Naked Weapon

That pretty much sums up my experience with "Naked Weapon." This film is, for the most part, a fun amalgamation of "Battle Royale," modern day Hong Kong action, and Crown International-Roger Corman Chicks-with-guns B-movie super-trash Drive-in insanity. But there is a particularly despicable scene depicting gang-rape about a third of the way through that pushes the movie over the edge into the "unwatchable garbage" arena. It's like something out of a bad, misogynistic Seventies porn flick--and I have the distinct feeling that the Americanized version I saw was softened from it's original form. It's a real shame--cos I like goofy trash. I just don't like rape.

Charlene (Maggie Q) is a young girl who finds herself imprisoned and trained to be an assassin, along with a group of other girls including Katt (An Ya) and the psychotic Jing (Jewel Lee). Six years later, these three girls are the only ones left alive to pass the grade, and are sent out into the outside world to become assassins, working under the control of the sinister Madame M.

What follows is a pretty much non-stop fight scene, big explosions, blood and death. It's totally cool in a way that western films try so hard but fail to be (mentioning no Ballistics). It doesn't even matter that a lot of the fighting is weak and/or doubled, the lead girls – for all their inexperience – look and move great. There's lots of wirework and plenty of camera trickery, but it gets away with it by being far more fun than it has any right to be. I loved it, and if you like girls with guns, looking cool and shooting people in slow motion, you will too.

A word of warning: don't see this expecting intellectually challenging cinema. Naked Weapon is any man's wet dream- gorgeous female assassins go to exotic locations and take out high profile baddies (with mandatory sexy dancing before the kill).

The action might seem a bit tame for hardcore kung-fu fans (lots of wires and floaty camera moves disguise lack of fighting talent on the actors' parts), but for those of who just want to see some mindless violence, it does the job nicely. Unfortunately the plot has no direction (one set piece after another), and the dialogue is laughably bad. Thankfully, the cheesy lines are so bad they are actually quite entertaining, and blend in nicely with the whole B-movie feel of the film.

Far better than I expected- slick and escapist scenarios, high production values, and the action is great fun. I must however warn potential viewers that Daniel Wu is unspeakably bad as the earnest CIA guy on the tail of the killers- all he has to do is fill the audience in on the plot every now and again and get his ass kicked once. How hard can that be? Anyway, he messes that up nicely.

To conclude, Naked Weapon is the perfect film if you've been out drinking, come home at about 2.00 in the morning, and want to see a film where brain power is not expected from the audience. Two thumbs up!

Babes killing with their bare hands after seducing a guy; what a great premise. I highly recommend this one to anyone that doesn't have an aversion to violence. And if you're worried that movie only offers sex, you're wrong. Actually, I think there are only a couple scenes that actually have nudity. What you get is to see very attractive women learn how to kill, practice killing, and then kill some more. Furthermore, the situations that are presented are especially memorable. The fights are also well done and they are just on the edge of believability. As for the story, this film was constantly surprising me-every time I thought I knew what would happen next, I was wrong! This movie has hot women, brutal violence and an unpredictable and engaging story. This is the best film I have seen this year.

The plot of Naked Weapon is not too bad, but the way it is ultimately presented leaves a lot to be desired. The pacing is dreadful, scenes are arranged haphazardly, and far, far more could have been done with the interesting premise. Most of the dialogue is really terrible.

However, even with all the shortcomings of the script, the movie is saved by its stylism. The action is pretty good, and while the characters obviously don't actually hit each other, their moves and speed are absolutely incredible and breathtaking. The acting is pretty good, too.

All in all, a highly entertaining package filled with sexy girls kicking ass. It's not as good as So Close, though.

7 out of 10.