Reviewnalysis: Tiger Claws (1991)

SPOILERS
AHEAD

At
the end of the 80s, a Lebanese-Canadian martial arts competitor sold
his jewelry business and entered the world of karate flicks. His name
is Jalal Merhi, and through money and persistence, he became a staple
name of the U.S. video scene. Nicknamed “Beirut’s Steven Seagal”
(despite his accent making him comparable to Jean-Claude Van Damme),
what set him apart from virtually everyone else on the U.S. martial
arts scene was his desire to showcase Chinese martial arts over their
more common Japanese and Korean counterparts. He tried this first
with Fearless Tiger (1991), a
tournament flick that didn’t see an
American release until three
years after completion, but had greater luck with the more unique
Tiger Claws. Merhi’s
recipe for this endeavor?
– lots of kung
fu, established stars, and a capable
director. The result is a
thoroughly watchable adventure that grew on me over time. It’s an
examination of fanaticism in martial arts, and arguably the best film
Merhi would ever star in.

Photo source

The
movie opens in New York City with a woman (Cynthia Rothrock) hounded
on the street by a suspicious man (Nick Dibley). He corners her with
evil intent, but she fights back and utterly decimates him in a
brawl, knocking him out before he’s arrested. It turns out she’s
Detective Linda Masterson, supercop, and the guy who attacked her was
a suspect in a crime spree. She’s disgusted that her wolf-whistling
partner (Fern Figueiredo) wasn’t anywhere to be found when the
fight happened, but more so that she’s wasting her time “dressing
up like a whore and working on these two-bit cases.” Shortly
thereafter, we meet our other hero: Det. Tarek Richard (Jalal Merhi),
who’s carrying out an undercover drug deal that, somehow, is also
the purview of rival detectives Roberts (Robert Nolan) and Vince
(Kedar Brown). It’s unclear who’s actually out of line, but
Tarek’s suspended when his counterparts initiate a fight/shootout
and the dealer is blown up in his car.

The
case they’re both headed for – Linda by intent and Tarek by
accident – is that of the Death Dealer, a serial killer targeting
martial artists. The victims’ claw-like head wounds lead Linda to
believe that the killer’s also a martial artist and that he can be
unconvered by identifying his fighting style. This impresses her
superior, Sergeant Reeves (John Webster), who assigns her to the case
over a sexist cohort but also demands she work with the
still-suspended Tarek. Linda’s not pleased but has no choice,
especially when Tarek promptly identifies the style as “fu jow . .
. some people call it tiger claw.”

Let’s
pause to examine the story’s unusual take on martial arts
awareness. Usually in these features, a martial artist is teamed up
with someone who has no such experience and thinks “chop socky”
is nonsense. That approach is subverted, here: Linda’s already a
master martial artist but still needs the insight of a “specialist”
like Tarek when it comes to exotic styles. Again, this is part of
Jalal Merhi’s unique formula: not only was he featuring kung fu in
his movies when few others were, but doing so at a time when these
styles weren’t even widely practiced outside of films. It’s less
of a deal now that Hong Kong flicks are widely distributed and it’s
easy to find modern kung fu fight scenes, but at the time, Merhi
capitalized on a market opening and used the opportunity to build up
the Chinese arts grandly. The movie’s stance is that, while you can
be a well-studied martial artist, there’s always more to learn by
looking to the past. If you don’t, you’ll be at a disadvantage.
This sentiment isn’t explored and thus feels a little like martial
arts propaganda (“Your kung fu is strong, but mine is better!”),
but I think Merhi was merely trying to set a precedent at this point.

Photo source | Jalal Merhi, Kedar Brown, Robert Nolan

Tarek
and Linda search Chinatown for the school where the killer trains.
Specifically, they’re searching for a secret studio that only
trains serious fighters – like Tarek says, “This is not a sport
for any bozo with 50 bucks.” They eventually receive a tip from a
drunken boxing student (Rick Sue) who they rescue from a gang
beating. It’s a cool fight, but doesn’t go very far in
distinguishing our heroes’ differing approaches to martial arts:
Tarek has some flowing movements, but he’s still as hard-edged as
his partner. Ironically, it’s Linda who wields a Chinese rope dart.
Anyway, they’re directed to a local tournament to find Sifu Chow
(Mo Chow) – the only fu jow teacher in the area. Tarek not only
finds him, but also an old friend and tournament competitor, John
Atkinson (playing himself). A huge and mysterious man in the crowd
(Bolo Yeung) looks on ominously as John wins the championship.
Shortly thereafter, he shows up in John’s home and attacks him –
killing him with a tiger strike to the face. Afterwards, we see the
guy before a tiger-themed altar decorated with trophies from the
other beaten martial artists. This is our killer.

Tarek
and Linda follow Chow to an abandoned movie theater which Tarek
immediately identifies as his school. He wants to go in right away,
but Linda demands he stay. When a night of waiting results in nothing
but the aforementioned death of his friend, Tarek impatiently sneaks
into the studio on his own. He’s promptly discovered, but –
immediately crafting his cover – earns a chance at tutelage by
revealing that Chow and he studied under the same master. (Stroke of
luck, huh?) Before leaving, Tarek notices his friend’s killer
painting a mural on the wall, but of course doesn’t know who Chong
is.

Photo source | Cynthia Rothrock, John Webster

TRIVIA:
A subsequent scene features Tarek and Linda arguing whether to go to
an Italian or Chinese restaurant to eat. This mirrors a real-life
event wherein Merhi, Rothrock, Yeung, and some production members
were deciding where to eat after a day of filming. Everyone voted for
Italian, with the exception of Yeung. Merhi, who idolized Yeung,
immediately changed his vote and attempted to sway the group in favor
of Bolo’s choice. He was overruled and the group went to the
Italian locale, where Yeung refused to order anything.

Tarek
returns to the secret studio and earns his spot
by holding his own in against the other students. This is the first
fully-fledged kung fu fight scene, and the difference to previous
brawls is noticeable. The pacing is more restrained and the tiger
claw choreography reminds me of classic Hong Kong fights. You
get the impression that the filmmakers are genuinely trying to make
the fu jow
aspects
stand out, and this continues as Tarek engages
in a necessity for
any
good kung fu
flick – a training scene. He twirls weapons, strikes form, and
toughens his hands by submerging them in a wok of boiling water
filled with chains. Sifu Chow doesn’t do much on-the-ground
teaching, preferring
to beat a drum while his students go
at it, but he does step in
as a rivalry between Tarek and fellow
student James (Ho
Chow) threatens to get out of hand.

In
an unexpected turn, another student (Gary Wong) invites Tarek to a
go-go club, and they take Chong with them. The movie twists
expectations by showing Chong as a normal guy who drinks and laughs
with his comrades, but eventually, the scene’s mainly there so
Tarek can find out how good of a fighter the muralist is when they
have to thwart a mafia attack on the joint. Additionally, Chong keeps
Tarek from killing one of the guys – highlighting the theme of
martial excess that I’ll get into later. In the aftermath, Tarek
still isn’t certain which of the practitioners is the killer, but
Linda thinks it’s the hotheaded James. She confronts him at a
billiard bar, and despite beating up him and half the establishment
in the process, it turns out that he has an alibi. This faux pas
results in Linda and Tarek being removed from the case and being
replaced by the insufferable Roberts and Vince. In the meantime,
Chong kills Sifu Chow and some of the students.

Photo source | Bolo Yeung

This
scene is an enigmatic as it is essential. The final exchange between
Chong and Chow features Chinese dialogue with no subtitles, so while
their exchange may offers clues to Chong’s motives, I can’t be
certain. We
don’t find out otherwise
why Chong is a serial killer. The head-spinning
sequel throws a ton of new, outrageous information into the
continuity, but where only
this movie is concerned, it’s
ambiguous. The only theory
that’d
tie into
an existing theme is that Chong, having taken his training to the
extreme, has literally been driven crazy
by kung fu. Tarek’s spent the picture making sure we know how
demanding and encompassing fu jow is, having mentioned that his wife
left him when last
he trained – implying that
he, like Chong, has the potential to become a menace if
not kept in check. Tarek’s
also the only character to voice a
theory on Chong’s motives, saying that perhaps he’s
trying to “drum up lost respect for his style.” This may in fact
be a part of the reason,
given how the movie venerates
kung fu. Chong may see his
victims and
their martial arts as temporary and weak and is thus trying to
exemplify
the “true” martial art. This isn’t entirely without real-world
parallel: fierce inter-style
competition goes back centuries, and Chinese styles have often been
ridiculed in modern times
by “hard style” practitioners for being impractical and fancy.
Altogether, this information
comprises pieces to Chong’s puzzle, but the picture still isn’t
clear. Perhaps that’s why the movie reveals the killer relatively
early: it’s not bad writing, but an intended opportunity for
viewers to ponder Chong’s motives.

Tarek
and Linda refuse to drop the case, and they somehow
determine that Chong is their
prime suspect. Their suspicions are confirmed when they enter the
studio, finding the others
dead and Chong in attack
mode. He flees after a quick
duel with Linda, who spends the rest of the night searching for him
with Tarek. They find him at the pier, but not before the bumbling
Roberts and Vince arrive and handcuff
Tarek, suspecting him of the murders. Linda and Chong fight again –
possibly the best one-on-one match of the film – but the finale
pits the still-handcuffed Tarek against Chong in a warehouse. In a
bit of egoism, Jalal Merhi’s character is able to best Chong while
spending the majority of the fight with his hands bound. The
film ends with with Chong apprehended, Tarek and Linda commended, and
the former reinstated while the two share an awkwardly-earned
kiss on Tarek’s boat.

Photo source | David Stevenson

TRIVIA:
The movie draws on real-life characteristics for many of its
characters. For example… Linda is from Scranton, PA and
Chong is from Canton, China – just like their actors. Jalal Merhi
wasn’t divorced, but like Tarek, he was single at the time of
production. John Atkinson was indeed a successful karate fighter and
multi-time grand champion. Mo Chow is a martial arts
instructor who operates his own studio.
Bill Pickels – Chong’s first victim – is a former cable TV
personality in Canada. Three actors share similar or identical names
with their characters: Mo Chow, John Atkinson, and Bill Pickels.

I
wasn’t a Jalal Merhi fan when I first saw this, and only held onto
the tape for Cynthia Rothrock. I can still see why the guy didn’t
click with me right away. Merhi lacks the charisma that makes even a
questionable actor like Rothrock fun to watch, and despite his
emphasis on kung fu being genuinely unique at the time, it doesn’t
make him stand out to the average viewer. Despite his efforts, Merhi
isn’t comparable to Steven Seagal introducing aikido in the late
80s or Tony Jaa rewriting action choreography with muay thai in the
2000s. Nevertheless, the more of this subgenre you consume, the more
Jalal’s effort does in fact stand out. The Chinese martial arts
help give this movie a unique flavor that you won’t find in other
kick flicks of the same budget. The crisp forms, traditional uniforms
and decent training montages eventually give the movie an air of
importance that I kind of miss in other features. This approach won’t
click with viewers who’d rather limit martial arts exclusively to
fight scenes, but it might be unique enough for those who’ve grown
tired of repetitious kickboxing.

Merhi’s
use of eye-catching names to star alongside him is a sound decision,
but again, you can’t help but chuckle at the scene that features
him defeating Bolo Yeung as Cynthia
Rothrock fishes a buffoonish
detective out of the bay.
Nevertheless, treating his own
character as exemplary
doesn’t mean the others are treated as jokes. This is one of
Yeung’s most interesting non-Hong
Kong roles, and even though
Rothrock hangs back many
times, both she
and Bolo are given ample
opportunity to steal the show in
fight scenes. To tell the
truth, Merhi is
elevated by their presence because
they bring out a lot in him. I’ve seen the guy do flashier moves,
but he’s never looked as tight and collected as he does here. To
date, Merhi is the only Arab martial arts star who’s had a solo
career in North America, and he really puts his best foot forward in
making a first impression here.

Exploring
the martial arts theme yields contradictory results. We’re to
presume that fu jow – and “old” martial arts in general – are
superior to modern forms, because when they come into contact, the
former tends to triumph. Nevertheless, Linda seems to be the
exception: she isn’t versed in fu jow but still defeats a hardcore
practitioner in direct combat. We’re also led to believe that
respect and mastery of the martial arts is limited to the experience
of immigrants and minority characters, but the majority of Chong’s
victims fall under the same labels. There’s also a theme of martial
arts bringing people together – i.e. Linda and Tarek bonding over
their practice of the fighting arts – but this ignores that Tarek’s
wife left him because of his training and that Chong’s obsession
with the martial arts may be the cause of his murderous behavior. I
wish the film were more consistent in what it’s saying.

Nevertheless,
it’s still enjoyable and that’s got much to do with director
Kelly Makin. Merhi had a knack for selecting inexperienced directors
who’d later go on to critical acclaim, and Makin displays his
talent via style in what would otherwise have been a humdrum-looking
picture. Though I’m not sure whether anyone would think this is an
A-grade production, Makin delivers a consistently clean look and
takes time to highlight the soundtrack, indulge in interesting camera
angles, and even film an occasional arty establishing shot. Though
not the best in this regard, he can shoot a fight scene surprisingly
well.

Tiger
Claws is a
fun watch for genre fans and definitely worth
hooking up the old VCR for. The
cast is a supergroup of genuine martial talent and
the filmmakers
know how
to make them shine. There are plenty of things I’d change, but
overall, this is one experiment that pays off. People interested in
coming into these types of movies should definitely consider it, and
established viewers
who’ve yet to see this particular one shouldn’t hesitate much
longer. Check it out!

Photo source

Tiger
Claws
(1991)

Directed
by
Kelly Makin (Mickey
Blue Eyes)

Written
by J.
Stephen Maunder (writer for almost all of Jalal Merhi’s movies)

Starring
Jalal Merhi, Cynthia Rothrock (China
O’Brien),
Bolo Yeung (Bloodsport),
John Webster

Cool
costars:
Gary Wong, Michael Bernardo (WMAC
Masters),
Rick
Sue (Expect
No Mercy),
David Stevenson (Death
House),
Bill Pickels (Sworn
to Justice),
Mo
Chow (Talons
of the Eagle)
and Ho Chow
(Kung
Fu: The Legend Continues)
are
all legitimate martial artists playing the part. Wing chun legend
Dunn Wah (AKA Sunny Tang) plays a master
but doesn’t have
any fight scenes. IMDb credits gang member William Cheung as the
William
Cheung – kung
fu
master and contemporary
of Bruce Lee
– but I don’t think they’re the same person. Similarly,
John
Atkinson is identified as an English TV actor who died in ‘07,
whereas the real performer currently operates a martial arts studio
in Arizona. Robert
Nolan
(Sixty
Minutes to Midnight)
is
a fairly
acclaimed dramatic
actor
while his onscreen partner
Kedar Brown has
been building a career in
voice acting.

Content
warning: Sexist
dialogue, attempted
sexual assault, group
violence, WTC imagery

Copyright
Tiger Claws Productions, Ltd. / MCA Universal Home Video (now
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

Reviewnalysis: Breathing Fire (1991)

*SPOILERS
AHEAD*

Corey Yuen’s 1986 cult masterpiece No
Retreat, No Surrender had a lasting influence on western martial arts
movies. Not only did it give us Jean-Claude Van Damme, but it raised the bar
for fight choreography and provided us a taste of the Hong Kong style prior to the action
revolution of the late 90s. In some cases the influence was even greater than
that, as a couple filmmakers produced movies that for all the world appear to be NRNS’s spiritual successors. One
of these – Breathing Fire – seems
like a genuine attempt to replicate the unique recipe of American and Hong Kong
flavors, complete with odd writing, an upbeat tone, and superior action
scenes. This one’s a karate treasure – not great at
storytelling but utterly successful in holding a viewer’s attention.

TRIVIA: Breathing Fire and No
Retreat, No Surrender and indeed related, though only through personnel. Director
Brandon Pender is credited for “kick boxing direction” in NRNS, and producer Wayne Yee played a bit part in it.

The film opens with a surreal scene of antagonist Michael Moore (Jerry Trimble) siting at a table bedecked with artificial food. It’s completely
unexplained – possibly a dream sequence – but it
introduces us to one of the film’s most prominent themes: deception and false
fronts. The next scene is of Michael driving his two
teenage sons to a martial arts tournament; he seems
like a perfectly normal father, but right after dropping
the boys off, he leads a bank robbery wherein his
squad steals a fortune in gold bars. They stow these in the vault of an
abandoned metal refinery until they can be sold, and Michael comes up with a unique way of keeping everyone honest. He creates
a mold of the vault’s keys in a plastic pizza, then destroys the originals and
divides the pizza among his people. Mutual cooperation will be necessary to
recast the keys.

Michael’s gang is made up of the deceptive Jenny (Jacqueline Pulliam),
karate master Alan (Allen Tackett), the mighty Tank (Wendell C. Whitaker), and
the muscleman Thunder (Bolo Yeung). They’re the ones who actually rob the bank,
but another person who’s also in on the scheme is Peter Stern (Drake Diamond), an
employee who has second thoughts about the operation after the
sadistic Thunder shoves his face into a toilet. He tries to
get out of the deal, but the paranoid Michael follows him home and
murders him and his wife (Jackie O’Brien). They search for his slice of the pizza,
but Peter had already sent his teenage daughter Annie (Laura Hamilton) to mail it to a confidant. Annie witnesses the murder from afar and flees with her
puppy, heading for the address on the envelope. However, the villains
acquire the same lead from a trashed envelope.

Annie shows up at an auto garage and meets the addressee: David Moore (Ed Neil),
Michael’s brother. Shortly after Annie gives him the envelope and asks for
help, Alan and a couple thugs arrive to kidnap her. David is knocked around a
bit, but eventually reveals himself as a kung fu master and drives
the attackers away. He goes with Annie to what he believes is a safe haven –
Michael’s luxurious home. The danger is immediately apparent to us: though neither is at liberty
to reveal anything, Michael knows who Annie is while Annie recognizes him from before. Neither is able to do anything directly: Annie doesn’t dare
leave David’s vicinity and Michael can’t act while others are around – “others”
meaning David and his sons Charlie (Jonathan Ke Quan) and Tony (Eddie
Saavedra).

In addition to being the stars of the movie, Charlie and Tony are also my
favorite things about it. Quan and Saavedra aren’t master thespians, but they
have a lovable, dorky enthusiasm and excellent chemistry. Charlie is a
Vietnamese adoptee but the comradery
between his stepbrother and he is natural and heartfelt. Charlie doesn’t seem
as close with his father, though our only real hint of this for now is a moment
when he feels excluded from introductions with David. Nevertheless, the boys
take an immediate liking to Annie, and though they try to impress her, their
relationship ends up being pretty innocent as they try to keep her mind off her
troubles. The brothers know nothing about their father’s involvement in crime
and suspect nothing when Michael’s thugs show up to take Annie. Having
previously qualified for a national martial arts competition, the boys can hold
their own against these guys, but it takes the intervening David to beat back the attackers.

The boys take their roles as protectors seriously, and implore David to teach them
his style of fighting. However, they fail their very first test – an exercise wherein
they kneel on upturned bricks. Worse, David’s ability to protect the kids
himself is dashed after the boys and he trace their attackers to a dance club
owned by Alan. Michael is at the club, too, and shows an increased
level of ruthlessness by attacking his brother in the near-dark and injuring his
leg.

TRIVIA: Prior to acting, Jerry Trimble
was a professional kickboxer and 2-time world champion. Ironically, Trimble originally aspired to be an actor and learned martial arts to emulate Bruce Lee.

At the hospital, a doctor claims that David will never be whole again. David
doesn’t take his new disability well and hides himself away. When the boys visit, he lashes out at them. Eventually, they manage to rekindle his spirits and
earn his instructorship by kneeling on bricks all night. David commences their training, and in doing so realizes that his disability won’t keep him from exercising his
passion. It also illustrates another prominent theme: dealing with trauma. In addition to David’s and Annie’s traumatic experiences, the film
also indicates that Michael was adversely affected by his service in Vietnam.
Annie seems to take her ordeal unrealistically well, but note that the presence
of her new friends and her dog seems to provide outlets for
coping. Faced with the prospect of never fighting again, David channels
his frustrations into training the boys and making them stronger than he
was. Michael may have buried his trauma and embraced a secret lifestyle wherein
he can act out his aggression. In the near future, his
sons will be forced to confront trauma as well.

The boys commence a fairly unorthodox training regimen that
includes punching phonebooks, kneeling on beer bottles, mastering the tai chi
(bowling) ball, and chopping a watermelon. We see during these scenes that
Charlie is curious about his origins and frustrated that neither David nor Michael
gives him honest answers about the identity of his mother. In truth, Michael
killed her and was subsequently urged by his comrades
to raise the orphaned infant in penance. This questionably-advised act connects
both the best and worst aspects of Michael’s character. While Charlie seems to
have had a luxurious life under Michael, his stepfather probably never
thought much of the idea (note that the boys’ actual supervision is handled by an employee). By reaching a little, one may even suggest that Michael’s need to mask his feelings around Charlie may have indirectly
led him to robbery – an outlet for exercising his aggression.

After their training, Charlie and Tony feel empowered enough to
go on the counteroffensive. While David relocates Annie, the
brothers pursue Tank. They follow him to a
poor neighborhood where he lives with his blind mother (Pamela Maxton)
and best him in a fight. Afterwards, Tank tearfully confesses to his mother about his involvement in crime. He allies himself with Charlie and Tony when they promise to help
him break away from the gang, and his information leads them to form a more
cohesive plan: to bring the robbers into the open, they’ll need to hand over the pizza slice.

Tank directs the brothers to Alan’s second locale: an oceanfront bar. It’s staffed
by three little people who attack Charlie and Tony. What ensues is an odd fight, but a genuine fight scene nonetheless. It’s played for laughs,
but I want to believe that this is a statement about the accessibility
of the martial arts. It’s a lesson that David should take to heart – that disability needn’t hinder one from being a fighter. Whatever the
case, the fight spurs Alan to chase the brothers up a mountain outside the bar,
and at the peak, he takes his turn to fight them. Prior to relinquishing the pizza,
the boys test out David’s moves with great success – preparing them for the
final confrontations.

TRIVIA: The mountaintop fight is a nod
to kung fu movies of the 70s. These were often low-budget productions filmed on
tight schedules, and mountaintops were ideal settings for battles: the bare
terrain allowed the filmmakers to bypass continuity between shots and film from
any angle.

With all pieces of the mold together, Michael’s gang gathers in the evening
to prepare for a morning retrieval mission. However, not only does Alan
witness Tank making a secret telephone call, but Michael offers an anonymous
tip to the police about the upcoming operation. When morning comes, the
reassembled keys are used to unlock the vault. To everyone’s outrage, the
police arrive in the middle of it. Alan blames Tank, and Michael is happy to shoot him. After
Michael commands his remaining gang to split up, Alan and Thunder discover that Michael has already taken the gold from the vault. As far as I can
figure, Michael visited the refinery in the night to steal it, and his
plan is to hide in a subarea of the refinery with Jenny while the rest
of his gang is arrested. It wasn’t his design to shoot Tank, but one less
witness probably suits him fine. His growing nonchalance to murder foreshadows
what’s to come.

Alan and Thunder evade the police, but are so angry that they take
the time to engage Tony and Charlie when they arrive on the scene. The boys manage to defeat them, but when they see David entering
the refinery, Charlie goes after his uncle while Tony remains behind to ensure
that Thunder is arrested (Alan attempts an escape but is also apprehended). Charlie
follows David into the bowels of the facility and is surprised to come upon him
arguing with his father. Having realized what’s going
on, David implores Michael to turn himself in. (It’s never revealed how David
puts the pieces together, but it’s possible that he recognized Michael’s fighting
style at the club. That would help explain his subsequent moving out of Michael’s
house.) Fearing that David plans to incriminate them, Jenny points a gun but is knocked out when Charlie intervenes. Michael – already on edge – snaps and strikes Charlie, accusing him of
betrayal. David finally reveals the truth about Charlie’s mother, and as the
boy is overcome by sorrow, we see the final moments of Michael trying
to maintain the façade. He’s clearly uncomfortable with having been compromised,
and for a few seconds, he says nothing. When he finally confirms the story, it’s clear that he’s held it in for a long time and is defiant about
the fact. What’s more, he promises to kill anyone who
attempts to stop him as he leaves.

However, Michael proves to be better than his word: as Charlie and David emerge
from the basement, he attacks them with construction vehicles. When this fails,
he engages Charlie hand-to-hand. It seems as
though Michael intends to rid himself of both another witness and an unwanted
responsibility at the same time. He has the upper hand, but when he attempts to
beat David to death, Charlie kicks into overdrive…and Michael’s butt. Before a
decisive victor can emerge, though, the police arrive and arrest Michael. Tony is heartbroken at the realization that his
father is a criminal and blames the arrest on Charlie. Like
Michael, Tony invents an instance of betrayal to justify his frustration.

The bond between the brothers is in peril when, sometime later, both appear at
the national tournament. Tony tears his way through
opponents en route to meeting Charlie in the final match. (Notice that while the previous tournament was governed by point-fighting stipulations, this one
is full-contact with the competitors wearing no headgear.) Charlie is apprehensive about fighting his brother, but
following a penalty for passivity and a stern talking-to from the referee
(played by the late Grandmaster Kenneth Penland), Charlie’s fire is ignited and
he strikes back – leading to the best action scene of the film. It’s not clear
what spurs him, but I’d venture that it’s Michael’s influence: he feels he’s
been wronged and is tired of holding back. However, he eventually drops his guard – perhaps making a conscious decision to stem his stepfather’s sway – and allows Tony to finish him. As he realizes what he’s done,
Tony falls to Charlie’s side in despair, but Charlie awakens. As the two celebrate their mutual victory, their bond is restored.

The film leaves some questions unanswered. We can assume that Michael and his
gang will be imprisoned for a long time, but it’s never stated what’s to become
of the kids. It’s possible that the brothers will live with their uncle, but what
of Annie, who’s curiously absent from the final scenes? What of Tank’s blind
mother, who’s now seemingly living alone in a graffiti-covered house? We’re not
even aware of what becomes of Michael’s wealth. Will the boys go from having a
private gym and a pool to sleeping under newspapers like David was in the beginning?

Nevertheless, I’m pleased by the upbeat nature of the ending and of the film in
general. Though Breathing Fire has an
unfortunate tendency to be a little gratuitous with its violence, it’s still a predominantly
idealistic story that illustrates unlikely bonds between people. The scenes
between the four main heroes are comforting in their optimism. It’s something
of a coming-of-age tale, and fans of this particular subgenre – especially its 80s
incarnations – will probably enjoy it. What’s more, the fight scenes are pretty
darn good, with long takes filled with intricate exchanges. Everybody puts on a
good show, but the standout star is Jonathan Ke Quan, who graduates from his
quirky nostalgic roles in The Goonies
and the second Indiana Jones movie to a genuine kicking machine. Give me this guy over his more famous peers any
day.

I recommend this movie to fun-loving fu fans, but exercise care when purchasing
it on disc. Breathing Fire has
received so many releases under different distributors that I think it might
be in the public domain, and at least one of these – the Echo Bridge version –
features very muddy video quality. I recommend the Westlake Home Entertainment release
for a sharper picture and brighter colors.

Breathing
Fire (1991)
Directed by Brandon Pender (second
unit director of Death Match),
Brandon De-Wilde, Lou Kennedy
Written by Tao-Liang Tan (Last Breath), Raymond Mahoney, Wayne Yee
Starring Jonathan Ke Quan, Eddie
Saavedra, Ed Neil (Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers), Jerry Trimble (The Master)
Cool costars: Bolo Yeung (Bloodsport), Allen Tackett (They Still Call Me Bruce), T.J. Storm (Black Cobra). The tournaments feature
many brief cameos of accomplished martial artists, but the one I’d like to
highlight is the late Master William Holland, playing the muscular competitor
who tries to intimidate Charlie and Tony before the fights.
Title refers to: There’s only metaphorical fire being breathed here, when the Moore family allows rage to control their actions.
Potential triggers: Group violence, violence against women, domestic violence, child abuse
Copyright Golden Pacific and Art
Studios