The Paper Tigers review by Bobby Blakey
Well Go USA continues to bring all the best martial arts films to the US market. Their latest film The Paper Tigers features a great cast including Alain Uy, Ron Yuan, Mykel Shannon Jenkins and Master Ken himself Matt Page. Could this martial arts comedy bring more of the fun and action fans want or will it fail to honor its own legacy?
The Paper Tigers follows three martial artists—notorious in their prime as “the three tigers”—have grown into middle-aged men one kick from a pulled muscle. But after their teacher’s murder, they must juggle dead-end jobs, dad duties, and old grudges to avenge him.
I have been excited for this movie since I saw the first trailer. I hate to admit, but as a martial artist myself that started as a child and now over 35 years later I fully relate to the issues these guys go through physically. The film kicks off with seeing them train and bring the pain in their prime to set the tone of their legend, before jumping ahead to see where they are now. As happens, they are not quite as agile or as badass as they might have been in their youth and this is where the fun begins.
The story plays up more of a comedy drama of friendship and regrets than really an action movie, but have no fear there is plenty of martial arts fun to be had. The majority of the film is really about these friends coming back together and working through their differences and own lives with the catalyst that brings them back together taking them on a new martial arts journey.
On the martial arts side is where the laughs come, but there are also some very talented martial artists on display here including Matt Page aka Master Ken who gets to shine. I have been a fan of his YouTube series Enter the Dojo for years, but so glad to get to see him flex his muscles and get in on some action while
bringing some great laughs. The entire cast are good here with my only disappointment being not getting to see enough of Ron Yuan kicking ass. He gets his moments, but plays up more of the laughs as well which as a fan of his way back to films like Ring of Fire is funnier knowing his skill level.
I had a great time with this film and related to it way more than I would like to admit. It would be fun to see these guys reteam for another entry for these characters. Get back in fighting shape and check out The Paper Tigers when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on June 22nd from Well Go USA.