|
|
Tiger Claws III: The Final ConflictAKA: Tiger Claws 3: Final Conflict Year of release: 1999 Genre: action Director: J. Stephen Maunder Stars: Cynthia Rothrock, Loren Avedon, Jalal Merhi, Gary Foo, Carter Wong Rated R for language and violence Version reviewed: Concorde DVD |
Ah, the joys of free rental coupons. Only by their power would I ever be persuaded to rent something like this, especially seeing how bad Tiger Claws II was. Suprisingly, this movie actually improves in many ways on the previous film and is actually worth watching.
The plot this time out has Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal Merhi reprising their roles as New York City cops (as with the previous movies, the film was actually made in Toronto, but the Canadian accents aren't as noticeable this time out). This time, they're on the trail of a thief breaking into a warehouse. The thief is actually a master martial artist (Loren Avedon) who, using his special "tiger powers", resurrects three deadly warriors. After a brutal battle, Cynthia is killed, and Jalal sets off for revenge after learning a deadly form of kung fu from Carter Wong.
This is a pretty enjoyable piece of B-movie fluff and is the best in the series. That might not be saying much, but after the stinking pile of poo that was part 2, Tiger Claws III looks like Enter the Dragon by comparison. The action is solid and the plot and script are at least somewhat entertaining and cohesive, led by some amazingly solid performances by the cast. I particularly enjoyed Loren Avedon, who creates a near-perfect B-movie villain here. Hell, even the guys who play the low-level thugs do a good job. And besides some cheesy special effects, the movie also looks really good for such a cheap production.
All in all, Tiger Claws III is nothing really great, but it makes for a good rainy day rental or late-night cable fodder.
RATING: 6
