Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 24, 2022

Lau Kar-Wing’s "Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon" (1990) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng and martial artist/actor Robert "Bobby" Samuels; exclusive new audio commentary with action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema; archival program with action choreographer/director Ridley Tsui; and more. In Cantonese or English, with optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked".

Fatty

It would be pretty difficult to prove that Lau Kar-Wing’s Fatty Tiger and Skinny Dragon was directly influenced by the numerous American buddy-cop films that became popular during the 1970s and 1980s because it has a very distinct Hong Kong-esque personality. However, if you take a closer look at how its two main protagonists behave and specifically how their actions are used to merge the serious and the funny and make it appear authentic, you will quickly realize that the classic American buddy-cop blueprint must have been extremely helpful to its creator. Consider for instance how the two mismatched cops in Richard Rush’s Freebie and the Bean get involved with the notorious racketeer and then wreak havoc all across San Francisco. This film spends a great deal of time trying to convince that what the cops are doing is part of a very dangerous but at the same time oddly rewarding job. How so? Because while trying to keep their community safe the cops are allowed to enjoy a roller-coaster ride that many modern-day thrill-seekers would be willing to pay for. Now, it is utterly irrelevant whether at the time this cinematic job description was even remotely authentic. What matters is that the film does enough to create the illusion that incompatible cops like its two protagonists could have been roaming the streets of San Francisco.

Almost the exact same scenario is replicated in Fatty Tiger and Skinny Dragon. Fatty (Sammo Hung) and Skinny (Karl Maka) are two cops that spend most of their time dealing with troublemakers on the streets of Hong Kong. Initially, it appears that they have a more balanced relationship, but it does not take long to realize that they have been mismatched as well. They see differently, they react differently, and ultimately rely on different instincts to do their job and stay alive. What keeps their relationship strong is their sense of humor, rather impressive martial arts skills, and the thrills of their work.

Predictably, it is not long before Fatty and Skinny go after a big-time criminal, Prince Tak (Lung Ming Yan), who is a member of a large underground group whose drug-dealing operations are causing all kinds of different problems for the authorities in Hong Kong. However, because they don’t have a strategy how to take down Prince Tak, or any other prominent member of the underground group, they begin to improvise and quickly find themselves stuck in some pretty dangerous situations. For example, to fix the unexpected ‘cop problem’, the criminals activate a couple of surprisingly vicious Thai ladyboy killers. Then later on, after Fatty and Skinny travel to Singapore, Prince Tak and his own thugs go to work to neutralize them as well.

The buildup to the inevitable resolution is entirely predictable, so just like in Freebie and the Bean the best material is the one in which specific things are done to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Fatty and Skinny as well as how they make them appear similar and dissimilar. As revealed earlier, both are great fighters, so the action footage provides virtually all of the highlights. They are hilarious guys too, so there is some pretty funny material as well.

But once it becomes obvious that the Fatty Tiger and Skinny Dragon does not have any ambitions to look even remotely original, which happens fairly early, it is difficult to ignore the feeling that a lot of what happens in it is just scripted filler material. Yes, that distinct Hong Kong-esque personality that was mentioned earlier helps, but it is something that would be appreciated primarily by western viewers who have not have a great deal of exposure to other similarly-themed Hong Kong films from the same era.

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Fatty Tiger and Skinny Dragon arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from a new 2K master that provides the entire film with a very healthy organic appearance. Frankly, aside from a few small color inconsistencies that I found a bit puzzling, I think that the visuals look as good as they can in 1080p. For example, delineation, clarity, and depth range from very good to excellent. There are a few sequences where small highlights could have been balanced slightly better, but I still think that everything looks very convincing. Darker footage that reveals different ranges of nuances looks solid as well. The color inconsistencies appear during the trip to Singapore. There is supposed to be plenty of sunlight there, but some visuals look a bit cooler than I think they need to be primarily because the blues are toned down a bit. As a result, it looks like it is a cloudy day, when it should be a sunny one. However, it appears that this is pretty much how this entire segment was graded. Image stability is excellent. A few white specks can be seen, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, blemishes, warped or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese LPCM 1.0, English LPCM 1.0, and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Three sets of English subtitles are provided -- one for the Cantonese track, and two for the English dub tracks.

I started viewing the film with the original Cantonese LPCM 1.0 track, then switched to the English LPCM 1.0, and eventually came back to the former. Both tracks can be quite uneven at times, but it is very clear that all fluctuations are inherited. Dynamic balance is good, but you need to keep in mind that on the Cantonese track in particular there are plenty of enhancements. The music has a supporting role, so do not expect to hear any memorable contrasts. The English translation is very nice. Also, I specifically would like to mention that I really like the size of the subtitles. Hopefully, this will be standard size for all Eureka Entertainment releases. (For reference, the size of the subtitles on Kino Lorber's releases is a bit too small).

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BLU-RAY DISC ONE

• Commentary One - in this new commentary, Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist/actor Robert "Bobby" Samuels go down memory lane and provide an enormous amount of information about the many people that made Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon and their careers, and discuss the creative environment during the late '80s and early '90s (and explain specifically why a similar film with the same sense of humor can no longer be made), the choreography of various action sequences, etc.

• Commentary Two - in this new commentary, action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, both very big fans of Hong Kong action films, recall their first viewing experiences with Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon and reveal the long lists of reason that supposedly make the film a minor genre classics. (The two biggest and most obvious ones are of course its total immunity to political correctness and entertaining action). As expected, there is plenty of interesting information about the careers of the people that contributed to the film as well as the state of the local film industry during the late '80s and early '90s. It is a casual but very entertaining commentary that is very much worth listening to in its entirety.

• Interview with Lau Kar-Wing - in this archival video program, director Lau Kar-Wing discusses his background and love for martial arts, some of the action films that had a huge impact on him over the years, and the conception and production of Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon. In Cantonese, with English subtitles. (26 min).

• Interview with Ridley Tsui - in this archival video program, action choreographer/director Ridley Tsui explains when and how he entered the film business, his early work as a stuntman and how it helped him become an action director, and his contribution to Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon. There are some particularly interesting observations about his work Sammo Hung and the initial intent to shoot the film as a Bruce Lee project. In English. (20 min).

• Extended Taiwanese Fight Scene - presented here is a longer version of the film's climatic fight sequence, which appeared on an exclusive Taiwanese theatrical version of Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon. With printed Mandarin and English subtitles. (9 min).

• Trailer - a remastered international trailer for Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon. In English. (6 min).

BLU-RAY DISC TWO

• I Am the White Tiger (2018) - this documentary takes a closer look at the career of stuntman, martial artist, and action director Mark Houghton. In English, not subtitled. (80 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver as well as technical credits.

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You will quickly realize that most of the time Sammo Hung's character, Fatty, does a pretty good job of imitating Bruce Lee's fighting style. You should also be able to recognize that Lau Kar-Wing's direction borrows plenty from the classic buddy-cop blueprint that so many different American films used during the '70s and '80s. However, Fatty Tiger and Skinny Dragon still has a distinct Hong Kong-esque personality, which is defined by its total immunity to political correctness. Simply put, it is one of those completely loose late '80s/early '90s Hong Kong action films that can no longer be made today. I think that this looseness is its greatest strength. Eureka Entertainment's release is sourced from a very solid recent 2K master and features a nice selection of new and archival bonus features. RECOMMENDED.