Bullet Points: Weapon of Choice

Weapon of Choice or as it is also know Fist 2 Fist 2: Weapon of Choice was released in 2014 and stars one of the hardest working men in the action genre today, Jino Kang. I say hard working because Jino also wrote, produced and directed the film.

Now don’t let the alternate title of Fist 2 Fist 2 fool you. The movie is not a direct follow up to Kang’s 2011 Fist 2 Fist, instead the Fist 2 Fist name was used by the film’s distributors mimicking the Don “The Dragon” Wilson Bloodfist business model from decades earlier. So in other words, if you never saw the original Fist 2 Fist, you don’t have to worry about that if you decide to check out Weapon of Choice.

But if you did see the original Fist 2 Fist and you check out Weapon of Choice I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised by the jump in quality that Weapon of Choice made.  The location selections and use of the aerial shots of San Francisco through out the film gave Weapon of Choice a more big budget feel and expanded the scope of the movie. This is not meant as a put down on Fist 2 Fist, but as a testament to the progression that Kang is making as a filmmaker.

• The Premise: Jino Kang plays Jack Lee. Jack is a former assassin, now living a much simpler life raising his teenage niece Jaime (Kelly Lou Dennis). When we first see Jack and Jaime interact, you almost feel like this is the pilot for a sitcom with Jaime trying to set her bachelor uncle up with a special lady each episode with humorous and sometimes disastrous results… but that feeling quickly disappears when “action movie reality” kicks in and some masked men show up and abduct Jaime while Jack was upstairs getting a workout in before dinner. Jack makes it downstairs and takes out one of the masked men, but he is late to the party and Jaime is gone. Jack unmasks the thug and recognizes him as a former associate when he worked for crime boss Michael Banducci after telling Jack about the dump he took earlier in the day, the unmasked man gives the address to where Jaime is being held, then the unmasked man dies.

• The Good Guys: The movie opens up with a display of just how much of a badass Jack Lee is. His actions in the opening sequence that including shooting guys in the head and engaging in some hand to hand combat are a stark contrast to what we see moments later when Jack is interacting with his niece, but the audience clearly knows that Jack can get the job done. But Jack isn’t the only force of good in Weapon of Choice. Seasoned action movie fans will know when you have mobsters involved, you know the Feds are going to be coming out of the woodwork. The FBI Agent in charge of this investigation is one Hap Koehler (Don Williams). Hap butts heads with the local authorities, in particular Ashlie Jordan of the San Francisco Police Department. Their battle for jurisdiction doesn’t make them friends, but Ashlie (or Ash) does get extremely close with Jack Lee… if you know what I mean. When Jack is shot by one of Banducci’s hired guns it is Ashlie that takes Jack to her brother’s farm house where Jack will be off the radar, get patched up by her brother (he’s a veterinarian) and can recuperate from his gunshot wound. From there their relationship escalates.

• The Bad Guys: Michael Banducci is a ruthless sonofabitch who has a motto for those who are under his employ. “You fail. You die.” Pretty extreme and extremely permanent. Banducci is played by Douglas Olsson. Olsson looked the part and was a believable mob boss and I felt Banducci’s performance was one of the highlights of the movie. Banducci has a right hand man at his side, Don Orloff. Orloff was played by Russian born actor Artem Mishin. Michael’s diabolical plan, aside from wiping Jack Lee off the face of the Earth, involves selling Jaime Lee to a rich pervert who likes his girls to be the jailbait variety.

Weapon of Choice provided some solid action and was a step forward for the star of the movie, Jino Kang. I look forward to seeing more of Jino’s work in the future and I hope action fans get to see Jino mix it up with some of the more established action movie heroes and villains out there in future projects.

One gimmick that has been established here on Bulletproof Action is everybody’s favorite, the Bonus Bullet Points…

• Old School: I love that Jack makes his weapon of choice a samurai sword. Gunplay is all well and good and I’m always up for a good shoot ’em up, but from time to time I do enjoy when we get to see some sword wielding action and Jino Kang delivers in Weapon of Choice.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see a “dancer” with birthday candle pasties on, then this is the movie for you
• Slick AF: The opening credits of Weapon of Choice were slick. Another of the tiny things that were done extremely well making this movie feel much bigger than the budget it had.
• Dancing with the Action Stars: There is a scene at the farm house where Ash tells Jack about her dream of being a ballroom dancer. Jack Lee is a smooth operator and quickly gets the radio on and the two start dancing the afternoon away. This leads to Jack and Ash doing the horizontal mambo… if you know what I mean.