This article is about the 1991 film. For the British TV series, see
Perfect Weapon.
The Perfect Weapon is a 1991 film starring Jeff Speakman. It tells the story of a young man, Jeff, who is trained in the martial art of Kenpo, and his fight against the Korean mafia families.
Speakman was a student of and was advised closely by Ed Parker in the making of this film. Parker has been accredited with founding American Kenpo as well as teaching the Tracy Brothers who founded the very successful franchise of Tracy's Kenpo.
The film's taglines included "No gun. No knife. No equal." and "Just try him." and is the only well-known Hollywood depiction of Kenpo techniques on-screen. The hit 1990s song The Power by rap group Snap! is featured extensively in the movie's soundtrack.
Plot Summary
Jeff Sanders (played by Jeff Speakman) leads a double-life: by day, he's a simple, unassuming construction worker, and by night, an expert Kenpo student and master of his craft.
When Jeff lost his mother as a young man, he became an outcast and frequently lashed out at his family and society in an attempt to assuage his anger. His father gained the idea from a mutual friend, Kim (played by Mako), to enroll Jeff in a Kenpo school to better manage his rage and feelings.
Jeff, now estranged from his family and living alone, continued with his courses in Kenpo and eventually gained Kim as a mentor and father figure.
Years later (as the movie begins) Jeff decides to return to his old neighborhood and visit his mentor Kim. It becomes clear quite quickly that Kim is having trouble with local mafia families, due to his refusal to pay them off and use his antique store to peddle drugs. Jeff tries to help out Kim, but only ends up doing more harm than good to Kim's reputation with the mafia, and this ultimately ends up having Kim murdered by an anonymous hit-man.
Jeff vows to avenge Kim's death, and uses all his resources and fighting skills to go against the mafia and find out who ordered Kim's murder.
As it happens, or to complicate matters more, his younger brother, played by John Dye (Touched By An Angel), is the cop who is investigating the murder.
Highlights of Jeff's Skills
The Perfect Weapon is well-known for showcasing Jeff Speakman's excellent fighting abilities and lightning-fast Kenpo strikes, such as the following:
- Jeff takes on three members of the mafia when he first visits Kim's shop. One of the members snaps a stick that Jeff is holding in half and then Jeff proceeds to use them as Eskrima sticks (Form 7).
- When trying to catch Kim's murderer as he's driving away, Jeff is approached by 4 thugs who demand his wallet. He manages to knock them all unconscious using rapid punches, which is a trademark Kenpo technique.
- In one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, Jeff is trying to get information out of a gym owner who refuses to cooperate. Jeff then offers to engage the gym-fighter and his opponents, and dispatches one of them using a very rapid succession of palm strikes and stomach punches, another staple of all variations of Kenpo.
- Jeff enters a nightclub and has trouble getting information from the thugs within, so proceeds to use Kenpo punches on the dance floor to prove his point.
- Jeff raids a warehouse towards the end of the film, and dispatches a room full of thugs using Eskrima sticks and swift kicks.
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