Asian Movie Review: Naked Soldier (絕色武器,2012)

Last night we went to see "Naked Soldier",  the latest incarnation in Wong Jing's film series started with 1992's "Naked Killer" featuring Simon Yam and Chingmy Yau.... which by now is a cult classic for its film noir feel mated with exploitative sexuality and over the top violence.  2002's "Naked Weapon" starring Daniel Wu and Maggie Q (and Anya Wu and Andrew Lin) was not nearly as good.

So I had very muted expectations for this third installment,  aside from the cast, which includes AnD friends Jennifer Tse, Andy On, Philip Ng,  Ankie Beilke and Ian Powers: 

Like the 2nd installment, this one builds on the same theme of its predecessor except with a new cast of characters --  a team of femme fatale assassins trained from youth.  The investigating officer (Andy) falls in love with one of them (Jennifer) and eventually saves her from her life as a killer.   This time they also connect another theme from Naked Weapon, the long lost parent reunion (Jennifer is actually Sammo's long lost daughter). 

That's the idea at least... execution, of course, is another issue.  This movie suffers from a very thin script and relatively low budget.... the dialogue is unintentionally hilarious at some points and groan-worthy at others.   It also won't win any awards for historical accuracy either!  the bizarre thing about it is that its supposed to take place in 1995 for some reason,  and yet throughout the movie the characters are using new laptops and driving a 2012 Buick Sedan from China.   Its obviously a case of product sponsorship....  but not sure why they even needed to set the date to be 1995...     

Hey Ankie, Flock of Seagulls called from 1980, they want their hair back! :-D One of the ways to overcome a bad script and low budget in this kind of film is to crank up the sex and violence...    that's what the original did well that made it a hit.... unfortunately "Naked Soldier" holds back and doesn't have nearly enough of either (especially the sex).     The action is kind of a mixed bag too.   The guys (Sammo,  Andy, Phil, etc) in the film have pretty good action scenes, but the general rule of thumb applies for the girls -- the hotter the girl,  the less you should expect for them to do their own stunts.  Jennifer and Ankie do have a few good fight scenes in the finale (where you can see its not a stunt double),  but temper your expectations. :-P

Despite this, the action in the last 30 minutes of the movie is pretty decent and is a bit of a throw back to an early 90's HK movie.... (much like Wong Jing's 2011 Treasure Inn),  so that's a plus.

One other area the film does  well in,  is comedically bizarre costumes and characters...  not sure if this is some sort of homage to the over the top costumes of the original or what,  but it was something to keep you amused.  (Poor Ian Powers,  always type cast to be either an action villain or a gay stereotype.... at least this time he got to do both at once!)  :-D Hard for me to give this one a fair score.  If you're a fan of the original or a fan of any of the cast members. I suggest you check it out with a 6/10 score.   If you're not into HK 90's action films, this film may not be your cup of tea.