Plagued by Extremely Long and Ridiculous Action Scenes This film begins with a young woman coming into a gymnasium and proceeding to beat up the men training there. When some members from management enter and ask her the reason for her actions a man from the bleachers named "Chang Hung" (Bruce Li) appears and says he wants to talk with the overall boss known simply as "Paul the Westerner" (Paul L. Smith). As it turns out, Chang Hung and his unnamed "female partner" (played by Angela Mao) are involved in a game of intrigue between two rival gangs who deal in drugs and he's playing both ends against the middle in an effort to eliminate the two of them. Now from what I understand this film is a sequel to "Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger" with Bruce Li trying to fill the void resulting from the death of Bruce Lee. Yet, while the first film suffered from mediocre acting, this film languished due to action scenes which were extremely long and utterly ridiculous. That being said, I was not impressed with this particular film at all and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
... View MoreI'm not a huge fan of martial arts movies, but I'm trying. Sure, I enjoy Bruce Lee and some of the Sonny Chiba films I've seen, but beyond that, I've always thought of martial arts movies (and this is especially true of the movies from the 70s) as a bunch of faceless, nameless people repeating the same moves in endless fight scenes. And while there's some of that in Return of the Tiger, I've decided I may need to rethink my opinion. Overall, I enjoyed Return of the Tiger much more than I thought I would. It's far from perfect and the movie does drag a bit during some of the longer fight sequences, but for the most part, I was entertained throughout. Bruce Li and Angela Mao make an interesting and appealing pair. The bad guys are appropriately bad. Add in a few funny moments, awesome title music, and an ending with plenty of fists and feet and it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.Unfortunately, the copy of the movie I had available to me seemed to be heavily cut. The plot (at least what I got out of it) centers on Chang Wong (Bruce Li), a man playing both sides of a feud between two criminal bosses. His plan seems to be to force both bosses' hands so he can make his final move. Along the way, he and his female assistant will have to do battle with an army of trained fighters. I'm confident that an uncut copy of Return of the Tiger would improve my opinion and rating.Finally, what impressed me the most in Return of the Tiger was Bruce Li. I admit it this is the first time I've seen one of his movies. I guess I unfairly thought of him as a Bruce Lee wannabe and dismissed him without giving him or his movies a chance. I realize now that the name and image were part of a producer's marketing ploy to cash in on the fame of Lee and not necessarily Li's doing. He's got a definite screen presence that I found appealing. I'll have to seek out some of his others movies.
... View MoreThat's Bruce Li, not Bruce Lee, who died a few years before this was made.Bruce Li was tapped to replace Lee. One of his early films was even named Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger, and you will see Bruce Lee's name used in many of his films.He looks like Lee and fights like Lee, but he is not Lee, he is Li. Got that? The film was very good with Li and Angela Mao teaming to fight a drug operation. Lots of good Kung Fu, and an ending fight that was really spectacular. I don't care how much Kung Fu you know, you are going to have a hard time beating a guy three times your size who is solid as a brick wall. I won't tell you how he did it, but it was used against a similar foe in a Bond film.Bruce Li is a worthy successor to Bruce Lee.
... View MoreI'm so sick of people judging these classic kung fu movies by completely ridiculous criteria. So what if the dubbing is bad or the cinematography isn't up to snuff. These were meant as entertainment and should be judged as such. Were you entertained? Yes? Then it's a good movie and shut the f up! This particular movie's got a little bit of everything. Strippers, bad guys who dress like Bing Crosby, Lung Fei's worst hairdo ever, Angela Mao lookin' hot in a metallic jumpsuit, and Bruce Li sporting some major badass swagger. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the fat dude from Robin Williams' Popeye is in it. I won't tell you how he croaks, but let's just say that they don't make 'em like this anymore. And the theme song . . .the theme song ROCKS! I had it stuck in my head for days. If you're a fan of the late 70s / early 80s kung fu genre, then you owe it to yourself to check this out.
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