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1997(1st) ~ 2024(28th)
City of Romance : Hong Kong D & B Films Special
YUEN Woo Ping
Hong Kong1988 92 min Beta C Korean Premiere
The hugely popular Tiger Cage is recognized as one of Donnie YEN’s earlier action films. YEN, discovered by the martial arts guru Woo Ping YUEN, honed his craft appearing in Drunken Tai Chi (1984) and Mismatched Couples (1985). Later, for the first time in his career, YEN took charge of martial arts directing with YUEN’s own action team. Though his character dies in the middle of Tiger Cage, his almost-boxing-like speedy and concise fighting style overpowers his opponents and overwhelms his audience with a perfect 10. Confrontation between the ruthless drug cartel and the equally-brutal law enforcement sets off a similar framework found in later pieces like Kill Zone (2005) and Flash Point (2007). By his own admittance, the actor is most interested in the ‘modern police movies with an-eye-for-an-eye attitudes.’ Tiger Cage is unique in that it is the first film by YUEN using a modern era as the backdrop, despite his well-known preference for period pieces. His portrayal of the neon-sign-and-building-packed Hong Kong, and his choreography of action sequences flying all over the central region along the cobweb of corridors, will blow your mind away. The impact is almost as if the classically trained master martial artists/actors are suddenly beamed up and transplanted in a strange contemporary milieu. Whatever you’d call it, a police-detective story or a noir fare, Tiger Cage captivates the audience with extraordinary energy and substance. (JU Seong Cheol)