Hong Kong Digital is sponsored by Poker Industries. Please see the Hong Kong Digital home page for a special offer from Poker Industries to Hong Kong Digital readers.

Issue #127 HOME E-mail: mail@dighkmovies.com BACK ISSUES September 30th, 2002

Body Weapon
(1999; China Star Entertainment Group/Win's Entertainment/Jing's Production)

RATING 10
A Masterpiece
9
Excellent
8
Highly Recommended
7
Very Good
6
Recommended
5
Marginal Recommendation
4
Not Recommended
3
Poor
2
Definitely Not Recommended
1
Dreadful

Cantonese: Yuen chi mo hei
Mandarin: Yuan shi wu qi
English: Original Weapon


A trio of assailants (one clad in an black leather S&M hood) violate and slaughter a young couple parked at a local makeout spot. Police inspectors Wu (FIST POWER's Vincent Zhao Wenzhou/Chiu Man-cheuk) and Lee (Stephen Au Kam-tong, riffing on Bruce Lee) are assigned to nab the culprits, who are suspected of perpetrating a similar crime the week before. Longtime friends and martial arts experts, Wu and Lee both lust after fellow officer Wong Siu-ling (RAPED BY AN ANGEL 3's Angie Cheung Wai-yee) but the shy Chi-kwun intentionally lets his buddy win her heart. On their wedding night, Lee and Siu-ling are attacked by the rapists; he is killed and she is left with a virulent case of herpes. Desperate for revenge, Siu-ling hooks up with Pearl (NAKED KILLER director Clarence Fok Yiu-leung, appearing sans credit), a flamboyant queen, who teaches her to target the men's "G-spot," a vulnerable area behind their testicles. According to Pearl, one well-placed kick there from a woman in high heels is guaranteed to send the victim on to the next plain of existence.


Like most Wong Jing exploitation quickies, BODY WEAPON is essentially impervious to any sort of critical evaluation, existing merely to blend together typical HK trash cinema elements like non-graphic (but still unpleasant) sexual violence, puerile humor, low-grade kung fu, and a prehistoric depiction of homosexuals (all preening queens or murderous deviants) into an unsavoury mix. The hooded killer's identity is obvious, so there is no mystery, and the storyline is deliberately absurd, so the procedural aspects are pointless. Aside from its heroine's novel method of dispatching her targets, the movie also adds little to the rape/revenge cycle, not exactly the most challenging of genres. Those in search of politically incorrect titillation will no doubt bite based on the enticing poster alone but, even by the bottom rung standards of the Wong Jing assembly line, BODY WEAPON has little in its corner. Elvis Tsui Kam-kong co-stars as Wu's highly suspicious supervisor/martial arts coach.


ZOOM
Cover art courtesy Tai Seng.

ZOOM
Angie Cheung. Image courtesy Tai Seng.

ZOOM
Vincent Zhao. Image courtesy Tai Seng.
DVD SPECS
Tai Seng #94173 (U.S. Label)

Cantonese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Mandarin (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 2.0), and Vietnamese (Dolby Digital 2.0) Language Tracks (all post-synched)

Optional English Subtitles

10 Chapters Illustrated In the Menu With (Tiny) Stills

Letterboxed (1.80:1)

Coded for ALL Regions

91 Minutes

Contains moderate violence, moderate sexual violence, coarse language, mild sexual content, and brief nudity.


DVD menu courtesy Tai Seng.


FILM BOARD RATINGS AND CONSUMER ADVICE
British Columbia: 18A (Sexual Violence, Suggestive Scenes)
Great Britain: 18 [Passed With Cuts totalling 3 minutes and 41 seconds]
Hong Kong: IIB
Ontario: R
Singapore: PG [Passed With Cuts]


PRESENTATION
The image is fairly soft and contrasty but that is in keeping with the style regularly employed by director Aman Cheung Man (not to be confused with actress Sharla Cheung Man) and is not a fault of the presentation. The 5.1 Cantonese track is essentially "wide mono" with no notable separations and basic use of the surround channels; there are also 2.0 mono tracks in English (which saddles the characters with anglicized names and inappropriate voices), Mandarin, and Vietnamese. The subtitles offer a significantly improved translation over those found on the import Mei Ah DVD and VCD. Extras consist of HK theatrical and domestic video trailers, spots for other Tai Seng DVD titles, and filmographies for Cheung, Zhao, and the director. There is also a commentary by Stefan Hammond, in which the HOLLYWOOD EAST author imparts some information about the production and performers but spends a large portion of the track laboriously stating the obvious. There is a mildly disruptive layer change at 1:15:18.



Having problems printing this review with Netscape? Go to the File option in the Netscape Task Bar, click the Page Setup from the sub-menu and make sure that in the Page Options listings, the Black Text box is clicked. This should resolve the "no text" printing problem.


Click here for more information about The Hong Kong Filmography

Copyright © John Charles 2000 - 2002. All Rights Reserved.
E-mail: mail@dighkmovies.com