Arma desnuda

Naked Weapon, from prolific writer/producer Wong Jing and director Siu-Tung Ching, is one of the most preposterous films that I have seen in a long time. It is also one of the most consistently entertaining.

Madame M (Almen Wong) is the head of an organisation that provides sexy assassins for hire. When an operative is killed, she abducts a large number of pretty teenage girls (all of whom are adept at fighting) and takes them to a remote island where they are trained for six years to become ruthless killers (special move: sever the spine with finger tips and remove several vertebrae!).

At the end of their gruelling training, the girls are pitted against each other in duels to the death. The last three alive are then given the opportunity to work for Madame M in exchange for their eventual freedom.

Hong Kong hotties Maggie Q, Anya, and Jewel Lee play the film's ridiculously attractive final trio of killers, and fans of slick, sexy action should not be disappointed: director Siu-Tung Ching delivers loads of high-kicking martial arts action scenes (thoughtfully shot in slow motion so as to give male viewers even longer to ogle the stars' bodies as they perform all manner of acrobatic moves); there are gratuitous bloody gun fights in which the gals sport teensy outfits; and we even get a couple of steamy sex scenes (Maggie Q kindly gets 'em out for the lads!).

It is true that this is a dumb, trashy, sexist, and brutally violent movie—an exercise in style over content which lacks convincing acting and a decent plot. But who cares, when you've got stunning visuals, a touch of gore, crazy Matrix-style fight scenes, and, towards the end, quite a bit of audacious wire-work (at one point, Charlene ends up balanced on one leg atop a bad guy's head)? Certainly not me!