TIGER CLAWS 2 martial arts film review

Hello this is wmpyr here to do another martial arts movie review, today we have Tiger Claws 2. First of all let me just say that I haven't seen the original Tiger Claws since the 90s, but it was one of my favorite B movie martial arts flicks. I remember the story to be pretty cool, it was an urban crime story where two cops were trying to find a serial killer that killed elite martial artists using the tiger claw style. The cast is awesome, I remember the chemistry between Jalal merhi and Cynthia Rothrock being good, and of course we have Bolo Yeung who steels the show. The training scenes were mega cool and the showcase of the Tiger Claw style was fascinating. One more thing is that I also remember the music in the film to be very catchy and well done. So now let's go to Tiger Claws 2, I've been wanting to see this since forever especially because I liked the original so much. For the first time, I just saw it the other day. Now I read some reviews and some people seem to have hated this film. Let me just say right away, the first one is awesome for a B movie, this one is nowhere near as good, but I personally enjoyed it, I've wanted to see this for so long, I'm just grateful to finally be able to, and it was nice to see the same trio again but also some other very recognizable faces. Tiger Claws was released in 1992, Tiger Claws 2 was released in 1996, I read someone saying that Cynthia Rothrock for her age which she was suppose to be in her 40s at the time looked good, and I have to agree, we see her trademark scorpion kick, and she seems to be in good shape, however I was bummed to see her with long hair in this one, I liked her short hair in Tiger Claws. Even though he is known as Beirut's Steven Seagal, Jalal comes across kind of like a Van Damme except a very skilled Kung Fu stylist with some smooth moves but not as muscular, he has an accent, and I think his best roles are kind of like VD when he plays the strong silent type. Bolo in this one is now basically a good guy, which is crazy because he was an insane serial killer last time, I guess they were trying to do the Darth Vader thing, but I think it works, not story wise, but film wise, Bolo pulls it off. This time the emphasis on the Tiger Claw style is almost zero, and the main bad guy you will recognize from the Ice Factory fight scene as the brother of Wong Jack Man that fought Jason Scott Lee in Dragon The Bruce Lee Story. This actor Ong Soo Han, is a physical specimen, I've also seen him play the main bad guy in Blood Sport 2 and I can't say I'm too impressed with his acting as the main villain, imo he doesn't deliver the lines well, and for some reason they gave him a lot of lines. Evan Lurie whom I've seen in a ton of B martial arts films to me looks like a bigger version of MMA fighter Guy Mezger. Anyway this guys character makes this film a little bit more interesting. Your also going to see Eric Lee as the master, and when he shows up that's when the story really starts to go in the realms of supernatural, you see him doing some crazy Chi moves, and the whole portal to the ancients, with a fogged up dungeon maze and a martial arts tournament makes me feel like I'm watching an episode of the Mortal Kombat TV show, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but definitely can catch you off guard, cause it's so different from the original. There are some interesting fight scenes, one guy who is even bigger than Bolo or Ong Soo Han is in the tournament, interesting to watch, and a guy with an eye patch is seasoned with the Escrima stick and has a pretty cool fight scene with Cynthia. The music in this one I think was done by the same person who did the original but this time around it seems like they went more all out, it's not bad at all, but I do miss the catchy theme from the original. Originals better but I still enjoyed it. Not sure if I've seen Tiger Claws 3 but you can bet that I'm looking forward to reviewing it!

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