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There's only one good reason to watch this movie and it's to see Donnie Yen's fight scenes. The last 20 minutes of this film include some of Donnie Yen's best. The rest of the movie up until that point is mind numbingly bad. Cheesy music, bad dialogue, corny humor, and a razor thin plot. In fact, I don't think there was a screenplay written for this thing. I think Yuen Woo Ping just started filming fight scenes and the story was written on napkins in between takes. That being said, your kung fu movie collection will not be complete without the last three fight scenes in this movie. They are classic and almost worth the wait. Just skip ahead to that last 20 minutes and I promise you won't be missing anything.

No pun intended - this may be Tiger Cage 2 (international title), but you do not need to have seen the first one - there is no connection other than the title. And Donnie Yen, though he plays a completely different character in this movie. The tone is also way different - this is a lot "lighter" and has quite a few jokes in it. Donnies character really has some fun here.

Not everything is PC and I reckon the way certain things are handled will not be looked lightly upon ... or rather received through the lens of time. Sensibilities and all - some things were meant to be light jokes but the implications are way deeper than that. And yes you could hang the movie up on that - hopefully you are able to look past that. Not easy to do for some I know ... just try to enjoy the action and the comedy if you can.... otherwise you won't have a good time.

I'll say it again: Tiger Cage II is simply the best modern day action movie from Hong Kong. This movie has it all to become a classic: martial arts, gunfights, an awesome swordfight, comedy, and good characters and stunts!! Don't be fooled by the title it has nothing to do with the first Tiger Cage!! Donnie Yen (The greatest, in my opinion!!), Robin Shou(from Mortal Kombat, but don't worry he fights extremely well in this movie) and Davis Wu star in this great action movie. The last 20 minutes of the movie are fights after fights: Robin against David, Donnie against John Salvitti, Donnie against Michael Woods, Donnie against Robin!!! The movie's is also extremely well directed by the Master himself: Yuen-Woo Ping. And Donnie, Yuen Cheung-Yan and Yuen Shun-Yee(two brothers of Yuen Woo-Ping) are in charge of the action sequences. Simply get this movie if you are looking for a great ACTION movie from HK...............................9,3/10

Yuen Woo-Ping once again delivers another modern day actioner full of brutal martial arts action. In this movie, Donnie Yen and Rosamond Kwan are on the run from cops and drug dealers after they are framed for murder. Plot is insignificant in this film, however. This movie has a lot of great fights including Donnie Yen and John Salvitti fighting with swords and a fight with Michael Woods. These are classic fight scenes. The only problem is that in my version, Cynthia Khan fights Robin Shou for a few moments and then arrests him. I felt cheated. The movie was also a bit too vulgar and violent for my tastes. Anyone who likes martial arts movies should check this out.

The plot is shallow and frankly quite tiresome (Donnie Yen and Rosamund Kwan spend most of the running time being chased by the police and the bad guys headed by Robin Shou, until they pick up some friends and decide to fight back), but the fight scenes are often creative (in one, Yen has to fight with only one hand because his other is cuffed to Kwan, so he ends up using her as a weapon as well; another fight takes place on a moving double-decker bus), and some of the moves and stunts are awesome (like when Yen jumps and delivers three kicks in mid-air before landing down, without the help of wires I think). As usual, the best stuff is saved for last, with Yen going one-on-one against firstly John Salvitti in a swordfight, then against Michael Woods (who could be described as a Black Hulk), and finally against Robin Shou (a brief but very fast fight). Rosamund Kwan falls somewhere between shrill and adorable, but mostly on the adorable side; I had seen her in a couple of other films, but I had never noticed before what a beautiful, expressive face she has. Oh, and Cynthia Khan pops up briefly, playing (presumably) the same character as in the "In The Line Of Duty" series (Inspector Yeung), but her part is essentially a cameo. (**1/2)