Dans les griffes du tigre 2

I got this movie from the video store simply because it had Bolo Yeung in it. And he is as big and powerful as ever. But he has toned down his cruelty level, and plays a calm introspective type.

Don't let that fool you though. There are plenty of fight scenes in this movie, and lots of big name, and simply big martial artists. Also as a big plus, someone apparently taught Cynthia Rothrock how to stage fight without missing the person by two feet, although sadly she still doesn't know how to act without being annoying.

Oh BTW toward the end of the movie there are scenes of cinematic Kung Fu. Portals through time, paralyzing touch etc. But it all works out into a fun martial arts movie. Just don't go looking for plot.

Why weird, you ask? Well, consider these points:

1) It's called "Tiger Claws II", but the Tiger style is barely used in it.

2) The first movie was a "track down the serial killer" story, this is more of an "underground martial arts tournament" story.

3) Bolo Yeung is now - get this - a good guy! In the film's most laughable line, he is referred to by Jalal Merhi as an "honorable man"! I guess Merhi has gotten over the fact that several innocent people - including his best friend - were killed by Bolo in the first "Tiger Claws".

4) Cynthia Rothrock (who looks very good for 41) has virtually no action scenes until the 50-minute mark, but does get a couple of good fights near the end.

5) There some half-explained sci-fi elements, including time-traveling.

Two more points: the production values are slicker than those of most DTV action sequels, and Evan Lurie, playing one of the bad guys, has a kind of slimy charisma, as opposed to the lead Merhi, who has none at all. (**)

Not entirely making it clear whether it is actually a direct sequel, director J. Stephen Maunder takes the helm of the idea behind the first movie and improves upon it.

This is helped by better performances from Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal Merhi, plus increased screen time from Bolo Yeung in addition to a number of interesting and fun characters that dress reminiscent of video games from the period.

Helping the film immensely are a number of enticing and engaging sets with more props and better camera work. The story remains unfulfilling and unengaging, but the entertainment is there and overall its quite fun.

Five years after the first "Tiger Claws" movie and the world was enrichened with the 1996 movie "Tiger Claws II". And with this being a sequel to a rather cheesy movie, I have to admit that my expectations weren't high at all to what writers Andreas Kyprianou and J. Stephen Maunder had to offer with "Tiger Claws II".

Yet, I still opted to sit down and watch the movie, as I hadn't already seen it and also because the movie did have Bolo Yeung on the cast list after all.

And I have to say that "Tiger Claws II" was a step backwards, so it did actually manage to live up to what most sequels tend to offer. And sure, why would the 1996 action movie "Tiger Claws II" be any different?

The first movie had a vague script, but for the sequel? Forget about it. It's gone. The movie felt like an illegitimate lovechild of "Bloodsport" and "Mortal Kombat". And yeah, while that definitely sounds like an interesting mix, trust me, it wasn't. Nay, "Tiger Claws II" was just cringeworthy to watch. The storyline written by Andreas Kyprianou and J. Stephen Maunder was just ridiculously bad.

I can't claim to be fan of neither Jalal Merhi or Cynthia Rothrock. And truth be told, I watched this mostly because of Bolo Yeung. But watching him go a whole movie without much dialogue was just stretching it a bit too thin.

If you enjoy poorly made sets that are so campy it hurts, watching martial artists go through a ridiculous obstacle course in order to qualify for a tournament, and then watch a watered-down rip-off of the "Bloodsport" fights, and then also have have a man in questionable make-up made to look old do magic with his hands and watch two people step through a teleporter, then "Tiger Claws II" is your kind of movie. Yeah, I kid you not, this is essentially what "Tiger Claws II" had to offer.

And the title of the movie was sort of fading away into oblivion as the Tiger Claw style wasn't really being used throughout the course of this cheesy action movie.

The acting in "Tiger Claws II" was every bit as non-existing as the storyline. Just a friendly heads up reminder.

My rating of the 1996 "Tiger Claws II" from director J- Stephen Maunder lands on a three out of ten stars.

There is only one scenario where you should watch "Tiger Claws II".

You are on an airplane which crashes in the South Pacific. The only survivor, you swim to a nearby deserted island. You learn to eke out an existence on this island by eating tropical fruit and spearing small boars in the jungle. A monkey becomes your only friend, but every night it hurls feces at you from a tree and chatters annoyingly. And it doesn't just hurl its own feces, it actually gathers the feces of other animals and throws that at you too. This goes on every night for 15 years.

One evening you are exploring and find a cave. Entering the cave, to your surprise, you find a TV, VCR, and generator. You pull the cord on the generator and again surprised, it starts. You plug the TV and VCR in, but unfortunately the only movie is an old copy of "Tiger Claws II". You wonder whether to spend another evening with the monkey, or watch the movie.

This is the only scenario where you should watch "Tiger Claws II".