The Tiger Cage Collection - Blu-ray Review

Michael Scott

Moderator / Reviewer
Staff member
Thread Starter
Joined
Apr 4, 2017
Messages
5,258
Location
Arizona
More  
Preamp, Processor or Receiver
Yamaha TRS-7850 Atmos Receiver
Other Amp
Peavy IPR 3000 for subs
Universal / Blu-ray / CD Player
Panasonic UB820 4K UHD Player
Front Speakers
Cheap Thrills Mains
Center Channel Speaker
Cheap Thrills Center
Surround Speakers
Volt 10 Surrounds
Surround Back Speakers
Volt 10 Rear Surrounds
Rear Height Speakers
Volt 6 Overheads
Subwoofers
2x Marty subs (full size with SI 18's)
Video Display Device
Sony 85 inch X950H FALD TV
The Tiger Cage Collection


front.jpg
Movie: :3.5stars:
Video: :3.5stars:
Audio: :3.5stars:
Extras: :4stars:
Final Score: :3.5stars:



WARNING: THE SCORES ABOVE ARE A COMBINED SCORE FROM ALL 3 FILMS, THE INDIVIDUAL SCORES ARE CONTAINED BELOW IN THE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THE REVIEW

AV NIRVANA is member and reader-supported. When you purchase an item using our links, we might earn an affiliate commission.

1.jpg
Movie

Shout Factory has been totally kicking butt with their classic Kung-Fu Hong Kong flicks lately, pounding out two different Jackie Chan collections, an upcoming Shaw Brothers collection, and now a triple pack of low budget 1980s classics starring Donnie Yen (kinda). While Donnie Yen is mostly known for Ip Man and his later 1990s and early 2000s work, he got his start doing low budget chop socky action films with Tiger Cage being his third feature film. The set supposedly received a 2K restoration by Fortune Star (the IP owner right now) which look pretty ok, but the films themselves are top tier cheese that every Hong Kong Kung-fu lover has probably known and loved for decades.

Tiger Cage: :3.5stars: :
Tiger Cage may be the third feature film featuring Donnie Yen, but he’s really an ancillary character in the ensemble cast film. Much like many of the 1980s and 1990s Hong Kong films, it’s about a group of cops trying to reign in the drug war that was invading Hong Kong as much as the United States. The local police force does what they can, but the heroin and cocaine distributors are using Hong Kong as an entry way into mainland China and it’s getting out of control. Inspector Michael (Simon Yam) heads up a local drug squad intent on getting control of the situation, but when a drug bust goes sideways, one of Michael’s underlings decides to retire due to health issues and enjoy his upcoming nuptials to female cop Shirley (Carol Cheng).

Unfortunately he ends up getting murdered, driving hot shot newbie Terry (Donnie Yen) into uncovering a plot where local cops are fueling the drug trade, only to get murdered himself. Now it’s up to Shirley, Fan (Jacky Cheung) and Michael to find out who the mole is, and which cop is sabotaging their efforts to curb the drug trade in Hong Kong.

Tiger Cage begins with a bang, and ends with a bigger bang, fueling the classic late 80s action movies that Yuen Woo-Ping so salaciously fueled for most of his career. Lots of guns, chick fights, and a BABY faced Donnie Yen (who was only 25 years old when the movie came out) pulling some awesome fight scenes with stunt man and martial arts friend Michael Woods (nerd moment, Michael and Donnie were both friends during their training days and moved together to Hong Kong to take part of the action scene over there, which is why you see him in a lot of Donnie’s early Hong Kong flicks). It’s more gun play that Kung-fu, and while not top tier like most of the 80s and 90s Chow Yun Fat flicks, Tiger Cage manages to be a fun bit of cheesy schlock. The dialog is torturously cheesy, however the camera work is really solid for being low budget, and the martial arts and gun play choreography surprisingly top notch.

Tiger Cage II: :4stars:
Tiger Cage II is really the big gem of the trilogy. Like most sequels, it goes for bigger, more gun play, tons more action, and a more intense plot. In reality, Tiger Cage II is a sequel in theme only, as it holds nothing from the first movie in the plot, and is really only thematically connected with a cop trying to figure out who is involved in a drug scandal. That being said, it is probably the most fun of the bunch, with Donnie Yen coming back to take the lead role (of course a different character being that he got killed in the first movie).

Dragon (Donnie Yen) is a hot headed ex cop who ends up getting raked over the coals in a divorce settlement by his wife Ann, only to get caught up in a drug deal gone wrong. His lawyer Mandy (Rosamund Kwan) thinks that he’s in league the with the criminals, so she fingers him to the police, only for Dragon to try and make things better in his own hot headed way. As a result, he and Mandy become the targets of a business tycoon trying to get rich in the drug trade (played by Robin Shou, before he got roided up to play Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat a few years later) who wants his money back.

Chased by the police, hunted by said rich businessman, and finding a friend in said business man’s minion David (David Wu), Dragon and Mandy have to find out where the money is, bring it back to it’s rightful owner, and hopefully get out of hot water. Which naturally means they’ll find the money, and end up in a gigantic fight between the business Tycoon and his goons. Hong Kong cinema 101!

Tiger Cage II is everything Tiger Cage was, but bigger, more explosive, more fight scenes (Michael Woods returns for a fight between himself and Donnie Yen) and a LOOOOOT more cheesy dialog. While Tiger Cage was a rough and tumble 1980s crime drama, Tiger Cage II is more akin to what most people remember of 1990s Hong Kong films. Yuen Woo-Ping (the fight choreographer for The Matrix) is on point here, delivering an absolutely stunning display of physical martial arts, amazing camera work, and some kung fu fighting that puts 90% of the stuff scene in modern movies to shame. Donnie is more charismatic and screen ready than he was a couple years back, playing a more likable and nuanced character than before. The action is over the top, but so much more polished as well. Robin Shou is also a MUCH better martial artist than I gave him credit for as well (his American films he was into so much body building that it slowed his form down as well as making it so he moved more awkwardly compared to his leaner days). Honestly, if you have to skip the other two and only watch ONE movie in the trilogy, this would be it, hands down.

2.jpg
Tiger Cage III: :2.5stars:
As with all the rest, Tiger Cage III is completely unrelated to the previous two movies, although it still carries general themes of drug trafficking and corrupt officers throughout it (and of course still directed by Yuen Woo-Ping). It’s also the worst of the trilogy as the series faded to a halt in 1991. It didn’t have too many big name 80s and 90s action super stars in it (outside of Michael Wong, who was only really starting out) and was probably the weakest on plot as well.

The story centers around James (Kwok Leung Cheung), a Hong Kong cop who is worried about his girlfriend Suki (Man Cheung) dealing with some unsavory characters at her financial advising firm. His partner John (Michael Wong) talks James into putting a bug in Suki’s purse so that they can listen in to their meeting and assuage his fears. However, the meeting concerns the illegal business dealings of a ruthless gangster named Lee (Kam-kong Wong). When Suki learns of the listening device, she agrees to help with the investigation of Lee and take him down, but she’s soon hard pressed to stay alive when Lee’s men go scorched earth and on her boss and is after her as well. Now it’s just a matter of time before his goons take our Suki and her boyfriend if the cops can’t take him down first.

Tiger Cage and Tiger Cage II are action extravaganzas that take no time getting into the action, but Tiger Cage III is a much more slow paced film. Changing up the rhythm and speed of the action series, it plods along at a more steady pace for most of the run time, only really shooting off into high gear in the third act. It’s also a bit more of a dark and somber tone as well. Gone are the over the top bravado and heroism of the first two films, instead playing more with gray moral codes. Suki and James really don’t trust each other (and for good reason it seems), but they’re forced to stick together in hopes of taking down a bigger fish. And even Lee himself isn’t as morally repugnant as someone like Robin Shou’s character in the first film. As I said, shades of gray.

There is less of a martial arts component to this film, with Yuen Woo-Ping making use of more gun play and typical cop behavior than the previous two films. That’s not to say that there isn’t some good hand to hand combat scenes, but Tiger Cage III tends to be much more slow paced in the first 2 acts, and leans more towards gun play in the third. Sadly the plot is a bit convoluted and weak, with less of the death defying stunts and lack of a good leading man as with the first two films.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video: :3.5stars:
3.jpg
I was going to separate the video scores out among the three films, but when calculating the scores realized they all were going to get a 3.5/5 rating from me, so I decided to make this one big video review. According to the press release and extras these films were all given a new 2K restoration from Fortune Star, and guessing from what I can see they were sprucing up an older negative to use for these new masters. There’s not a whole lot of damage or print issues to speak of, but rather having to deal with some chunky grain and smearing softness throughout. They definitely look good compared to the 480p DVDs I had back in the day, but not going to blow you out of the water compared to modern restorations.

All 3 films are fairly uniform across the board, with Tiger Cage suffering the most from muted colors and grain issues. Tiger Cage II is a bit of a smeary soft affair at times, but still manages to showcase brighter colors and a pretty decent set of black levels. The third looks the nicest in terms of fine detailing, but also has a sort of hazy “bar haze” lemony look to it at times, with more burnished colors and a weathered look to it at times. All 3 hover in the low 20 mbps most of the time, but do spike into the low 30s during some of the crazier action sequences.








Audio: :3.5stars:
4.jpg
The same can be said for the audio mixes as well. Very VERY similar, as all three were filmed within a 3 year period and using DTS-HD MA mono mixes for both English and Cantonese tracks. The English dubs are exactly what you’d expect of the era, with hilariously over the top acting jobs by all involved (none of which match the characters very well). Think of the WB’s Saturday morning Kung-Fu flick days, with dialog that’s off by a few milliseconds, and BAAAAD English dialog.

The Chinese tracks are a bit better, but back in these days they used a lot of Mandarin and Cantonese actors, so to compensate the different dialects, they used heavy ADR throughout and it shows big time. The dialog is a bit thin on the high end, with some scratchiness and distortion when someone yells. There’s also a minor bit of hiss and scratchiness from other sound effects, as the 2.0 Mono mixes don’t look like they were kept in pristine shape. All in all, these are solid audio mixes for what the time period, and definitely a lot nicer than the old lossy mixes from my DVDs.








Extras: :4stars:
5.jpg
Tiger Cage
  • Two Cuts of the film – The Cantonese Cut and the English Cut
  • Audio
    • Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with a new English subtitle translation (Cantonese Cut)
    • English Dub Mono DTS-HD Master Audio (English Cut)
  • NEW Audio Commentary with David West, critic and author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film (English Cut)
  • NEW An Apex Predator – an interview with actor Vincent Lyn
  • NEW A Tiger's Tale – an interview with Frank Djeng of the New York Asian Film Festival
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • English Trailer
  • Additional shot from the Taiwanese Cut
Tiger Cage II:
  • Two Cuts of the film – The Cantonese cut and the Malaysian Cut
  • Audio:
    • Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with a new English subtitle translation
    • English Dub Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
  • NEW Audio Commentary with David West, critic and author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film (Cantonese Cut)
  • NEW Clawing A Living – an interview with action choreographer Bill Lui
  • NEW Hunting High and Low – an interview with academic and author Victor Fan
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
Tiger Cage III
  • NEW Audio Commentary with David West, critic and author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film
  • NEW A New Wave of Violence – an interview with film critic James Mudge
  • NEW Inventing an Icon – film critic Ricky Baker discuss the emergence of the "Heroic Bloodshed" term
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • English Trailer
  • English Credits











Final Score: :3.5stars:


All three Tiger Cage movies are fun in their right, with each one having a distinctly different tone with general themes tying them together. Martial arts and gun play are both a blast, with classic choreography from one of the best in the business. The Blu-ray sets looks pretty decent for a grungy set of low budget 80s Hong Kong flicks, but I was really pleased with how many extras Shout Factory included, as well as the multiple cuts and language options that were included. Definitely recommended if you’re anything of a classic Hong Kong film lover.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Donnie Yen, Michael Woods, Simon Yam, Rosamund Kwan, Man Cheung, Michael Wong
Directed by: Yuen Woo-Ping
Written by:
Tiger Cage - Wing-Fai Wong, Kwong-Kim Yip
Tiger Cage II - Chi-Ho Fong, Kwong-Kim Yip, Yeuk-Kwong Yuen
Tiger Cage III - Wing-Fai Wong, Patrick Leung
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC (all 3)
Audio:
Tiger Cage - Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Tiger Cage II - Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Tiger Cage III - Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Subtitles:
Tiger Cage - English
Tiger Cage II - English
Tiger Cage III - English
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NR (All 3)
Runtime: 285 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May, 9th, 2023
image.png





Recommendation: Recomended For Classic Hong Kong Film Lovers

 
Last edited:

tripplej

AV Addict
Joined
Jul 13, 2017
Messages
6,866
More  
Preamp, Processor or Receiver
NAD T-777
Universal / Blu-ray / CD Player
Oppo 103 Blu Ray Player
Front Speakers
7 Paradigm Reference series 8" in ceiling speakers
Subwoofers
2 Paradigm SE Subs
Other Speakers or Equipment
Nintendo Wii U Gaming Console
Video Display Device
Samsung UN75F8000 LED TV
Remote Control
Universal Remote MX-450
Streaming Subscriptions
Sony PS4 Gaming Console, Panamax MR-5100 Surge
Thanks for the review. I never head of this but after reading the review I am very much interested in checking it out.
 
Top Bottom