Guest Monkey King 2000 Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Not being much of a fan of modern day films (so far), I have never seen either of these films. However, having enjoyed both Tony Ja's films, I watched SPL and also enjoyed it (I prefered the action in Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong, but the story was better in SPL). How does the Tiger Cage films compare to SPL? I have read very good reviews for these, is there more action than SPL? I recently purchased line of duty 4 (HK Legends DVD), as it was easy to find and quite cheap. Should I watch this first before also buying Tiger Cage and also there seems very little copies of the films available. Are there any to try and find or avoid. Any advice would be very appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Amazing Psychoper Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 As far as Tiger cage 1 is concerned, there is not a lot of fight scenes to sink yout teeths in. Donnie Yen has limited screen time, the star being Jackie Cheung. You can defenitely skip this one. Tiger cage 2 has a little more going for it. For this one Donnie was promoted to star of the film. It's starts out a bit slow, but the final fights are really great. It consists of three fights, one with swords, one against a big black dude where some cool wrestling move are thrown in and the final fight is hand to hand against Robin Shou. My problem with this one is the pacing. It's not wall to wall action and the plot is really uninvolving. If you're a fan of Donnie Yen it's worth a viewing for the final but it's a bit of an uneven movie. In the line of duty 4 is a solid actionner. Nothing exceptional but not to much to complain either, good fights are peppered throughout the films. Of course don't expect a plot that blows your mind, those 80's martial arts/cop movies are all the same. It's the fighting that counts here and it's as good as anything you'll see in this kind of movie. As for the comparaison with SPL, there is more fights in TC 2 and ITLOD 4 and the choreography is as good but with longer fights. It's just that the stories are not as engaging as in SPL. Hope that helps. The Amazing Psycho Per :evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chen Zhen Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 tiger cage 1 = an interesting movie imo...the plot is a tad above average, albeit very familiar. i like the real dark tone to it. as stated, there isnt too much action in it...donnie yen really only has 1 action scene, which is on par with his other fights in movies like In hte line of duty 4. the other fights dont have quite as much flair. 7/10 tiger cage 2 = action wise, its definetely superior. donnie has much more action scenes in this one, and robin shou's 2 action scenes are really awesome. in particular, my fav fight in the movie is between robin and david wu. story is nothin to write home about, but its interesting enuff to not make u bored. another dark crime thriller. 8.5/10 SPL = awesome story and performances, i enjoyed the emphasis on fatherhood in the end. the action scenes are quite good, albeit theres only a few of them. but as a MOVIE, its definetely the goods. interesting characters. 9/10 Tom Yum Goong = garbage movie...with very good fights. this is essentially a 90 minute music video..the attempts at plot and emotion are an absolute joke. so many inconsistencies and plot holes to name. most of the action is quite good, but some scenes wore off on me fast (ie bone breaking scene). but its assumed that if u watch TYG, u already kno its going to be a music video. 8/10 for action alone, otherwise, 2/10. Ong Bak = subpar in the way of story and characters, but definetely more interesting than TYG. action is very new and interesting, altho there are few 'exchanges'. succeeds with the full contact, and acrobatics by the star. simple plot, but doesnt take itself too seriously like TYG. 8/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Amazing Psychoper Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 I think everyone is a bit harsh on TYG and Ong Bak... Plot holes? We're talking kung fu movie here! Never seen a kung fu movie from witch the screenplay deserved an award... There is enough action in those two movie to overshadow the week plots... I prefer when the screen time is taken to blow me away with great fights rather then to take time to establish a story that is going to suck anyway. Take the kung fu out and I wouldn't watch any of these movies. The Amazing Psycho Per:evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Monkey King 2000 Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Thanks both for the advice I think I will skip Tiger Cage and maybe buy Tiger Cage 2 depending how I get on with Line of Duty. I think the plot with Ong-Bak was better than TYG. From memory the first hour of TYG was not brilliant (not enough action to counter the story), whereas Ong-Bak tailed of a bit as it went on. Either way both had more than enough very good action to keep you going. Whereas with SPL I was constantly trying to figure out (encourage) the next bit of action. Although I think it had a really good ending action and story wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmungus Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 basically concur with psycho per and chen zhen. if youre not into hk action-thrillers/cop-flix of the mid 80s-early 90s, then TC1 wont be of interest to u; TC2 only for some high-octane action maybe. if u dug TC2 and wanna explore the sub-genre furthermore, try ie ITLOD 1, 2 & 4, (iron) angel 1+2, inspector wears skirts, license to steal, wonder seven, project s, rosa, red wolf. one i highly recommend is the low-budget action-masterpiece "death games" from 97 (feels like 1988-1992 tho)- simple and leaky plot, but truly wicked fighting action. stars fan siu wong, billy chow and leung kar yan. www.geocities.com/drngor/deathgames.html of course they re just (part of) the tip of the iceberg; theres a whole lot more where those came from- some are lighthearted, others are very brutal and dark, some cross genres, some are really straight forward and simplistic, others are multi dimensional (even if that means they turn out one big muddled, incoherent mess), some a little insane with totally over the top action, some low-budget stuff, some more ambitious and nicely funded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beat TG Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 SPL has a much better story than TC 1-2 and the MA scenes in that are of higher quality despite the lack of it. TC 2 is superior to SPL quantity-wise while TC is mostly left out in comparison (although the story is better than in TC 2). About Jaa's movies, Ong Bak is better story-wise and Tom Yum Goong better action-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Running Man Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 SPL has a much better story than TC 1-2 and the MA scenes in that are of higher quality despite the lack of it. I think they're pretty equal. TC2 also has IMO the best swordfight ever filmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chen Zhen Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Never seen a kung fu movie from witch the screenplay deserved an award watch basically any Chang Cheh movie from 1974 or earlier, or even 5 venoms. watch Fearless. watch Crouching Tiger. watch Pedicab Driver. just cuz its a martial arts movie DOES NOT mean that story is not important. obviously, theyre not the same level as a screenplay like, for example, True Romance, but that doesnt mean they should be ignored. they dont have to be complicated to death, but interesting enough to keep u interested in the characters and whats going on. a good plot will make u care more about the characters, thus enhancing the action. take the kung fu out of Crouching Tiger, and its still a very good movie. i actually prefer the action of TC2 over SPL anyday, but the story is no comparison imo, spl wins there easy. the first robin shou fight beats anything in spl imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dyenboy Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Registered User (5/2/07 5:26 am) Reply Re: ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tiger cage 1 = an interesting movie imo...the plot is a tad above average, albeit very familiar. i like the real dark tone to it. as stated, there isnt too much action in it...donnie yen really only has 1 action scene, which is on par with his other fights in movies like In hte line of duty 4. the other fights dont have quite as much flair. 7/10 tiger cage 2 = action wise, its definetely superior. donnie has much more action scenes in this one, and robin shou's 2 action scenes are really awesome. in particular, my fav fight in the movie is between robin and david wu. story is nothin to write home about, but its interesting enuff to not make u bored. another dark crime thriller. 8.5/10 SPL = awesome story and performances, i enjoyed the emphasis on fatherhood in the end. the action scenes are quite good, albeit theres only a few of them. but as a MOVIE, its definetely the goods. interesting characters. 9/10 Tom Yum Goong = garbage movie...with very good fights. this is essentially a 90 minute music video..the attempts at plot and emotion are an absolute joke. so many inconsistencies and plot holes to name. most of the action is quite good, but some scenes wore off on me fast (ie bone breaking scene). but its assumed that if u watch TYG, u already kno its going to be a music video. 8/10 for action alone, otherwise, 2/10. Ong Bak = subpar in the way of story and characters, but definetely more interesting than TYG. action is very new and interesting, altho there are few 'exchanges'. succeeds with the full contact, and acrobatics by the star. simple plot, but doesnt take itself too seriously like TYG. 8/10 good not agree more..but action alone cannot make up for a overall a weak movie.. i would rate ong bak 5/10 but agree on tyg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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