god that sounds like one of those porno rip-off movies like Clockwork Orgy, but for Lethal Weapon) tells the story of CIA agent Jack Chen (Daniel Wu – Gen-X Cops), Daniel has been trying to solve the case of the mysterious Madam M (Almen Wong – Her Name is Cat), a woman who kidnaps young girls and trains them to be assassins. Amongst her latest batch of potential killers are Charlene Ching (Maggie Q – Gen-X Cops 2), Katherine (Anya Wu – My Lucky Star) and Jing (Jewel Lee – To Seduce an Enemy) .
After six years of rigorous training on Madam M’s Island, the time has come to work her student numbers down to the last one, who will be the worthy assassin. This is done via Cage fighting. Kat and Charlene have developed a close bond, and when Kat draws the number of the first fighter in the cage, Charlene steals it to give her friend a better chance of winning. Against all odds, Charlene survives until it is just her, Kat, and the tough as nails Jing left standing. Madam M, deciding that they are all worthy, breaks her own rules and lets the three of them live.

Soon, murders are cropping up all over the world, committed by girls. It isn’t long before Jack suspects this is M’s doing, and soon DNA recovered at the scene reveals that it was Charlene who did the dirty.
Jack visits her mother (Pei-Pei Cheng – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), but she proves un-cooperative until she witnesses her own daughter murder a man, Jack also sees this and pursues Ms.Ching into the back of an ice cream truck, where they are locked in.
This, off course, makes it blatantly clear, that the two will fall for each other, as Jack won’t just shoot her, he wants to help her. Cue an atrocious scene of them snuggling up to conserve heat, at the end of which Charlene whacks him in the head, KO-ing him, but she stops to place his jacket over him so he won’t get cold.

Suspecting that she will go to see her mother, Jack stakes out her home, and it is lucky he does, because Madam M has sent Jing to take Mrs.Ching senior out. After a fight between Jing and Jack, in which the female has the upper hand, Charlene arrives, and it is an assassin duel to the death, which ends incredibly similar to a scene in the Ben Affleck crapfest Daredevil, where broken glass is thrown like a projectile.
But Charlene’s mum has been I injured! Because he is a nice guy, Jack agrees to take her to the nearest hospital. Not by car, but by giving her a backie, down the road. Jack gives Charlene a business card with his number on it, and tells her to call him if she needs anything.

The next we see of her, Charlene is at a meeting with Madam M and Kat, neither of whom we have seen in a while. M tells her that if she completes one more job, then she is free to go. Needless to say, she accepts and Madam M goes off to set up the deal…
Here we are introduced to Ryuichi (Andrew Lin – Love Paradox), he wants Madam M to get her assassins to take out a traitor in his company. When Charlene and Kat arrive at the scene, it turns out to be a double cross, and Ryuichi has killed Madam M. As it would be, the girls had killed his best friend, and he wants payback. The two friends try to escape, but only Charlene makes it, and Ryuichi tells her to meet him at the pier if he wants to see her again…


Now, lets get one thing clear: Naked Weapon is incredibly stupid. There can be no disputing that. Another thing that should be made clear is that despite the title, there actually isn’t all that much nudity in the movie. The cast members are indeed naked, but the camera never gets to see many naughty bits. The girls do, however dance and wear seductive outfits to work their way into their victim’s bedroom, but with the exception of the scene at the beginning where one of Madam M’s older assassins is at work and the rape scene, there really aren’t any sex scenes either. Sure Jack and Charlene get it on, but it is movie style-sunset at the beach lovemaking, and I don’t think you actually see anything other than kissing and feeling.
When you consider the man often described as the Asian Roger Corman made this movie, the rape scene is actually handled very well, with the girls giving a clear image of distress.

The acting isn’t anything special, but it is passable. Maggie Q and Anya do great in their roles, and Almen Wong is pretty impressive, but the rest of the cast is a bit touch and go. You get the feeling Daniel Wu can act, it is just that he has to work with some of the most disgusting dialogue ever. His character has a habit of talking to himself, and when he says, “I am such an idiot”, you get the feeling he actually feels it saying these crappy lines.
Jewel Lee strikes me as a sort of much more attractive Bolo Yeung. She can clearly fight much better than the others, and she is given very little dialogue, probably due to her not being able to speak English.
Of course, I can’t mention the acting and not bring up the Living Legend that portrayed Mr.Chan , Dennis Chan (Kickboxer"). While his role is scandalously small, and he doesn’t really get up to his standards as the comical Xien , the fact that this is the only movie outside of the Kickboxer series I have seen him in adds appeal to me.

The music is nice enough, but forgettable. The movie, despite being filmed in English, still seems to have some dubbing done, Jewel Lee’s voice did not really fit, and on the odd occasion Maggie Q and Anya’s lines seemed to not look and sound right. The fact that on some of the extra DVD features, the same scenes have different dialogue and different sounding voices backs this up.

The fight scenes are all nicely done, although it is blatantly wire work a lot of the time. There is also one scene, which I cannot handle, where, in the final fight, for some purpose Charlene jumps up, strikes a pose and floats above Ryuichi’s head. But the duels in the cage, and both of Jing’s fights in Mrs.Ching’s house are pretty great. One of the reasons I bought the movie were the fight scenes, and they were a mixed batch.
The other reason I bought it, of course, was the ladies. This is indeed, one movie where near enough every female member of the cast was stunning. Personally I preferred Anya to Maggie, but that is just me.

The movie has some major plot-holes, such as the fact that Madam M’s cage fighting tournament set up makes not the slightest bit of sense, why a CIA agent would care about the murders of criminals in Spain and Japan and I’m not at all a fan of the ending.Ryuichi appears out of nowhere with about 15 minutes left, and he is out for vengeance, which is Charlene’s motive as well, so it is hard to really hate him. Sure he is a sadistic bas, but Charlene is also a killer.
The whole ending seems rushed, as if they realised they needed an ending, found Andrew Lin and decided to make it up as they went along.

Being fair to the movie, it isn’t really meant to be anything other than light entertainment, and if you switch your brain off and look at the pretty ladies doing martial arts, it is quite entertaining. Naturally, this won’t apply to many females, but if you catch a guy watching it, it isn’t anything near porn; it really is more like a sort of more violent Charlie’s Angels (Q even likens it to this in the DVD commentary).

So yeah, if you are a guy who wants to see pretty ladies Kung-Fuing each other, it is worth at least a rental. Just don’t expect cinematic brilliance.


Year: 2002
Titles: Chek Law Dak Gung
Naked Weapon



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age