When they were younger, best friends Danny, Hing and Jim bonded as they learned gung fu under the guidance of Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan), calling themselves The Three Tigers. As the years passed they honed their skills, but they would misuse their abilities, staging fights for fun, which would upset their sifu. “Danny Eight Hands” had gotten so good tht when he concentrated hard enough, he could slow down time and see his opponents moves before they made them. Danny could consistently take down the cocky Carter, who would challenge him again and again, despite consistently being knocked out cold. When Danny and Jim received an offer to go to Japan to fight for money, this really disappointed Sifu Cheung—he did not train them to profit from their skills. While abroad, the boys had a falling out, which led to the end of their practicing gung fu, and the disbanding of the Tigers.

It’s now 30 years later, and the death of Sifu Cheung causes the guys to come back together. Sifu had been working as a chef and was found dead in the alley outside his restaurant. While the police ruled it a heart attack, the guys suspect something more sinister—that a deadly move called The Poison Finger had been used to murder their former master. The guys decide to investigate, however, they are hardly in the same shape that they were in 3 decades earlier. Danny is a divorced father who is constantly arguing with his ex, Caryn (Jae Suh Park), and letting his boss/work interrupt his plans with his son, Ed (Joziah Lagonoy). Hing (Ron Yuan) was injured on the job ten years ago, falling off the scaffolding at a build site. He now collects disability, and has put on quite a few pounds since his lean kung fu days. Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) trains fighters in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but has forgotten his gung fu training.

As the guys try to track down who killed their sifu, they cross paths with an adult Carter (Matthew Page), who has never stopped his training. Carter is now a sifu himself, and is eager prove that he can beat the Three Tigers (and this time he may actually have a chance!). The Tigers also face off with some punk “gung fu orphans”, who even with no training, make the guys quickly realize just how out of shape they are. As they try to juggle the various issues in their personal lives, and look for their former master’s killer, the Tigers are also going to have to re-discover their old skills if they are going to avenge their master’s death and avoid the extremely skilled gung fu assassin Zhen Fan (Ken Quitugua) who’s after them.

The Paper Tigers is a really entertaining film, with fast-paced witty dialogue, fun pop culture references, and a lot of great physical comedy. The fight sequences are a blend of genuinely good kung fu moves, along with some comedic turns as the Tigers are supposed to be washed-up and out of their prime. The characters are well developed and three-dimensional, particularly Danny as we get to see this dynamic between him and his ex-wife and son, and his struggle to be a good dad. When he was younger he was the leader of the Tigers, the most promising of the group, and not scared of anything, but now he is stuck in a dead-end job, constantly dropping everything to please his boss, and failing as a father. He has become a bit of a pushover and has lost his confidence. While some of Jim’s character development appears to have been left on the cutting room floor—there was this interesting dynamic of his work life that appears in the deleted scenes but is never really hinted to in the final cut of the film—we also see him grow and become more confident over the course of the film. Hing, felt like the outsider of the group, not heading to Japan with the others, and instead staying back with sifu to learn ancient Chinese medicine. He is now balding and out of shape, but is still the heart that brings the Tigers back together. There is this really fun dynamic between these three characters. The actors are able to show both the comedic side of these older out-of-shape Tigers trying to once again kick ass and re-live their glory days, as well as the more dramatic side of the middle-aged men in dead-end jobs dealing with issues in their prosomal lives. Reuniting their old friendship and reigniting their love of gung fu may be just what these Tigers need to get their lives back on the right track.

Matthew Page constantly steals his scenes, chewing up the scenery as Carter. Carter often reverts to childish arguing and name calling with the Tigers, constantly picking on Hing for his weight, and starting hilarious and ridiculous verbal battles. He’s the only white guy in the film and yet he’s also the only one rattling off these absurd Chinese proverbs that no one else can understand. Many of Carter’s speeches and arguments feel very fresh and improvised (and there are even more hilarious takes in the Bloopers on the Blu-ray)—every time he opened his mouth, he had me laughing out loud.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great. The surround sound is constantly utilized to provide ambiance and an immersive experience. This is noticeable right from the start with the storm brewing as Sifu is attacked in the alley, and there’s the thumping of the bass as his heart slowly stops beating. There is also great use of ambiance in scenes at the diner and gym. The video is clean and clear throughout, with an excellent level of detail, particularly on faces during close-ups. The exception, of course, is the “old” VHS footage of the younger Tigers as they receive their training and hang out, but that is completely understandable as that is a particular aesthetic they are going for. The disc is packed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a cardboard slipcover. Like other Well Go releases, there is no digital copy included. However, the disc includes about 13 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, 24 minutes of deleted scenes/alternate takes, and over 7 minutes of hilarious bloopers, as well as some trailers and previews.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:50:48)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese

Extras:
All extras play back-to-back once playback of any one is initiated.

• Behind the Scenes
  • A Look Behind the Film (9:56)
    The cast and crew talk about what drew them to the film, the theme of the characters latching onto the things they enjoyed when we they were younger and trying to find their way again, the diverse cast and crew, how the film tells an authentic Asian American story, approaching the fight scenes in a different way, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with writer/director Bao Tran, director of photography Shaun Mayor, action designer Ken Quitugua, and stars Alain Uy (“Danny”), Ron Yuan (“Hing”), Mykel Shannon Jenkins (“Jim”) & Yuji Okumoto (“Wing”).
  • Tai Tung Restaurant (1:53)
    Go behind the scenes with Harry Chan, third generation owner of the Tai Tung Restauarant in Seattle, WA as he shows off some of the autographed photos on the wall, and teaches Roger Yuan (“Sifu Cheung”) how to cook.
  • Production Design (1:19)
    Production designer Wing Lee talks about the research he did into the world of Kung Fu to make sure everything was accurate.
• Deleted Scenes (23:59)
  Lots of extra footage of the younger Tigers doing their training, hanging out, and fighting; Jim coaching his student and arguing with the student’s uncle; Danny on the phone with his ex-wife and son; the guys waking up from a night of heavy drinking; Danny talking with his angry boss; and Jim comforting an upset Danny.
• Bloopers (7:39)
  Fun collection of footage of Carter making ridiculous improv speeches, trading barbs with Hing, and dealing with misbehaving props as the rest of the cast try not to laugh. There’s also several more hilarious animal poses that didn’t make it into the film, plus a montage of clips of the cast and crew dealing with airplane sounds.
• Trailer (2:30)
• Previews
  • Silat Warriors: Deed of Death (1:44)
  • Undercover Punch & Gun (1:33)
  • Deliver Us From Evil (1:23)

Final Thoughts:

The Paper Tigers is a really delightful and entertaining film about a group of middle-aged guys rediscovering their friendship after 30 years, while also trying to hone their martial arts skills to take down a kung fu assassin out to kill them. It’s a fun throwback to the Kung Fu movies of the 70s and 80s with a twist. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and also includes a solid selection of bonus material. This release comes highly recommended for anyone looking for an entertaining kung fu comedy that just has fun with the genre.