Las garras del tigre

A look at the hard facts in advance, genre, year of release, actors, with the result: what could possibly go wrong? Maybe that it looks like Asia, but it's USA/Canada. However, it soon becomes clear that Hong Kong has more quality to offer, or rather speed and lunacy. And the art of better concealing a lack of budget and acting talent. Tiger Claws is definitely a far cry from Bloodsport or something similar. What is being attempted here: a cop thriller in which a martial arts serial killer is hunted who kills his victims by scratching them. Well, it's as hare-brained as that sounds. What's more, it has few highlights, is not staged particularly quickly and the fight scenes are average at best. Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal Merhi as police buddies lack that certain something. But there's still one reason to watch this film, as you can probably guess: Bolo Yeung. As always, incredible presence and wild, unpredictable acting. Not a man, a weapon.

When I sat down in 2022 to watch the 1991 action movie "Tiger Claws", I can't really claim that I was expecting a whole lot from writer J. Stephen Maunder. Yet, as I hadn't already seen "Tiger Claws", of course I opted to do so.

And just as I figured, then "Tiger Claws" was a very generic early 1990s action movie, with way too much showcasing of martial arts moves by solo performers, so a lot of the movie was actually just solo montages. The storyline was every bit as archetypical and generic as you would think a martial arts movie from the early 1990s to be, so no surprises there.

Now, I never have been a fan of Cynthia Rothrock, so she was not really a reason for why I sat down to watch "Tiger Claws". But I saw that the movie had Bolo Yeung on the cast list, and that was actually the main reason for why I watch this movie from director Kelly Makin.

There is a good amount of action and fighting throughout the course of this movie, so that was definitely something that kept the movie afloat, because the storyline itself wasn't really doing that.

Something I just can't comprehend were the amount of bullets shot from those police revolvers. It should be six shots, then reload, but no, not here, not in this movie. And also the fact that people would die from having their cheeks scratched was just beyond my level of comprehension.

"Tiger Claws" is a very mediocre early 1990s action movie, cheesy and campy enough for a single viewing. But you are not in for a grand movie experience.

My rating of the 1991 movie "Tiger Claws" lands on a very bland and less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

My review was written in October 1992 after watching the movie on MCA video cassette.

This formula martial arts actioner is a lesser effort featuring the reigning queen of the genre, Cynthia Rothrock. Video release will please diehard fans.

Pic poses a serial killer who preys on martial artists, leaving a telltale "tiger claws" mark of death. Early on the audience discovers Bolo Yeung's the renegade killer, who works at a martial arts studio.

Cops Rothrock and Jalal Merhi infiltrated the world of karate and kickboxing. Both have ample opportunities for action scenes, but it's all strictly formula.

Filming in Toronto and Vancouver subs unconvincingly for the New York setting, though the pic is technically well-made. Merhi, who also produced, is a cold fish of a hero while Rothrock is stuck in a sidekick role.

Predictable highlights include the massive, perennial genre villain Yeung whipping into action. He's left alive at the finale, setting up sequel potential.

Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal Merhi are New York city undercover cops. There are mysterious killing of martial artist in the city. Jalal correctly identifies the style as Tiger Claws who only three martial artists in the country are capable of using. Rothrock, and Jalal gets on the trail of the culprit who turns out to be none other than bad guy played by Bolo Yuen.

This is one of the best American made Cynthia Rothrock movie. It was good move on the producer's part to hire Bolo Yuen as the bad guy. He brought menacing personality that's usually lacking in movies of this type.

Cynthia Rothrock is not known for her range of acting, and it's hard to make an interesting story around her character. In this movie Jalal and Bolo creates enough contrast to be of passable quality.

Out of all the American made Cynthia Rothrock movies, this one is my favorite. It doesn't have much in the way of contents, but the action is pretty good. Choice of locations shot were better than usual, but I wished the producers put in more class into the movie as it were in Rothrock's Hong Kong made movies.

The police does not know what to do. They have to deal with a serial killer who aims at martial arts masters. One after another is killed in the same brutal way. This may be a chance for detective Linda Masterson (Cynthia Rothrock) to work on her first murder case. She gets the job and to her side an other martial arts specialist, Sgt. Tarek Richards(Jalal Merhi). Now they need to find a tiger style master, because the killer obviously uses tiger style kung fu. Not a simple task, since tiger is a very ancient and rare style. ...Tiger Claws.

You can tell that Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal merhi aren't actors first, but martial artists first who turned to acting. Their acting can be amateurish, especially Jalal Merhi, who looks like he's reading from an autocue, however there's some charm in the natural and simple performances. Plus it suits this type of film, which is a hybrid of martial arts and the serial killer genre. It's a fairly good idea, and the spotlight on various martial arts and the tournaments is quite interesting. I would've preferred a who-dunnit angle, but with the legendary Bolo Yueng featuring here that's out of the question - you know he's a heavy, and halfway through he's revealed as the killer.