The Paper Tigers - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Paper Tigers



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
As an aging martial artist the trailer for The Paper Tigers hit me right in the smiles department. A group of mid 40 year old guys who grew up practicing Kung Fun with their master, now creaking and groan from an adult life of living in the suburbs and dealing with creaky backs and some bum knees. I remember the days when I could pull back flips and kip-ups with ease, and going toe to toe with someone in the ring was a piece of cake. Now I’m using less acrobatic techniques, popping more than my fair share of Tylenol after a sparring match, and wondering why my lower back aches so much after getting up in the morning to. Usually most martial artists in films are filled with unlimited stamina at age 50, can take on 5 guys at once, and still pull some acrobatics out of their butt for good measure. The Paper Tigers winks and nods at the audience, playing up the more “realistic” approach of aging martial artists having to deal with not only their own mortality and declining physical abilities, but taking on a new generation who has waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more stamina than they do.

The film takes some exposition and vomits it on the viewer in the form of an old VHS montage where Danny (Alain Uy), Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) and Hing (Ron Yuan) practice as the sole students of Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan) and grow in power. It shows them fighting and defeating their nemesis Carter (Matthew Page, who most notably is famous for the YouTube show “Enter the Dojo” where he plays Master Ken), only for the VHS tape to end and the audience is clued into the fact that Sifu Cheung is dead of a heart attack. However, it seems that he may not have been killed by natural causes, but another martial artist with inhuman powers.

However, the three are no longer The Three Tigers of Sifu Cheung. They’re middle aged men with lives of their own. Dannny is a hen pecked divorcee who is trying to impress his boss by simpering and kow towing to him, only to fail as a father as well by constantly running out on his son to do work. Hing shows up (in obvious bad physical shape) to tell him the news of Sifu’s death and that the funeral is the very next day. Poor Jim is on the outs with Hing and isn’t there to show his condolences, but at the funeral they’re faced with the reality that Carter is no longer their nemesis, but the new Sifu at the school.

At first they too think that Sifu died of heart failure, but there is suspicion that it was done by an ancient move that could mimic the look of a heart attak. With Jim showing up (in top form, unlike the other 3) it’s time for the 3 to set out on a comedic quest to find out what happened to their master, and bring justice to the perpetrator by banding together as the 3 Tigers once more.

The Paper Tigers follows the traditional martial artists heroes journey throughout the picture, but it’s very tongue in cheek and self aware of the physical limitations of those of us who practice the art, but have this curse of letting life wear you down a bit. It’s a fun action romp that isn’t too great, but also is still fun enough that I was smiling the entire time. Some of the comedy didn’t always hit home, but Mathew Page’s natural physical comedy made for one of the better fight/comedy scenes part way through the movie.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, offensive slurs, and violence




Video:

A digitally shot film, The Paper Tigers comes to Blu-ray with a very stable and detailed 1.85:1 AVC image. I couldn’t find much info on the shooting style outside of the fact that it used Arri Alexa Minis, but I’m still guessing your low budget film would give us a 2K master. The film itself looks clean and clear, with that typical ash gray and yellow look that Asian influenced movies always seem to use. Fine details are excellent for the most part, but the monochromatic look doesn’t exactly lend itself towards massive amount of fine detail. The outdoor shots such as Danny in the park with his son look fantastic and brilliantly lit and colored, but soon it shifts back to indoor shots and night time scenes where the movie takes on a duller tone. There’s a few bits of murky black levels (such as a restaurant scene), but overall this is a very solid transfer.






Audio:

The single English 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is not going to blow your socks off, but it is still a rip roaring action track. The first part of the film is a bit dialog heavy, but once the 3 tigers start kicking butt and taking names, the track really kick off. The bass is powerful and overly hot for some of the fight scenes, making it a very visceral and chest thumping part of the sound track. The dialog is always well placed up front, and surrounds (such as in the empty pool fight scene) is fantastic. The before mentioned talky bits of the movie are naturally front heavy, and do dominate the movie in places, but the action shots are quite dynamic and exciting. Especially with all that hot bass.






Extras:

• Behind-the-Scenes Material
• Deleted Scenes & Bloopers
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

The Paper Tigers is a fun little romp, and more than engaging for this aging martial artist. It’s not exactly going to rival the likes of Donnie Yen, Jet Li or Jackie Chan movies of old, but it’s a whole lot of fun from the point of view of more “realistic” aging martial artists. The comedy isn’t perfect, but I still had a great time watching it, and the Blu-ray is very solid in the technical specs department (outside of the minimal extras, which is typical of most Well Go USA titles). Fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Yuji Okumoto, Matthew Page, Ron Yuan, Alain Uy, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Roger Yuan,
Directed by: Quoc Bao Tran
Written by: Quoc Bao Tran
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Vietnamese
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 108 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 22nd 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch