Tiger Claws

Tiger Claws

I honestly feel bad for the people who made this movie. You can tell that they take themselves seriously and are hoping something decent will come of their efforts. Unfortunately for all involved, including the viewer, all we're left with is an embarrassing excuse of a movie. I won't get into the plot - there's really no sense. As you can imagine, there's a bad guy, some good guys and a lot of kicking. The only interesting twist in this one is that the star is a woman, and she actually has some pretty decent moves, I guess. Her acting, if you can call it that, is beyond horrific, even for martial arts movies, and she doesn't have much of a supporting cast to help her out either. Even if you are a martial arts movie fan, stay away from this mess. My girlfriend walked in the room when I was watching it and it literally took twenty minutes of viewing to convince her that I wasn't watching a porno. I'm not sure she's convinced to this day.

The unstoppable force that is Bolo Yeung continues to run out of control in Tiger Claws. In this film Bolo goes up against Jalal Merhi, who wrote.. who produced.... who Co-STARRED in this legendary Yeung vehicle. Tagging along with Merhi is the hot Cynthia Rothrock, who's name not only sounds like a * star, but she also voice acts like one. No emotion what so ever is detected in her lines, which is offset by her phenomenal martial arts ability and incredible pectoral superiority. The only thing that manages to bring Tiger Claws down from a perfect 10 would be Jalal Merhi's entire performance as the "hero", and the two cop buddy extras from Beverly Hills Cop. (hey man, we aren't gonna fall for no banana in a tailpipe!)

Very rare attempt to make a psycho-thriller based on Martial Arts and it works well for me. Bolo is absolutely fantastic and insane in this role. Cynthia is just so talented and sweet. Jalal Merhi builds solid, but average character. As a writer and producer he deserves much more respect for letting Cynthia and Bolo shine most of the screen time. For me Tiger Claws is in the same Top list with Revenge of the Ninja, Kickboxer, Dark Angel etc.

This movie, starring Cynthia Rothrock, Jalal Merhi, and especially Bolo Yeung, showcases everything that's wrong with martial arts movies. I still don't know why, but since it's inception, this genre is plagued by production values, acting and direction, which put it only one peg above *, if that. Jalal Merhi especially talks like Serge the art dealer from Beverly Hills Cop. Cynthia Rothrock's abilities are accomplished, but her acting is limited. Bolo Yeung still doesn't seem to have mastered English, although I always enjoy his performances.

Tiger Claws is one of the lesser known Rothrock movies and that is no bad thing, it is a pretty decent entry into the old school Martial Arts canon. Cynthia made a few stronger themed movies around 1991/1992 and this is one of them, the inclusion of Bolo is good, who himself featured in a few films also around that period. The storyline is good in that it goes some way to explaining Tiger style Kung Fu - instead of just being a cop after a villain style with Martial Arts thrown in, which was an element of her earlier work. Also some of the fight scenes are pretty decent, with Rothrock herself impressive as always. Well worth a watch, however as of 2010,this title is not yet available on DVD.

Rothrock was the best in this with her fights,acting and outfit alongside with Bolo Yeung , but she wasn't the lead, Merhi was. The problem with that was, Rothrock had all the experience and was better equipped to lead a movie and at the end of the movie it was more than OK if Rothrock had been finished Bolo in a combat fight.If Jean-Claude van Damme or even Richard Norton had been the lead male in this movie then this film had been a classic.Jalal Merhi was very awful in this unfortunately but the movie was enjoyable enough though but would have been a lot better. So i recommend you this film and if you are a Cynthia Rothrock fan you'll not be disappointed.

Some complain about acting. They don't know the features of martial art Acting. It's a different thing. Not just b-side kung-fu-karate beat em up. This one is unique for it's sub genre. What we have here is a thriller. The main maniac-killer has very big sport ambitions, but he satisfies himself with anonymus fights till death, leaving only his signature scars on the bodies of his opponents..Bolo plays his role very well. He is a quiet painter in the dojo and he is an ego-maniac killer. Cynthia is sweet and cute in throwing her mighty kicks as allways:) Jalal is less known action star, but he suits the cast perfectly. He looks believable in the role of undercover police man. His pure mean simlycity is the right cure for the twisted Claw-mastermind..