I honestly have nothing good to say about this film, Fearless Tiger. It is quite obviously a vanity project for its "star", Jalal Merhi, who owns the production company responsible for its developemnt. The guy has no charisma or acting talent and coupled with a poor cliched script and plot and sub-par action scenes, this film is just very typical of the 1990s straight-to-video dross that turned me off these films many years ago. Good job I'm only here for the filming locations.
Anyway, Merhi plays Lyle, a short, podgy, and very dull businessman who dabbles in martial arts competitions. After his brother dies (deservedly, in my opinion) from a drug overdose, Lyle makes it his mission to take revenge on those responsible. The drugs are smuggled from Hong Kong inside small buddha statues by a gang called the Black Pearls - a bunch of skinny, bald-headed, Shaolin monk-styled gangsters, led by a long-haired hippy called Salamaar (Lazar Rockwood - who looks like an Asian Steven Tyler). So Lyle dumps his business responsibilities and hot fiance - yes, the suspension of belief starts early on - and goes to HK to improve his martial arts skills and take down the bad guys.
The location sequences are a combination of real Hong Kong ones (yes, they did actually go there to film) sprinkled with mainly Canadian (Toronto?) ones dressed up (in a very naff limited budget kind of way) to be in Hong Kong.
Anyway, I could go on (and on and on) but I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it, so let's get cracking with the HK locations . First up is a few shots of the famous harbour that are thrown in throughout the film.
4 comments:
Lol that indeed is Toronto you see at various points. While TO often doubles as NYC, is this possibly the only time in the history of cinema it is passed off as HK? I wonder ... but I bet I'm the only one who does.
The warehouse near the beginning of this gem might even be the one used as the finally appreciated James Hong's lair in Talons of the Eagle. I will admit to having seen Talons up to 10x - it used to be come on free-to-air TV and I kept watching even able I was able to afford cable. There is even a steamy (literally) sex scene with Jalal and a particularly lovely Priscilla Barnes, who one of my old teachers looked like.
Saving the best for last, I have met Da Man! It was 2006 or possibly 2009 in TO and he drove a black or slate Porsche (996, I believe). I don't recall if it was a Turbo because I was too starstruck by Da Man, but since the internet says it is and if it's on the 'Net, it must be true, let's go with 996 Turbo. The red 930 in this might be his ride at the time. Oh, sorry this comment has exactly nothing to do with HK locations.
haha, thanks Rodney. I was going to say I thought Skyscraper used Toronto as well, but I think that may have been Vancouver - though blended better with the benefit of modern CGI. I suspect the guy is a great businessman but a very, very, VERY poor lead man let alone actor.
Do excuse the atrocious grammar in the previous comment because I got so excited recalling my encounter with Da Man that I was a slobbering mess and didn't proofread. I distinctly remember he was maybe a hair taller than me, five-seven-and-a-half on my best day. He was very polite though.
I also forgot to mention that I had a look at your Missing Films post. The two softcores at the bottom of your list I think I have seen as VCDs. Have you ever looked on Carousell?
There was a shop in Kornhill Plaza where I often found this, ahem, genre of VCD. This was early-to-mid '90s when the plaza was dark and clad in brownish tiles, long before its bright and shiny makeover.
Hi Rodney,I actually use Carousell quite alot, but I'm not sure these are the type of things that I can buy there without coming over as a bit of a perv. LOL. I've used VCD format in the past on the blog but the screen caps are usually small and very low res. Not the best for this kind of thing. I found a place way over in Chai Wan that may be worth revisiting, but I haven't been for a few years and have no idea if it is still around. Phil
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