Arma perfetta

Jeff Speakman really shines in this early 90's beat em' up. He has a lot of charisma, good screen presence and great fighting skills. Directed by Mark DiSalle who made JCVD classics Bloodsport and Kickboxer previous to this. When his family friend Kim is harassed then murdered by the Korean crime syndicate, Jeff Speakman beats up many bad guys on his mission for justice. The pace is quick with much well choreographed martial arts action. The support cast is great with Mako, James Hong, Professor Toru Tanaka, James Lew as well as many Asian Hollywood regulars that worked during this period.If you like the Van Damme and Segal movies of the late 80's/early 90's you will most likely dig The Perfect Weapon. It is too bad Jeff Speakman did'nt make many films with a decent budget. If he had the chance to do more projects of the same caliber and quality as TPW, he would be a household name in the action genre.

This is one of my all time favorite martial arts flicks. Is the acting going to win any awards? No. But what makes it great is that Speakman takes hits when he is fighting, a lot of hits and sometimes he goes down and other times he uses incorporates the hit into his attack but he isn't Superman and he does take a beating. This gives the fight scenes a realism missing from so many movies of this kind. Unfortunately in his small catalog of movies Speakman never had another of this level. As much as I want to like LWM (and part of me still loves the movie) I hate Chuck Norris too much to separate his nonsense from his characters. I know this statement will win me no love for this review but Jeff Speakman should have had that long, successful run over crazy old Chuck Norris.

This is my favorite martial arts movie. The plot is easy to follow, which makes it good for non-martial arts viewers like me. Jeff has an easygoing personality and is very easy on the eyes. There are some elements of Asian-American meets Asian, and Jeff melts into that world almost effortlessly. The opening scene is memorable as Jeff shows us some of his martial arts moves in full condition, and has a good opening song. The film never drags. Great movie for couples to watch together as it isn't necessarily a "guy" film. Unfortunately, Jeff never followed through on the promise he showed in this, his best film. He later started doing mellow kind of dad movies. His time would have been better spent developing his acting abilities, which are rather wooden. But it's a good kind of b-grade acting.

..But that's not to say the movie is all-around great. It's a very typical low-budget action flick. The story is pretty cookie-cutter as far as action movies go. It isn't Shakespeare believe me. And the acting is substandard at best. But Jeff Speakman to his enormous credit is a very accomplished martial artist. And having studied Kenpo for many years I can safely say that it's one of the most faithful films to capture the art. And what is even more impressive is the way the film portrays how Kenpo works when compared to different styles (like Tae Kwon Do).

So despite some minor inadequacies it's pretty awesome in many other respects. So for that I give it major credit. And to be honest it's a fun, feel good flick. I would recommend it to any martial arts fan. It's a good time.

Jeff Speakman's performance in "The Perfect Weapon" is awesome. This plot is able to magnificently interweave furious action sequences with the literary theme of the return home. While the plot differs markedly from that of "The Odyssey" by the epic bard Homer, there is still one vital thread that can be explored: both heroes return home after a long exile to kick ass and reclaim their positions in society. The ensuing list of possible contrasts and comparisons is exhausting if not infinite. However, if one is to understand one point, it is that in both works, martial arts are employed to signify the process of social transition; the re-integration of the hero into society.

To be a little less formal, let use the martial arts aspect as a segue into a nifty little observation. Jeff Speakman is a reasonably well known proponent of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, developed in U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. "The Perfect Weapon" is an excellent primer on the power and wisdom of this art. The clearest example of this exposition is at Master Lo's Kenpo school, where Speakman learns both the skills and valuable lesson he will keep with him for the rest of his life; the most important being the difference between the tiger and the dragon. Yet, the movie is set in Koreatown, where Tae Kwon Do is the martial art du jour. The korean flags are prominent in the gym scene, and the references to Korean culture abound. There appears then, to be a subtle not so subtle match up between Kenpo Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The climax of this tension comes as Speakman confronts Leo Lee (Bandana) in the gym, looking for a guy who is 'good in Tae Kwon Do.' Does the ensuing three on one fight symbolize the clash of fighting styles? No one will ever know what Ed Parker or Mark DiSalle wanted to achieve here, but the contrast is too present to be simply a coincidence.

Alas, all reviews must end somewhere, and though I have much more to say, I will end my two cents with a small criticism of the action in the film. Anyone with a decent amount of martial arts experience will note that in the final warehouse scene, the knife attacks are undoubtedly more akin to training exercises than to real street techniques, but then again that may have been purposely done. It is also worth noting that this author has minimal training in Kajukenbo (an art based on Kenpo) and is far from an expert in the field.

The one thing that I can say with reasonable auctoritas is that this movie is electric from start to finish.