The Perfect Weapon (1991 film)
| The Perfect Weapon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Mark DiSalle |
| Written by | David C. Wilson |
| Produced by | Pierre David Mark DiSalle Line Producer: Marty Hornstein Executive Producer: Ralph Winter |
| Starring | Jeff Speakman John Dye Mako Mariska Hargitay Charles Kalani, Jr. |
| Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
| Edited by | Andrew Cohen Wayne Wahrman |
| Music by | Gary Chang |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | March 15, 1991 |
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000[1] |
| Box office | $14,061,361 |
The Perfect Weapon is a 1991 action-martial arts film starring acting newcomer Jeff Speakman.
Set in Los Angeles, the film relates the story of a young man, Jeff, who is trained in the martial art of Kenpō, and his fight against the Korean Mafia families.
Speakman was a student of and was advised closely by Ed Parker in the making of this film.[2][3][4]
The film's taglines included "No gun. No knife. No equal." and "Just try him." and is the only well-known Hollywood depiction of Kenpo techniques on-screen.
The hit 1990s song The Power by rap group Snap! is featured extensively in the movie's soundtrack.[5]
Plot
Jeff Sanders (Jeff Speakman) leads a double life: by day, he is a simple, unassuming construction worker, and by night, an expert Kenpo student and master of his craft.
When Jeff lost his mother as a teenager, he became an outcast and frequently lashed out at his family and society in an attempt to assuage his anger. His father, Captain Sanders (Beau Starr), gained the idea from a mutual friend, Kim (Mako), to enroll Jeff in a Kenpō school to better manage his rage and feelings. But one day, he got into a fight with a bully who beat up his younger brother, and severely injured him with his martial arts. Displeased with his lack of self-control, Jeff's father forced him to move out of home. Jeff, now estranged from his family and living alone, continued with his courses in Kenpo and eventually gained Kim as a mentor and father figure.
Years later (as the movie begins) Jeff decides to return to his old neighborhood and visit his mentor Kim when he detects that Kim is in danger. Jeff discovers that Kim is having trouble with local Korean mafia families, due to his refusal to pay them off and use his antique store to peddle drugs. Jeff helps out Kim by beating up the people who attacked his store, but only ends up doing more harm than good to Kim's reputation with the mafia, and this ultimately ends up having Kim murdered by an anonymous hit-man, Tanaka (Professor Toru Tanaka).
Jeff vows to avenge Kim's death, and uses all his resources and fighting skills to go against the mafia and find out who ordered Kim's murder. He remembers a boy named Ivan (Dante Basco) who lived with Kim, and tries to find him to ask if he knows about the murder. However, Jeff's estranged younger brother Adam (John Dye), now also a cop, is investigating the case, and warns Jeff against trying to settle matters in his own hands. In his hunt to avenge Kim's murder, Jeff is approached by a mafia boss named Yung (James Hong) who claims to be Kim's friend and knew of a possible lead to Kim's killer. Jeff is directed to Sam, one of the mafia bosses in Korea town, who was believed to be the one who ordered Kim's death. However, upon breaking into Sam's residence and attempting to kill him, Ivan appears to reveal that Sam was Kim's friend and was the one who took Ivan for protection. Ivan also explains that Yung is the one responsible for Kim's death, and he was merely attempting to use Jeff as a weapon to kill his rival boss Sam.
Jeff now plans to kill Yung, but Ivan warns him that Yung is always protected by his hit-man Tanaka. In order to eliminate Tanaka, Jeff asks Ivan to falsely testify (to Adam) that he witnessed Tanaka murdering Kim. The plan is have Adam arrest Tanaka so that Jeff can get Yung alone to kill him. Adam and the police eventually capture Tanaka after a long car chase, but to Jeff's dismay Yung was not in the car with him. Tanaka later manages to escape from the police by severely injuring Adam and breaking out of the police car.
Ivan overhears that Yung plans to escape the country by boat, and tells Jeff about Yung's drug factory. Now further fueled for vengeance, Jeff sets out to attack Yung's drug factory, using his martial art skills and various weapons to defeat guards and hitmen protecting Yung. He eventually subdues Yung, but is attacked by Tanaka. Although Tanaka gains the upper hand during their fight, Jeff manages to kill Tanaka by setting fire to a gas tank he was standing next to. Despite initially wanting to kill Yung, in the end Jeff decides to capture him alive (showing he has learned self-control) and turns Yung in to his father, Captain Sanders.
The film ends with Jeff entering the kenpo dojo to visit his former master.
Cast
- Jeff Speakman as Jeff Sanders[6]
- John Dye as Adam
- Mako as Kim
- James Hong as Yung
- Mariska Hargitay as Jennifer
- Dante Basco as Ivan de Guzman
- Professor Toru Tanaka as Tanaka
- Seth Sakai as Master Lo
- Beau Starr as Capt. Carl Sanders
- Clyde Kusatsu as Detective Wong
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Kai
Box office and reception
The Perfect Weapon debuted at the box office at number six with a three-day box-office take of $3.9 million and had a total domestic box office gross of $14,061,361.[7]
The film was met with mixed to negative reviews,[8][9][10] with a 33% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on nine reviews.[11]
Home media
The Perfect Weapon was released on February 14, 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
References
- ^ "Martial Artist Ready To Fight The Good Fight". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ^ Schaefer, Stephen (1991-03-26). "Speakman's career kicks in". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ^ "The Perfect Casting?". The Los Angeles Times. 1991-01-06. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ^ Ketcham, Diane (1991-03-10). "LONG ISLAND JOURNAL". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (1991-03-16). "Review/Film; Antiseptic Martial Arts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ Krance, Magda (1991-03-03). "A `Perfect' homecoming What's `the next Bruce Lee' doing kicking around Hersey High?". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
- ^ Broeske, Pat H. (1991-03-19). "THREE-DAY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : 'Lambs' Is Still Roaring". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (1991-03-18). "A 'Perfect Weapon' With Limits". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Perfect Weapon". The Washington Post. 1991-03-18. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Holden, Stephen (1991-03-16). "Review/Film; Antiseptic Martial Arts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Perfect Weapon". Rotten Tomatoes/Flixster. Retrieved 2013-08-24.