Directed by: J. Stephen Maunder
Starring: Jalal Merhi, Loren Avedon, and Cynthia Rothrock
Tarek (Merhi) and Linda (Rothrock) return as “New York
City”* cops in this third and, thankfully, last installment of the Tiger Claws
franchise. And what a franchise it was. This time around, an evil baddie named
Stryker (Avedon) comes on the scene. While we have seen many guys over the
years with the name Stryker, this time he mentions that his name is “Stryker
Godunov”. Okay. So, Stryker Godunov for some unknown reason unleashes three
unkillable Martial Arts masters onto the streets of Toronto...sorry, NEW YORK, and all sorts of
havoc ensues. Because Tarek is a bit slow in the head, it takes him a while to
find the answer that will stop all the madness. Obviously, the answer is Carter
Wong, just like in real life. Carter, as Master Jin, takes Tarek to the icy
wastes of...New York...to train hard, Rocky IV style, to fight the bad guys
that are Superman 2 style. With Stryker controlling the baddies, is anybody
safe? Will Tarek rise to the occasion? Or will something truly stupid happen to
screw it all up?
Yes, as you may have noticed, there is a Tiger Claws THREE.
Just why, exactly, is anybody’s guess. We had a hard time sitting through TC3
(and if Billy Blanks is to be believed - and he usually is - there are only
1,997 sequels to go) for numerous reasons. Sure, it has some of the standard
low-budget movie pitfalls we are more than used to and totally okay with: bad
lighting, junky-looking cinematography, and acting so stilted it should be used
by Uncle Sam in a Labor Day parade. The real crime here, if you can overlook
the surface problems, is the minimal appearance by fan favorite Cynthia
Rothrock, in favor of Jalal Merhi and the ever-unlikable Loren Avedon. Though,
to be fair, he is well-cast as a pompous jerk bad guy.
Why director Maunder thought axing the delightful Rothrock
just so Merhi can clog up our screens like a hairball in a shower drain remains
unknown, but maybe it wasn’t up to him. Maybe Rothrock, wisely, said no more.
Speaking of hair, and to be fair to “Tarek”, Merhi’s hair does look less
painted-on than usual. But the lack of Rothrock isn’t even the worst of
Maunder’s sins. Without giving anything away, there is a mind-numbingly stupid
plot twist that, as a viewer, will likely make you feel angry and insulted.
Again: why? And no amount of recycled Bolo Yeung scenes and “33% new footage!”
flashback moments can paper over it.
So while Stryker’s need to take three 500-year-old outfits
in a museum display and make them come alive and do wire-fu is not explained,
neither are the methods used to combat it. Tarek prepares to combat the
supernatural evil by attempting to snatch a piece of sushi hanging from a
string by sticking his hand through a Price is Right-style moving wheel. That
oughta show’em. Thankfully, however, the great Carter Wong is here to help us
all, and his classic Hardcase and Fist-style delivery is still in full force.
For example, when he says the word “Stryker”, his super-thick accent makes it
sounds like he’s saying “Fraggle”. Which leads to quotes such as “Fraggle is
against me”. Perhaps a Doozer would be
more intimidating than Loren Avedon.
There’s the time-honored warehouse fight, a lot of yelling
and grunting (mainly because the three baddies never say anything), and even a
T.I.G.-style farmhouse fight. Even at the final fight, the jumping/alternating
hitting the sides of the feet thing looks less like a battle to the death and
more like the Kid n’ Play dance. At one point, someone even says “they are
fighting spirit” - perhaps a reference to the 1992 Loren Avedon movie of the
same name? But, in the end, Tiger Claws III feels like a loser of a
movie, if not a complete waste of time...and that thing we mentioned earlier is
the straw that breaks the Tiger’s back.
*Toronto, Ontario, Canada
4 comments:
I agree. This was the least of the Tiger Claws 2000-ology. I have been wondering what gives Canadian movies that special Canadian feel. Could it be the harsh, bleak light of the sun in the north? Canadian movies, having been filmed just a few miles off the frozen tundra, always seem to have a paler picture than their American counterparts.
This one was OK, but not as fun as other Merhi films like Expect No Mercy and Expect to Die.
Did you like how in part 2, they rehabilitated Bolo Yeung's character, Tarek referring to him as a man of honour, despite the fact he was a merciless serial killer in the first movie?
Haha! You're right, that was ridiculous.
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