Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon

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.

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.

Sammo Hung plays 'Fatty Dragon' a thrill seeking, crime fighting martial arts expert who is partners with the conniving and fast talking 'Skinny Tiger'(Karl Maka), together they take down criminals in their own compromising style.

One day they are assigned to one of the biggest cases in their careers, they must take down an known drug baron(played by the wonderful Lau Kar-Wing) and bring him to justice.

The Plot is very basic, with a rather pointless sub-plot in Singapore involving the two main characters and two local girls wanting to open a karaoke bar, but apart from that the rest of the movie is an extremely enjoyable action romp.

Sammo displays his skills proving once again why he's the best in the business, adding this time a little Bruce Lee flavour into the mix, with each fight scene having Sammo performing signature moves from all of Buce's films, it's also worth noting he's one of the best Bruce Lee imitators despite his large physique .

Karl Maka however provides most of the movies comedy, as he talks his way through out the film in a rather manic manner.

All in all this film really should be viewed for the action, not the story or acting. Also watch out for a fast and furious confrontation between a lightening paced Sammo Hung, and a knife wielding Lar-Kar Wing.

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.

Fairly successful kung-fu action installment from director, actor etc. Sammo Hung. This film, (which is pretty much an action buddy-movie), has several problems, but *just* makes it over the line due to the excellent action-choreography and stunt work.

Sammo plays a cop with a Bruce Lee obsession. It's never really explained why he does, or demonstrated too clearly either - rather, he is only shown fighting in the style of Bruce Lee. This may be difficult to spot for beginners in the genre, but Sammo makes quite an excellent impersonation throughout the action sequences. The non-action scenes are played regularly, however.

I found most of the humour fairly broad and dated - Sammo's partner played by Karl Maka really is quite annoying. Lau Kar Wing however is particularly awesome as a villain. His fight sequences with Sammo are really worth the wait.

The main problem with the film is it's dramatic structure. I grew impatient with some of the plot devices used, not to mention some of the drawn-out and seemingly irrelevant ones. It is a fairly convoluted story, and Sammo's typical mix of drama, comedy and action is not as successful as say "Wheels on Meals" or "Dragons Forever".