naked weapon 2002 MOVIE REVIEW

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:11]Hey everybody. This is the Sliders review and welcome to a special edition of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

[00:00:21]And I'm here today to talk to you about Naked Weapon, a 2002 movie. And I'm going all the way back to 2002.

[00:00:34]So, this movie stars that of Maggie Q. You know, Maggie Q is very underrated in my opinion. It also stars that of Daniel Wu. He is also very under weight rated.

[00:00:50]I'm actually going to talk about a television show he was in a few years back that it was amazing until it wasn't.

[00:00:59]And so, when it comes to this movie, I never watched this movie in 2002. In fact, about oh, 10 years ago, I was on YouTube and I saw a bunch of like action clips and I found um some of the action scenes from this movie, but I never knew what this movie was. I just remember seeing a very young Maggie Q in this movie.

[00:01:24]And so, I was on like, you know, the TV and then I saw something called Naked Weapon. I'm all like, "Oh, wait.

[00:01:32]That's Maggie Q. I'm wondering is that the same clip that I saw from like years ago?"

[00:01:38]And it was.

[00:01:40]So, currently right now it's on Tubi. It was on Roku TV channel where that's called, but now it's on Tubi for free.

[00:01:48]>> [snorts] >> And so, this is an action thriller movie and it was directed by Tony um >> [cough] >> Excuse [clears throat] me. Chin. And so, like, the movie also stars that of Anna Wu.

[00:02:05]Now, here's the thing about, like, this movie.

[00:02:12]It is very, and I mean very, 2002, early 2000s type movies. And if you remember, the early 2000s was an interesting transition in movies.

[00:02:30]It was coming off the cheesiness of the '90s. And so, things like The Matrix and Crouching Tiger and stuff like that was around back then. So, that heavily influenced, like, this movie and this martial arts style and everything.

[00:02:46]And so, a lot of early 2000s movies just didn't do well. In fact, this movie was a box office bomb. It was made in Hong Kong. And so, um like, in Hong Kong, it dropped significantly within a month, becoming a box office bomb.

[00:03:09]>> [snorts] >> And only in America, most people probably have never heard of it and stuff.

[00:03:16]The movie is watchable, in my opinion.

[00:03:20]Like, there's some amazing action in this movie. Like, the action is like really good. But, the problem with the action is that is overly choreographed.

[00:03:35]And not only is it, um, overly choreographed, it's very unrealistic.

[00:03:40]What I say is that early 2000s, it's it's similar to The Matrix and Charlie's Angels from back in the day.

[00:03:51]Like, you'll see, like, it's a lot of wire work and just almost like Crouching Tiger esque if you will. You know what I'm saying? Like I remember it's all it's all the action is also very similar to DOA.

[00:04:07]Um Dead or Alive that one movie that came out on DVD back in the early 2000s. Like I remember there's like a scene in this movie same as DOA where somebody is I jumps up in the air grabs onto a rope and they're only holding themselves up by their arms very male gymnastic Olympian style in there I think. Like when they be on those um ropes with the circles and the men only hold themselves up by like their arms and stuff. Like you will see somebody do something like this but like suspended in air for a very long time as they're posing.

[00:04:42]It has that cheesy factor to it.

[00:04:45]But it also has a deeper meaning to it.

[00:04:50]Like this movie isn't entirely like cheesy. It's also very dark. They actually murder kids in this movie and stuff and there's a lot of people who die. I mean a lot.

[00:05:06]But this movie has a very familiar feel to it. It's your typical assassin movie where like you get a group of like young kids or young girls and you kidnap them. You train them to be the best assassin that's possible. Then as they're older they go on their mission and they're supposed to be the best of the best.

[00:05:30]I've seen this done a million times before.

[00:05:34]But I've seen it written and structured a heck of a lot better than this movie.

[00:05:39]Like I said before the movie isn't like it's it's not like god awful nothing like that. It's watchable. It's passable.

[00:05:49]It's fun in some parts, but then it gets kind of awkward and stuff. The time jump is kind of weird.

[00:05:58]And not only that, but like There's a like after you get through like, you know, the greediness of the beginning of the movie, then it goes from that until like a bunch of action.

[00:06:10]Then it slows completely down to that of a crawl when it gets to our two main characters and they interact. To the point where it's just like it's slowing down so much. It takes you completely out the movie. Then it ramps back up to more action and all this other stuff.

[00:06:32]Now, one problem I have with this movie is that okay, other than the acting, the acting is so-so. Some can act, some cannot. And the extras they have in this can't act. There's a sexual assault scene that comes completely out of nowhere and completely unnecessary in my opinion.

[00:06:52]But then the problem is this movie lacks a lot of character development and growth.

[00:07:01]The only real character growth we have in this is from two of the main characters that are best friends, but they act a little bit more than best friends. So you stop and ask and wonder, have they been doing stuff to each other as they was little growing on up?

[00:07:16]Because every time they look at each other in with deep emotional eyes, it's just kind of like I don't know. I I get a sense there was some hanky-panky going on >> [laughter] >> when they was younger >> [gasps] >> and but it never really explains that.

[00:07:35]But you get that feeling, you know what I'm saying? Especially when they shower together or they're in the rain and clean each other up.

[00:07:42]And so other than that, that's the real character development in the movie. But then, there's another part of the movie where two of the main characters, they meet for the first time.

[00:07:54]And they bond in a way like they're like infatuated with each other. They like crushing on each other. They like each other. And it's just kind of like, how?

[00:08:03]Y'all have just met for the first time.

[00:08:05]Y'all don't know each other. Y'all opposite teams of the law.

[00:08:10]And you're acting like you're you will give your life for this person, and you literally just met them.

[00:08:18]And so, the story takes a very odd turn with that, you know?

[00:08:25]And it's just kind of one of those things that should have been built up a lot more than what it was because the love aspect of this movie, the romance, makes absolutely positively no sense.

[00:08:43]There's really no build-up to this.

[00:08:45]There's very little build-up to the cops or the CIA trying to track down these group of assassins and stuff.

[00:08:54]Then there is the end because you follow this movie and you're like, okay, I know who the villain is in this movie, right?

[00:09:01]It's as clear as day. It is this character and nobody else. It's the lady who had all these kids kidnapped and trained and had them kill each other and had them sexually assaulted and everything. But then, all of a sudden, she gets kidnapped by this completely new villain who comes completely out of nowhere at the end of the movie.

[00:09:21]And you're supposed to sympathize and feel bad for her dying, but you don't.

[00:09:28]And so, the movie needs stronger writing, in my opinion. And it needs to be structured a heck of a lot more.

[00:09:38]A lot of cut scene There should be some cut scenes in between the action and the drama and the dialogue but there isn't none of that. Um This is a movie that should have been a heck of a lot better than what it was but sadly it was not. And like I said before, I've seen this done before but better. I've seen this done with Hanna the television show.

[00:10:02]I've seen this Oh, I can't I think of the names of some of this other stuff.

[00:10:06]But it's your typical Oh, Dark Angel like the television show.

[00:10:10]Done a heck of a lot better and and you know, because the TV show has longer pacing and stuff.

[00:10:32]Also, rest in peace Pei Pei Cheng. I think that's how you say her name. Um Ah, remember her from Crouching Tiger, man. She was awesome in that.

[00:10:43]So, like I said before, it was directed by that of Tony Ching.

[00:10:48]But it was written by film producer Wong Jing and from what I've read that this has a similar theme to another movie he made in 1992 called that of Naked Killer.

[00:11:06]And I don't know, I just wish he could have written a much stronger movie.

[00:11:13]Also, I don't know why it's called Naked Weapon. I mean, it is only one naked scene but it's like, you know, when they was getting assaulted and it's just kind of like why was that even in the movie?

[00:11:30]It makes no sense.

[00:11:32]And there are like so many different like, you know, covers for this movie. There's one of them naked in camo um body paint, but they're never like that in the movie.

[00:11:46]I don't know. Like it it's just an enjoyable like it's just a passable movie, you know what I'm saying? Like you could just watch it if you're bored and want to watch some really good action and everything. But the dialogue and the acting and the pacing and you know that just needs work.

[00:12:08]You know, it was cool seeing Daniel Wu and Maggie Q in this movie because I haven't seen I've never seen them when they were like younger and stuff.

[00:12:19]And Maggie Q like first time I ever saw her was that cameo in Rush Hour 2 at the beginning of the movie when Jackie and um ah, was Chris um Tucker's character name. Um let's see, Lee and Carter.

[00:12:40]And James Carter. So when when they're at the beginning of the movie in the car and those two women pull up at the stop light and she literally just has a cameo.

[00:12:51]She doesn't even say nothing. And I'm just kind of like, you're going to waste that talented woman on a cameo?

[00:12:58]And then the first real thing I saw her in was um Die Hard, that one Die Hard movie.

[00:13:07]And she was amazing in that. And then of course she was in La Femme Nikita.

[00:13:11]And Daniel Wu was in um that Tomb Raider movie I reviewed that I didn't like, but this other show called um Badlands.

[00:13:22]And man, Rush Hour. I am not watching Rush Hour 4. I refuse to watch that.

[00:13:29]There's too much disgusting people involved in making that movie and as to why it got made in the first place.

[00:13:38]And I'm canceling Brett Ratner, the producer dude, director, whatever. That was just wrong. That man has literally been accused of sexual assault and I think maybe a tie to the Epstein files, I'm not mistaken.

[00:13:53]And then there's Chris Tucker who was in a photograph in the pool in one of the Epstein files and he's never explained why he was there at the party in the pool and what he may or may have not done.

[00:14:09]And then there's Jackie Chan, you know, him being a womanizer and I don't like the way he treats his daughter. That's just disgusting.

[00:14:17]It's all just kind of like there's too much corruption and and and then Paramount making them No, I'm just No, I'm not I'm not watching it. I'm just not going to watch it.

[00:14:33]And so the movie revolves around that of this CIA agent who's in China named Jack Chen played by Daniel Wu and he is like, you know, trying to figure out these group of like female assassins called the something dolls. I can't remember their name exactly, but they have like a code name that they go by.

[00:15:01]And so like he's looking for them. Then it cuts from that and like we see a group of girls in like this island run by a woman named Madam M.

[00:15:20]And she's played by Almond Wong and she's like the leader of like the assassin group and she only kidnaps like young girls around the entire world.

[00:15:33]And so two of the girls try to like, you know, um escape at night and swim in the ocean and then either they drowned or they got shot, but they're dead. And like I said, this movie will kill young kids. And and so like these young girls, they trained the crap out of them. There's a really intense like training scene and everything. And so she tells them, you know, I'm your new mother now and blah blah blah. So she is technically the main villain until something like happens, you know what I'm saying? And so two of the girls, they grow to be like really good friends.

[00:16:17]Um Kat played by Anna Woo and Charlene played by the uh Maggie Q. And so they are just best friends and they look out for each other no matter what.

[00:16:30]And during their final test all of them have to fight to the death.

[00:16:36]Kind of like you know, two on two at first and they add more in and this and that. Some of the girls are like, this is crazy like, you know, blah blah blah blah blah like, you know, we don't want to do this, but you have to. If not, you're just going to die.

[00:16:48]There's another woman named Jean who is played by Jewel Lee and she just has like an attitude. And I don't know why she has an attitude, but she just does.

[00:16:59]It is one of those things that need stronger writing to explain, but they never explain it. And so >> [snorts] >> they all fight each other and Charlene is close to dying, but then you know, Kat saves her and then Madam M allows three to live instead of just one. She broke her rule. This is what I don't understand and she's she wants an army of female assassins that can just blend in and kill somebody with the most efficient way ever, why is she only allowing three to live and not the rest?

[00:17:36]That don't make no sense and it's never explained as to why she only wants three and not the entire group.

[00:17:43]So then, you know, by this time 6 years have passed and when these little girls are kidnapped, they were no more than like 10 or eight or something like that and 6 years, so they're like either older teenagers or just young adults.

[00:17:58]And so as they have now finally graduated about to go off on their first mission, she drugs them and has them get like assaulted, but they're awake and can and experiencing the whole thing, they just can't move. And she tells them your body belongs to me and like you have to be able to do whatever it takes, you know, to get the mission done even if you have to sleep with like a man I sent you to kill. And this part don't make absolutely positively no sense whatsoever and it's disgusting how the men are high-fiving each other and crap like that.

[00:18:39]So at some point in time after they do their like assassin stuff here and there, you have Jack who talks to Charlene's mother and she is not willing to help him whatsoever cuz she knows that he will have to arrest Charlene and she just wants her daughter back.

[00:18:59]This is when Charlene decides to spy on her mom, which is something she's not supposed to do.

[00:19:04]Jack ends up finding her and they get trapped inside like a um frozen truck type thing. And so, they are fighting, they're freezing to death, and at some point, like, this is when everything slows down. They start to bond. And he, you know, cuz she'd wanted to know why you've been following me, blah blah blah blah blah. Well, duh, he's a cop and he's there to arrest you.

[00:19:31]They're acting like they're in love with each other, and they've never really truly met.

[00:19:37]And so, like, she knocks him out and everything, and he keeps bugging her mom, but like the mom just like won't give up her daughter or try to help find her.

[00:19:52]Anyways, at some point in time, the mom ends up getting stabbed. Charlene tries to like stop the person who's like doing it.

[00:19:59]>> [snorts] >> And here's the thing that don't make no sense.

[00:20:07]One of the final missions, because here's the thing about Madam M. She tells them, you know, you're going to be with me for a couple of years, and then once you're done assassinating everybody I want you to assassinate, you can go off to do whatever you want and live your life, or you can stay with me and keep on killing. Anyways, she is hung up to like um and strung up, and she's like dead.

[00:20:29]Because some mob boss wanted revenge on her because she had one of his people killed, like a family member or something.

[00:20:39]I don't know, but and so, like, he kills her. So, then the last two remaining girls, they try to avenge her.

[00:20:49]And I'm just kind of like, hold up, Madam M is the major villain. It's good she's dead. [laughter] She does not need to be like avenged.

[00:20:58]She has ruined these girls' lives and stuff, stole them from their parents, trained them to be killers, and then had them assaulted and there I think.

[00:21:07]And they're like wanted all around the world. And so what did I say to other girl name played by Anna? Cat. She ends up getting kidnapped and stuff, right? So Charlene and Jack um you know they take um Charlene's mother to the hospital but they don't have a car so he puts her on her um his back and he runs the entire way. And I'm just like dude you're killing her more.

[00:21:39]>> [laughter] >> But all that bouncing around running like she should be laying flat and call an ambulance and all this other stuff.

[00:21:46]You don't move a person when they're bleeding out.

[00:21:49]>> [laughter] >> But anyways they eventually head out to the beach and they like do it and then you know like it's a weird it's the the this whole this whole love romance thing between them is weird. Like her friend is literally being kidnapped and about to die. Her mom is dying in the hospital and they're just doing it on the beach.

[00:22:16]>> [laughter] >> But then she eventually leaves him, rescues her friend um kills like the major boss dude and everything in a very unrealistic fight scene.

[00:22:29]But then like her mom's totally okay and like he is sad wishing he could be with her cuz he thinks she's dead because the way her and the boss dude fought she killed him by a move she remembered. But she's just laying on the ground like hurt. But then it's like wait she can't be dead.

[00:22:47]Nobody saw her take a blow and the dude can't punch it that hard. But then like it's revealed that she survived and and so Jack is now like looking for her and everything and this could have been a really good movie if like it was just written better.

[00:23:07]>> [laughter] >> Like I know I sound weird with all the stuff I'm saying. That's because it actually happens in the movie and the way it does and it's just kind of like there needs to be better structure in this movie. Like there really really should be in stuff.

[00:23:23]>> [snorts] >> Also, what's kind of gross is that like the age difference. Like it's never really truly said how old she is.

[00:23:37]But she got captured when she was really young. Six years has passed. She's somewhere either a teen or older teen or young adult.

[00:23:45]And he's literally been tracking her down ever since like she was younger.

[00:23:53]I just don't get it.

[00:23:55]>> [laughter] >> And I just don't get how like you know, he's a cop. He was going to take her in.

[00:24:00]He sees her.

[00:24:01]She's attractive and she's just kind of like forget all her training and just keep staring in his eyes and It's one of those things that just should have been written a heck of a lot stronger.

[00:24:14]I mean Madame M, you just can't like feel sorry for her.

[00:24:20]You just can't.

[00:24:21]She did horrible things to these young girls.

[00:24:25]And maybe if they would have shown her interacting with them more, the show why they care about her so much, maybe.

[00:24:33]It the script is just very very very rushed.

[00:24:38]Also with Charlene and Cat, I would have liked to see a lot more growth and development with them. Like I said before, there is some but it's just not strong enough.

[00:24:48]Like the movie should have focused way more on them and have more scenes to show what they've done to to in like that torture camp training facility, you know?

[00:24:59]And it's just that they're just really, really good friends who I swear don't act like friends.

[00:25:06]>> [laughter] >> Happy Asian and Pacific Islander month, everybody.

[00:25:14]All righty. Well, I'll talk to y'all later. Bye.