So he ran away from that version of himself, Danny 8 Hands, Danny the Dojo Buster. He failed people dear to him, people who he loved, and failed them badly. And as Danny, Uy leads the ensemble with a compelling, and gloriously complex performance.ĭanny’s got a lot to resolve. from Page’s ludicrous-manchild-but-more Carter to Jenkins and Yuan’s coming-to-terms-and-rebuilding Jim and Hing to Quitiugua’s excellent classical villainy – his intimidating skill with the martial arts is matched only by his monstrous, arrogant rejection of them as anything other than a weapon. The ensemble is strong, both individually and in concert with each other. The Paper Tigers weaves back and forth between comedy and drama throughout its runtime, and it does that weaving with grace and skill across multiple tempos. Quitugua makes space for inopportunely pulled muscles and showboating and for intricate two-man choreography and a moment of genuine, transcendent self-mastery. Each fight has its own rhythm, from the back-and-forth of the rusty Tigers and the influencers to the intimate, high-stakes rooftop bout between Danny and Zhen Fan. He captures the fights and the arenas in which they play out clearly and elegantly.Īs action director, Quitugua shifts between the comic and the dramatic fluidly. The same precision with which Tran wields The Paper Tigers‘ tonal shifts is found throughout the picture and shared by its entire creative team.Ĭinematographer Shaun Mayor elegantly contrasts the initial cold emptiness of The Paper Tigers‘ present with the warmth of its camcorder vision past. Simultaneously, it features an amazing sight gag that Tran built to throughout the preceding fight. The post-fight conversation between the Tigers and Carter, for instance, sets in motion their first meeting with Zhen Fan and firmly establishes his villainy. It also boasts sequences that bounce back and forth between its two poles from beat to beat and moments that combine both to great effect. The Paper Tigers is screamingly funny and pointedly sober for extended stretches. Very, very, VERY different.ĭirector/writer Quoc Bao Tran is a master of tonal balance. There’s the truth of who they were as young men, as opposed to their fond memories of the time.Īnd there’s the fact that launching a spectacular kick at 45 is different from launching a spectacular kick at 18. There’s all the failures and false starts and disappointments that come with life and living. There’s the reasons why they, once brothers by love and learning, haven’t spoken to each other for decades. There’s the reasons their relationships with their Sifu collapsed. In addition to their literal opponents, the Tigers will also have to face their metric ton of baggage. They’ll have to face a trio of obnoxious young martial arts influencers (Andy Le, Phillip Dang, and Brian Le – YouTube action-comedy team Martial Club), Carter (Matthew Page, Enter the Dojo) – their try-hard teen rival whose chip on his shoulder grew up with him.Īt the end of the trail waits someone far more sinister: the ruthless assassin Zhen Fan (Ken Quitugua, also The Paper Tigers‘ action director). The Tigers, reunited, go on the prowl for answers. When the two of them learn that their master’s demise was suspicious, they seek out Jim. When Hing learns that Sifu Cheng has died, he seeks out Danny. And Danny (Alain Uy, Helstrom) sells insurance while flailing and failing as a co-parent to his son Ed (Joziah Lagonoy) – barely managing two hands, let alone eight. Hing, (Ron Yuan, Mulan) injured while working construction gets by on disability. Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Undisputed III: Redemption) teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. They are estranged from each other, from gung fu, and from Sifu Cheng – all with varying degrees of bitterness. The future was the Tigers’ for the taking. Danny in particular was set to become one of the undisputed masters of the form, so blindingly fast in his matches that he was dubbed “Danny 8 Hands” by Hing, Jim and everyone else in the scene. Under the tutelage of gung fu master Sifu Cheng (Roger Yuan, Black Dynamite) they were the Three Tigers – the young guns in Seattle’s martial arts scene. In the 1990s Danny, Hing, and Jim were young, they were inseparable, and they were unstoppable. And speaking personally, it’s my favorite of 2021 so far. The Paper Tigers is out on blu-ray today.
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