PAPER TIGERS

MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE PROMISES TO CREATE A NEW GENRE!

- DR. CRAIG D. REID

Once upon a time in Seattle — when Seahawks soared, Huskies roamed and the “Little Dragon’s” spirit sowed the city with martial integrity — three baby Tigers named Hing, Jim and Danny were born. Under the watchful eye of a fatherly sifu, they became kung fu brothers. As the sifu contemplated whether the Tigers were worthy to learn his healing knowledge and kung fu values, a wedge was driven between them, and they split. As their lives plummeted, so did their martial arts skills, livelihoods and relationships.

Thirty years later, an evil force swoops down on Seattle and, for reasons unknown, uses its death claw to kill the beloved sifu. Unfortunately, the out-of-shape and over-the-hill threesome have more issues than Time magazine. They must unite, dispense with the baggage that separates them and solve their sifu’s mysterious murder. Along the way, a childhood nemesis emerges, someone who was forced to bow to the Tigers’ power in the past. Now, he’s the kung fu cat’s meow and quickly becomes a thorn in their paws.

NEW GROUND

After watching The Paper Tigers, directed by Vietnamese-American Bao Tran, I was more stunned than a beaver hired to build Hoover Dam because I’d just witnessed something more concrete. The long wait for a new martial arts movie genre, one that could change the landscape of American filmmaking, was over.