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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.
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ZOOM
Cover art courtesy Tai Seng.
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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.
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DVD
menu courtesy Tai Seng. |
FILM
BOARD RATINGS AND CONSUMER ADVICE
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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]
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.
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Copyright
© John Charles 2000 - 2002. All Rights Reserved.
E-mail: mail@dighkmovies.com
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