"Killer Dogs" director Titus Paar's fifth feature film "The Perfect Weapon" ranks as a subpar, Orwellian, sci-fi thriller set in 2029 America where a repressive totalitarian state maintains 24/7 surveillance. Paar and three other scenarists: first-time scribe Alex Brenner, Jesse Cilio of "The Story of Your Life," and Ulysses Oliver of "The Refugees" are to blame for this formulaic Big Brother potboiler that brings nothing new to the table. Undoubtedly, Paar inserted recurring neon-scintillating, nocturnal city-scapes designed to evoke Ridley Scott's landmark "Bladerunner." The society of "The Perfect Weapon" has just survived a terrible war, but a ruler known as the Director who intends to keep its fascist practices to hold society together. Paar displays neither imagination nor artistry in staging the action scenes. Johnny Messner doesn't make much of an impression. Richard Tyson plays the most interesting character, while the paunchy Seagal gives his usual peripheral performance. Clearly, the low-budget is reflected prominently in the shortage of futuristic cars. Most of the technology looks Microsoft inspired and the cell phones are only nominally altered. Johnny Messner portrays an anonymous "Hitman" type assassin with a cleanly shaven noggin named Axon Rey. Code-named Condor, our hero brandishes two automatic pistols with silencers. An honorably discharged veteran with medals who has been wounded three times, Condor is an elite assassin with 38 successful sanctions to his credit. The natty Condor demonstrates his expertise with an automatic pistol when he ices a traitorous politician, White (Lance E. Nichols of "American Heist"), who has been hacking propaganda inserts into the Federation's television network. Disastrously, Condor errs when he spares by the life of an innocent bystander with the politician. Condor's lapse in judgment prompts the Controller (Richard Tyson of "Black Hawk Down") to point a gun in his face and tell him he must have his emotions purged. Meantime, with his slicked-back hair and orange-tinted sunglasses, Steve Seagal plays The Director of this futuristic society in what is essentially a supporting role. Predictably, he isn't happy about Condor's conduct and prefers to kill him. The Controller convinces his superior to allow Condor live and be reprogramed.
No sooner has our heavily tattooed protagonist been packed off for reconditioning at Gulag 7 than he breaks out of custody. This change-of-plot action occurs about a half-hour into this thriller. Our hero discovers that his affectionate wife, Nina (Sasha Jackson of "Jarhead 3: The Siege"), is alive instead of dead. Indeed, Condor has felt horrible since his blond wife supposedly died two years earlier. They have a steamy shower scene together after they reunite. Before these long-lost lovers can consummate their love, the state's storm troopers smash down the door and The Interrogator (Vernon Wells of "Weird Science") shackles him to a wall and torture him with gusto. Of course, we expect our heroes must suffer for the good of society. The Interrogator wants to know the identity of the mole who helped Condor escape from the Gulag. He uses pliers to extract Condor's teeth. Ultimately, he wants to use a razor to slice off his genitals. "It is unavoidable," the Interrogator defends his judgment. The Controller surprises both Condor and us when he blasts the top of the Interrogator's head off. The Controller informs Condor that he must now eliminate the Director.
Condor and the Director square off. Initially, the Director trounces Condor and then struggles to reason with his best killer. Mind you, the Director should have killed Condor, but you cannot kill the hero of the movie. "The Perfect Weapon" then deploys its first surprise. The evil Controller has programmed Condor so he believes that Nina is his wife and that she has died. Condor is in the Director's lair when he sees the video of the Controller's revelations. The Controller is the actual insurrectionist, and Condor sets out to destroy terminate him. The second surprise occurs when Nina guns down the Controller at point-blank range. After he learns that Nina has betrayed him, Condor executes her without the least bit of sympathy. When Condor and the Director share drinks after the outcome, our hero kills the Director with a knife and leaves him to bleed out. The Director's red-bereted guard is prepared to splatter our hero all over the palace, but a swarm of sword-wielding people intervene and frees society. In the third and final surprise, we learn that the Director's brother had been impersonating him the entire time. The real Director is poised to step forward.
"The Perfect Weapon" qualifies as a perfect bore. Not even its three surprises make it worth watching.
No sooner has our heavily tattooed protagonist been packed off for reconditioning at Gulag 7 than he breaks out of custody. This change-of-plot action occurs about a half-hour into this thriller. Our hero discovers that his affectionate wife, Nina (Sasha Jackson of "Jarhead 3: The Siege"), is alive instead of dead. Indeed, Condor has felt horrible since his blond wife supposedly died two years earlier. They have a steamy shower scene together after they reunite. Before these long-lost lovers can consummate their love, the state's storm troopers smash down the door and The Interrogator (Vernon Wells of "Weird Science") shackles him to a wall and torture him with gusto. Of course, we expect our heroes must suffer for the good of society. The Interrogator wants to know the identity of the mole who helped Condor escape from the Gulag. He uses pliers to extract Condor's teeth. Ultimately, he wants to use a razor to slice off his genitals. "It is unavoidable," the Interrogator defends his judgment. The Controller surprises both Condor and us when he blasts the top of the Interrogator's head off. The Controller informs Condor that he must now eliminate the Director.
Condor and the Director square off. Initially, the Director trounces Condor and then struggles to reason with his best killer. Mind you, the Director should have killed Condor, but you cannot kill the hero of the movie. "The Perfect Weapon" then deploys its first surprise. The evil Controller has programmed Condor so he believes that Nina is his wife and that she has died. Condor is in the Director's lair when he sees the video of the Controller's revelations. The Controller is the actual insurrectionist, and Condor sets out to destroy terminate him. The second surprise occurs when Nina guns down the Controller at point-blank range. After he learns that Nina has betrayed him, Condor executes her without the least bit of sympathy. When Condor and the Director share drinks after the outcome, our hero kills the Director with a knife and leaves him to bleed out. The Director's red-bereted guard is prepared to splatter our hero all over the palace, but a swarm of sword-wielding people intervene and frees society. In the third and final surprise, we learn that the Director's brother had been impersonating him the entire time. The real Director is poised to step forward.
"The Perfect Weapon" qualifies as a perfect bore. Not even its three surprises make it worth watching.