Skinny Tiger

Even though Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon features Sammo Hung in several superbly choreographed action sequences that effectively showcase his amazing fighting skills (and his excellent Bruce Lee impersonation), the film is still one of the less essential titles in the portly martial arts superstar's resume thanks to its incredibly flimsy plot and embarrassingly unsophisticated comedy.

Sammo plays kung fu cop Fatty who, along with his scurrilous, philandering partner Skinny (Karl Maka), attempts to take down an evil drugs syndicate; during the course of their investigation, the pair get to fondle women's breasts, spy on a female gang member as she prepares for a shower, trash a Mercedes belonging to senior gang member Prince Tak (Lung Ming Yan), battle Thai lady-boys, take a break in Singapore (where Sammo shows that he might be a fighter, but he's definitely not a dancer), and generally act like complete buffoons. It's not clever, and it certainly isn't funny!

Thank heavens, then, for the film's outstanding fight scenes which go quite a way to compensate for the puerile comedy: Sammo takes on a gang of gun toting jewel thieves wearing Sesame St. masks, has a quick fight on a construction site, trashes a restaurant in pursuit of a criminal, and in the breathtaking finale, displays his skill with nunchukus in a superb battle against the syndicate's head honcho (played by the film's director Lau Kar Wing) and assorted henchmen.

Far from classic Sammo fare, but still worth a go for his avid fans, I rate Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon a just-above-average 6/10.

'Shou Hu Fei Long' (a.k.a. 'Fatty Dragon Skinny Tiger') is pretty much the traditional Hong Kong buddy action comedy. The comic tracks work very well and the action sequences are brilliantly choreographed. Sammo Hung is a skilled fighter and has a gift for comedy and his Bruce Lee impression is hilarious. Karl Maka does a fine job matching wits and step with his on screen buddy. Lau Kar Wing too is terrific in the fight scenes and an amusing villain. It is really the on screen buddy-friendship and the action sequences that are the highlights of 'Shou Hu Fei Long'. Otherwise the film is not without its share of flaws. The story lacks structure and the cinematography is dull. The dialogues are funny and there's plenty of slapstick and situational humour to keep the viewer entertained. Some of the hilarious touches include the transvestite transporter, the holiday sequence (as out of place as it is) and the sequences with skinny and his tall girlfriend. For an action buddy comedy 'Shou Hu Fei Long' is amusing to watch as long as one does not expect more.

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon is an average cop comedy thriller raised to a higher level by some superb fight action. It's not really one of Samo Hung's classics,and sometimes comes across as being little than plot elements or scenes from lots of other cop thrillers,American or otherwise. There's the gangster's moll and her shady,crafty lawyer who the hero wants to beat up {Police Story],the lengthy section of the film where our two cops go on holiday,meet up with two girls and consider leading a more peaceful life {Running Scared},the main villain brutally killing an employee at dinner {The Untouchables and many others}and many others. Samo Hung and his co-star Karl Maka are two cops but their behaviour is as bad as the leads in Freebie and the Bean.

Much of the comedy does not really travel too well,it's generally mildly amusing rather than funny,and Maka's manic persona can be a little irritating. Still,you have Hung's fighting skills in full flow,and he does a superb imitation of Bruce Lee during some moments. Fans of Lee will enjoy the way that,rather than copying scenes wholesale from Lee's movies,he mostly sticks to his own style but drops in little blink-and-you're-miss-them bits of Lee,for instance the tapping of the two sticks from Game or Death or the stomping of the sniper from Way of the Dragon.

There are a few interestingly touches,such as the transvestite killers,and sections {such as the afore-mentioned 'holiday' sequence}where the film almost grinds to a halt. Still,the film is generally OK fun as long as one doesn't expect a classic of Pedicab Driver or Magnificent Butcher proportions.

This is an OK action comedy starring Sammo Hung as Fatty Dragon and Karl Maka as Baldy Tiger, two undercover cops assigned to infiltrate a cocaine ring run by Gang Boss Wing (Lau Kar-Wing).

Sammo's fabulous martial arts fighting styles and Karl's fast-talking deadpan deliveries in his Taishanese accent make this film a pretty funny and entertaining for starters. I remembered that my parents and I laughed hard at Karl's dialog.

But, the plot does tend to drag on toward the middle of the movie. I didn't like the subplot involving Carrie Ng's informant character, as she became a victim with both the police and the villains, which made her appear she couldn't get any slack. Felt sorry for her.

It's a hit and miss action comedy, but there are better ones with Sammo Hung out there.

Grade C

SKINNY TIGER, FATTY DRAGON is a film that's made in the mould of the LUCKY STARS movies, featuring plenty of comedy mixed with action spills on the frenetic streets of Hong Kong. This one features genre stalwart Sammo Hung as a by-the-book cop who teams up with maverick Karl Maka (MAD MISSION) to tackle a ruthless criminal gang who have a habit of bumping off anybody who dares to cross them.

What this all leads to is a series of set-pieces, some of them martial arts focused, some of them featuring some very broad comedy indeed, and others that successfully mix the two genres in one (the car chase, for instance, which is very well achieved). Some of the gags are a little too much for Western audiences (the violence and sexual assaults against women in particular) but others hit the spot nicely.

The martial arts stuff is inevitably fine, most of it left to Sammo who wipes the floor with his enemies with a level of finesse that most slim martial artists would struggle to achieve. I could have done without the silly dubbed-in Bruce Lee noises on the soundtrack every time he fights, but there you go. Karl Maka is on strong form here too, not too annoying as the dedicated cop determined to sort out both the bad guys and his love life along the way.

All in all there's little to dislike, whether it's the familiar faces (including femme fatale Carrie Ng) to the explosive stunts and high class fisticuffs. It all works to a formula but it's an effective formula and one that's guaranteed to wring every drop of excitement and humour from the premise. Not one of the genre classics then, but not bad at all either.