Cynthia Rothrock was still in her prime when she made this after having
a fine run in Hong Kong from 1985 to 1989 and this is produced at least partly
by Golden Harvest, so I was expecting a much better film. For an American
B action film at the time I guess it met most expectations, but after HK Cynthia
must have found much of the action laughable. I sure did. It is directed by
the man who somehow through karma or fate directed some of the great action
stars of that period - Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon), Jim Kelly (Black Belt
Jones), Robert Mitchum (The Amsterdam Kill), Jackie Chan (Battle Creek Brawl)
and Cynthia in this and the sequel. Throw in Gymkata just because it is so
bad. Robert Clouse. Who in my opinion he is a terrible director who I think
gained his reputation from Bruce. And he just kept getting work. The man would
not know a good action scene if it ran over him.
There is a ton of fighting here of the stand still and get whacked style.
There is no real action choreography to speak of - just go up to Cynthia -
throw a wild swing and get banged. Time after time after time. The sad thing
is that there are two other terrific martial arts fighters in the film -
Richard Norton - also a graduate of HK action films - and Keith Cooke who
has all these martial arts credentials and went on to two of the Mortal Kombat
films. But in Clouse's infinite wisdom they are both on Cynthia's side. So
you have three fine martial artists against a boatload of slugs who can't
fight a lick but are pretty good at falling down. I kept waiting for a twist
and Norton would actually be a bad guy and they would finally have one great
fight. Nope. A final kiss. The amazing thing about both Rothrock and Norton
is that they are still going. Both appearing in recent films. Amazing considering
the punishment their bodies must have taken.
China is a cop in the big city and after beating up some hoods in a dark
alley, she sees a gun and shoots. It was a child and so she hands in her badge
and goes back to home sweet home. A small rural town where her father is
the sheriff. Peace and quiet. Read a few books. Meet up with your childhood
friend who somehow manages to have an Australian accent. But within the first
day she beats up a bar full of creeps and much worse is to come. Plot wise
and action wise. It has the oddest crooks in America - they must be about
the only people not to have guns. Which if they had would have made the fights
a bit more fair. Tiger Claws (1992) - 6.0
My main criticism of China O'Brien which I saw the other day was that Cynthia
Rothrock had no legit martial artists to fight - they were all basic bums
with a sign on their chest saying "Hit me". In this much better American martial
arts film, she gets some competition with one of the legendary bad guys in
these sorts of films - Bolo Yeung. Perhaps better known for his massively
muscular build - ten years as Mr. Hong Kong Body Builder - than his martial
arts skills - but he has those as well. Mainly he just scares the hell out
of you by taking off his shirt. I would be running for the exits. Born in
China, swam to Hong Kong and by the 1970's he was getting small roles in Shaw
Brothers film. Then larger roles but he was never really one of their stars.
After the Shaws, he continued in Hong Kong action films (including Enter
the Dragon) until he got his break in the American film Bloodsport with Jean-Claude
Van Damme. It did very well at the box office and Bolo was to make more films
for Hollywood.
In this one Cynthia is teamed with Jalal Merhi. Now I admit that for the
most part I have avoided American martial arts films unless Rothrock or Van
Damme were in them - so I know next to nothing about them - but it seems that
Jalal is a known entity in that world. Not so much for his acting and martial
arts (which are pretty good) but as a producer and occasional director of
action films. I rather liked him in this - not a great actor - quite lowkey
- but still better than Rothrock who I like but honestly she never seems natural
in her acting and speaking. You just wait patiently for her to get back to
what she is good at. There is a lot of action in this one from both Rothrock
and Jalal but he gets to do the heavier lifting. The choreography is solid
and the skills of the opponents are good enough.
In this one, martial artists are getting murdered by what seems to be a
serial killer. One of them is Bill Pickels who plays Bill Pickells - a real
teacher of martial arts in Canada and friend of Jalal. Rothrock who usually
is on the perv and rape unit of the NYC police gets herself assigned to the
case because of her skills at kicking ass - and they bring in Jalal who is
on suspension to be her partner. He has trained in the Tiger Claw technique
which has been used to kill these victim. Their investigation leads them to
an underground dojo that specializes in Tiger Claw. The killer must be one
of them - but certainly not the smiling painter - Bolo. This was good enough
I guess to be followed up with Tiger Claw II and III - both starring Rothrock
and Jalal but not until five years later. Tiger Claws II
(1996) - 4.0
I guess the first Tiger Claws did well enough on the video market that four
years later the sequel was released by Film One Productions, which was owned
by Jalal Merhi who was the star along with Cynthia Rothrock and Bolo Yeung
of the first one. They are all back like a bad family reunion. This is surprisingly
bad. Surprising because the first one had its moments and some solid martial
arts scenes. You would think they would follow that formula and do the same
but better. But everything is worse. The story is truly idiotic but more importantly
the action is terribly choreographed, poorly edited and badly filmed. It
is obvious that the kicks and punches are not coming close to their target
and the editing cuts from fight to fight without any sense or flow. And for
the first hour there is very little of it and then you get one of those dreadful
series of underground matches one after the other with each progressively
more boring. You always wonder when you come across a mess like this is what
did they all think when they watched the final cut? Didn't they realize that
considering the talent here it should have been much better.
The film seems to take up about a year after the last one ended. The final
shot of that film was Rothrock and Jalal smooching on a boat. Well something
happened - when this one picks up Rothrock has moved to San Francisco and
seemingly gotten a boob job somewhere along the way. We gather this when she
is on her bed on the phone in a negligee. There is a lot there. Too much for
my taste. I have seen this in later films of hers and it is always jarring
to me. Why would a martial artist want enormous breasts? It has to throw you
off I would think. Slow you down. Give a larger target to your opponent. She
doesn't involve herself in much of the action till some mediocre fights in
the end. Maybe she was still sore from surgery.
Jalal is still in NYC trying to break up a gang but the leader escapes after
killing his female partner. This gang leader hooks up with two Chinese gangsters
and they break Bolo out of jail and go coincidentally to San Francisco. Jalal
goes there and takes up with Rothrock again and they end up tracking every
one to an underground tournament because - get this - the four finalists will
be able to open a corridor into the past to help ancient China. Or something
like that. Like I said everything in this film is just stupid. Many bad fights
follow. And Bolo becomes the good guy. We don't want Bolo as the good guy.
So there is not another match-up against our two heroes. What the hell were
they thinking? There is a third Tiger Claws and sadly I will probably watch
it because otherwise I will feel incomplete. I will always wonder what I am
missing. Who knows, maybe the next one will be really good! Tiger Claws III
(2001) - 5.0
I just had to do it. Watch the third in the Tiger Claw trilogy. There is
a part of all of us that has a need to finish what we started. After recently
watching these and China O'Brien I remembered again why I generally stay away
from American martial arts films. They just are not very good. I am sure
there are some that are but you have to wade through the dross to get there.
I let my guard down when it comes to Cynthia Rothrock because of her Hong
Kong films which are so much better than these. And Van Damme was a higher
class than most of these with good production values and a bit of charisma.
Anyway, this was a tad bit better than the second film but a lot worse than
the first. This was released four years after the second one, but I would
not be surprised if it was sitting on the shelf for a while. Jalal Merhi and
Rothrock are partners in NYC again (Bolo I guess is still stuck in Ancient
China) - I guess she just went to San Francisco for the breast enhancement
surgery. They are invited to this opening of an exhibition of ancient Chinese
outfits worn by three great Masters. Another martial artist (Loren Avedon
- No Retreat, No Surrender 2 & 3) does some hocus pocus and brings the
Masters back to life. Sure why not. They kill nearly everyone there because
I guess that is what ancient Masters do. That and eat a lot. They missed Chinese
food over 5,000 years. And Rothrock who is the only reason I am watching this
drops out of the film at about the 20 minute mark until she pops up again
at the end.
But look who does shows up . . . Carter Wong! Ok - keep the excitement down
but Carter Wong is one of the great Old School kung fu actors who appeared
in loads of Taiwanese martial arts films in the 1970's. It seems like every
other one I watch has him in it. He has the personality of a turnip - never
showing any emotion or much acting talent - but his skills are good and they
often co-starred him with the Who Who's of Taiwanese female martial arts stars
- Angela Mao, Polly Shang-kwan, Hsu Feng and Chia Ling. I have to admit his
acting in English isn't any better - but not really worse either - but it
was great seeing him in this. Kudos to Jalal for using him.
These three Masters go around killing people or blowing up police cars for
no discernable reason. I thought perhaps Loren Avedon's character, who camps
up his character ridiculously, brought them to conquer the world! But no,
just to conquer Chinatown in NYC (really Toronto). He seems to be lowering
his ambitions - these two male masters and a busty female master can shoot
lightening bolts, darts and deflect bullets. Aim higher. Jalal locates Carter
Wong, an old wise master and Wong trains him in the Black Tiger! Which allows
him to take on the Bad Masters. Wong gets to take on Loren Avedon. This is
total corn pone - lazy script - poor acting and not nearly enough real martial
arts. Thankfully the Tiger Claws films ended here. My mission is over. The
world is safe once again.
Sworn to Justice
1996
5.0
The problem with watching an American Cynthia Rothrock
movie is that when she is not fighting the film just sits there like a potted
plant. There is only one reason to see her films and that is for Rothrock
in fluid motion kicking the crap out of much bigger guys. This one even has
her in two love/sex scenes which is like watching a race car idle in a McDonalds
parking lot. For years audiences in the West most likely only saw Rothrock
in her American films rented on videotape from Blockbusters and thought they
were ok. Back then not a lot of folks were able to see her in her Hong Kong
films till they were available years later and then you sort of go - holy
shit - this is what she is really capable of.
Oddly though, this well-trained martial artist with multiple Championships
and Black Belts in pretty much everything from Taekwondo to home cooking
started in Hong Kong and then migrated to Hollywood. She was spotted at a
tournament by Golden Harvest (home to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo) and
invited to come to Hong Kong and appear in a film called Yes Madam. And what
a film as she teamed up with Michelle Yeoh making her action debut. Much
of the film is filled with awful comedy but the action is astonishing. Rothrock
was to stick around Hong Kong for a few more years appearing in Shanghai
Express, Magic Crystal, Above the Law, Blonde Fury and Inspectors Wear Skirts.
Very entertaining films. But eventually she came home - probably to make
much more money - and made some very solid films and some pretty mediocre
ones. It must have felt like amateur hour to her working with American action
choreographers.
The action in this one is plentiful and fairly decent though nothing spectacular.
The plot is mundane and well used. Rothrock's sister and nephew are killed
by a home invasion and with the help of ESP powers when she touches something,
she tracks them down and kills them. And has sex along the way. Only one
of the many minions she faced down could fight - clearly he was also trained
in martial arts - and their fight was excellent before it ended way too quickly.
I don't know who this fighter was.
Appearing also in the film are a few names one might recognize - Walter Koenig
(Chekov), Mako, Brad Dourif, Kurt McKinney (No Retreat, No Surrender) and
Tony Lo Bianco.
