Tiger Cage 2

Sitting down in 2022 to watch the 1990 crime action movie "Sai Hak Chin" (aka "Tiger Gate 2") for the first time. I had actually never heard about this movie from writers Chi-Ho Fong, Kwong-Kim Yip and Yeuk-Kwong Yuen before I had the opportunity to watch it.

But I figured since the movie was a crime action and had Donnie Yen, Rosamund Kwan and Robin Shou on the cast list, then I would be in for something watchable and enjoyable. So I sat down to watch "Sai Hak Chin", and I must say that director Woo-Ping Yuen did manage to put the script and storyline onto the screen in an enjoyable and entertaining manner.

The storyline in Woo-Ping Yuen's movie was pretty straight forward, if not actually somewhat generic for an early 1990s crime action movie. But hey, the formula worked then and still works today, and that makes "Sai Hak Chin" an enjoyable and watchable movie. There is a good combination of the genres, that being crime, drama and martial arts.

The cast ensemble in "Sai Hak Chin" was also good, and needless to say that it was definitely pure joy to watch the young Donnie Yen, Rosamund Kwan and Robin Shou in the movie.

There is a good amount of martial arts and action throughout the course of "Sai Hak Chin", which should provide more than sufficient to keep most viewers happy.

My rating of "Sai Hak Chin" lands on a well-deserved six out of ten stars.

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.

Watched this randomly and was so entertained. The action was well filmed and it was so fast paced it felt like 10 minutes. So many cool moments

Story was thin and predictable but the cast were entertaining even with the bad dubbing. I like Robin Shou as the bad guy, was what you want from a 90s action film bad guy. The sword fight with Donnie Yen and fake highlander was good too.

Overall if you want to see cool stunts and be entertained then this is the film for you.

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)

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.