4 Star

Revenge is a Complicated Affaire.

Legendary writer/director Wei Lo follows up his big hits (The Big Boss, Fist of Fury) with this fast-paced revenge story. The hand-to-hand, and the foot-to-the-face action in this film is second to none. As the film follows the usual Hong Kong action Yakuza film, that is, until we get near the end, then it turns into a western where all the action comes in the last twenty minutes, but what a twenty-minute finale. Awesome action, thank you, Wei Lo, for your creativity, and thank you to the stars for their brilliant skills. The original cut of A MAN CALLED TIGER was seventy minutes, Eureka’s Special Edition is one-hundred and twelve minutes, enjoy the extra action.

Chin Hu (Jimmy Wang Yu, One-Armed Boxer, Millionaires Express) is cleaning up the streets, of swindlers, thugs and rapists, making a name for himself. When he isn’t bashing heads, he spends what little money he has in a bar listening to the singer Keiko (Maria Yi, The Big Boss, Fist of Fury). The singing is interrupted by Shimizu’s henchman Hayashi who tries to get performance money off Keiko, that’s when Chin steps in and shows Hayashi the error of his ways.
All this action brings Chin to the attention of Shimizu himself, and because of his skills he is offered the job of his right-hand-man, which he snaps up.

Now a Yakuza member, it is his job to go around and collect the protection money, which brings him to the restaurant, run by Liu Han Ming (James Tien, YES, MADAM! aka. POLICE ASSASSINS, The Shaolin Plot) who hasn’t paid this month’s dues.

What do the rules say?

A Warning, then break up the place.

Chin and Liu come to blows, which leaves Chin regretful, and he gets Keiko to apologise for him, which ends up in a face-to-face meeting where Chin tells Liu that he is out for revenge for his father’s death. Liu agrees to join Shimizu’s rival, Yamamoto’s gang to work out which one of them is responsible for Chin’s fathers death.

Let the intrigue and mayhem commence, as frantic fists and feet get to work in finding the reason why Chin’s father is dead.

 

 

 

 

 

A Man Called Tiger [LENG MIAN HU] (Eureka Classics)
Special Edition is available on Blu-ray

 

SPECIAL BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES:

 

• Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling
• Limited edition reversible poster featuring original poster artwork
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration of the rarely seen uncut Hong Kong theatrical release version of the film, making its home video debut in the UK / US (112 mins)
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration of the re-release version of the film (79 mins)
• Original Mandarin and classic English dub audio options on both cuts of the film (original mono presentations)
• Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
• Brand new audio commentary on the Hong Kong version by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and Michael Worth
• Brand new audio commentary on the export version by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
• Cutting Tiger, Hidden Subtitles – Brand new video essay by Brandon Bentley
• Do You Know What Sadness Means? + Because I Have Your Love – Music videos prepared exclusively for this release
• Textless opening
• Reversible sleeve featuring original poster artwork
• Trailer
• PLUS: A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by writer and critic James Oliver, and a short essay by Brandon Bentley about the versions of the film presented on this release