Most fans of martial arts cinema are expected to witness plenty of hard-hitting action and intense themes of loyalty and brotherhood in their films, not heartwarming tales about getting older. While there's still plenty of the former on display, director Bao Tran attempts to mix together some unexpected elements into his new martial arts effort Paper Tigers, now screening at Fantasia International Film Festival.
“The Paper Tigers” screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival:
After growing up as tight-knit friends, Danny (Alain Uy), Hing (Ron Yuan) and Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) have all grown apart as adults with their own lives and responsibilities. When the death of their former sifu occurs, the group is reunited once again and decide to set out to look into his death when something doesn't sit well with the proclamation of what happened to him is revealed. The closer the group gets to the truth about what happens, the more they realize their inability to keep up with the younger kids in the area they keep running into in their quest to find out what happened. By the time they find out who's responsible for the murder, they're forced to rely on their wits and experience instead of skills to get the killer to justice.
Overall, “Paper Tigers” is a rather heartwarming story. Taking the idea of martial arts to its truest sense in the form of self-improvement and control, this setup allows for a heartwarming storyline about self-discovery and refinement that helps to exemplify the true virtues of martial arts. Learning about these aspects and applying it not only to the virtuous retribution of their master to learning how to better parent his son, but the lessons they come to realize over the course of the film are also nicely handled about living with mistakes and imperfections. This eternal balance is presented incredibly well with how Danny learns to overcome his fear of disappointing his son by standing up to fight the bully who killed their master.
Still, when it comes down to it, the martial arts here is quite enjoyable and impactful. With the scenes featuring grounded and realistic choreography from Sam Quintana, the moves are kept fast, hard-hitting and quite important to real-life self-defensive tactics. The early scenes showing their history against the various student challengers to their martial arts proficiency look quite slick and fun, while the later fights are just as dynamic. With these featuring the adult versions experiencing physical limitations brought about by age or injuries that need to be overcome, not just in the course of the battle, but with impressive counter-tactics to overcome the odds.
However, even with these positives, “Paper Tigers” does have a few problems. The biggest issue is for those simply expecting a balls-out action film who are going to be severely disappointed in the pacing featured here. The day-to-day life struggles they face as adults and the various pitfalls of getting older where their bodies are breaking down on them manage to take up significant time here, which can be quite disappointing. Despite the fantastic work about their relationship, that doesn't come in the form of hard-hitting action or martial arts displays which will be the primary focus for most viewers. Lastly, the entire subplot of seeking revenge that drives the movie makes no sense if there's no interaction with the police to apprehend the killer. As a whole, though, it's not all too detrimental for the film.
If the main flaws to “Paper Tigers” don't really cause much damage to the film, that speaks to the quality of the rest of the movie's quality. Fans who enjoy martial arts films for more than just the action scenes will be quite enthused with this one.
