Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Paper Tigers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2021

Even martial arts films with legendary stars like Bruce Lee and/or Jackie Chan would probably not be considered models of “character development”, since the people played by the actors were at least more than occasionally “types” who in fact could probably be interchanged between various films without much chaos resulting. The Paper Tigers may not completely succeed in its attempts to blend together martial arts tropes with depictions of men who are relatively realistic, but it at least tries, as it revisits the hoary cliché of practitioners of “gong fu” out to avenge the murder of their mentor. In this particular case, however, several years have intervened between the martial arts training offered by Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan) to his once young acolytes and his subsequent mysterious death, meaning that the “kids” are now middle aged men with a number of both personal and “internecine” issues that they need to confront as they work together after years of estrangement to try to set things right.

The Paper Tigers manages to work in a good deal of exposition by the time the opening credits play out, credits that take the form of an old VHS video montage of years of training, and a number of subsequent fights where Danny, Jim and Hing, the trio of boys under the tutelage of Sifu Cheung, regularly take out a perceived nemesis named Carter. The very opening moments of the film play out in the present day and seem to suggest that Sifu Cheung was killed by some kind of supernatural force, or at least a martial artist with some kind of amazing force at his beck and call. After what amounts to a flashback montage as the credits play, the film returns to the present day to detail the travails of Danny (Alain Uy), who is now a harried divorced Dad fitfully trying to successfully enjoy his weekend of visitation with his sweet son, Ed (Joziah Lagonoy).

There's an almost agonizing scene in this opening vignette where Danny, obviously someone with a good heart if a perhaps unstable personal life, tries to convince his ex-wife Caryn (Jae Suh Park) he will follow through on a long promised visit to "Magic Land" with Ed, but as soon as the father and son are alone in the car and Danny's cell phone rings, Ed's repeated and unsuccessful pleading to his father not to answer the phone, and of course the excursion is cancelled.

It's almost out of left field, then, when Hing (Ron Yuan) suddenly shows up, obviously older and in pretty sad physical condition. Hing delivers the sad news to Danny that Sifu Cheung has died and that his funeral is scheduled for the next day. The initial assumption is that their master died from a heart attack or other natural causes, since he rather incredibly was a lifelong smoker (as is shown in the training material). A throwaway comment suggests that there is some lingering discontent between Hing and Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) in particular, and in fact at the funeral, only Danny and Hing are present, "reunited" with their old nemesis, Carter (Matthew Page), who rather incredibly is the new Sifu.

Predictably, there's another reunion on tap when Jim reenters the picture, and unlike either Danny, who's just kind of given up, and Hing, who has physical issues to deal with, Jim is in top condition and would seem to have "kept the fire alive" the best of any of the three. There are some simmering dynamics between the three that amount to sibling rivalry that are kind of introduced then just as quickly dispensed with as the three set off on an often comedic journey to regain their martial arts mojo as they start investigating what might have happened to Sifu Cheung.

The Paper Tigers is therefore both kind of a traditional property but also an unusual one, and if the basic storyline is rote, the interplay between the middle aged focal characters is often quite well done, and some of the comedy involving Carter, while cartoonish, is also at least occasionally effective. There's a certain story lethargy that starts to creep in, since nothing is ever very unexpected and there's no real sense of danger, but there's also an undeniable amount of heart in this enterprise which addresses the passage of time and dimming of dreams.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf wasn't quite as enthused about The Paper Tigers as I am. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

The Paper Tigers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Paper Tigers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The IMDb doesn't really offer any significant technical data on the shoot, but I found some online interviews with Director of Photography Shaun Mayor where he mentions having used Arri Alexa Minis, aside from the "VHS" footage which was done with an old style Sony Hi 8. I'm assuming the DI was finished at 2K. This is a mostly sharp and nicely detailed looking offering, which almost always features a natural looking palette that is actually kind of subtle, emphasizing darker tones with pops of red. Some of the interior material looks slightly skewed toward yellow, but detail levels tend to remind rather good. There are some occasional deficits, as in a restaurant scene that looks fairly murky, and some brief nighttime material where fine detail evaporates a bit.

The Paper Tigers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Paper Tigers features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that may not have the nonstop immersion of more action oriented martial arts features, but which does spring into life at various key junctures, as in the comical "showdown" between Carter and his three former nemeses. Some of the effects work offers good discrete channelization, and there is good overall engagement of the side and rear channels in the more aggressive moments of the film. This is, though, a kind of low key comedy with an emphasis on dialogue, and as such surround activity can ebb and flow. Optional subtitles in a variety of languages are available.

The Paper Tigers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes

  A Look Behind the Film (HD; 9:56)

  
  

  Tai Tung Restaurant (HD; 1:53) is actually a very cool little piece about the oldest Chinese restaurant in Seattle.

  
  

  Production Design (HD; 1:19)

  
  

• Deleted Scenes (HD; 23:39)


• Bloopers (HD; 7:39)


• Trailer (HD; 2:30)

Note: As tends to be the case with most Well Go USA releases, the disc has been authored so that the supplements follow each other automatically (so that clicking on the A Look Behind the Film featurette under the Behind the Scenes submenu is essentially a Play All button. After this film's Trailer plays, the disc has been authored to move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

The Paper Tigers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a kind of genial sweetness to The Paper Tigers which may make it enjoyable to some folks in particular who may feel like they're past their prime and that their youthful dreams have withered on the vine. The film could have used some improvement in pacing and maybe tried for a more visceral feeling of danger, but the character work here is often very appealing. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplemental package enjoyable. With caveats noted, Recommended.