![\"WhiteTiger\"](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/WhiteTigerposter.jpg\" "\\"WhiteTiger\\"")
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When a D.E.A. agent’s partner is killed, he decides to find his own justice.\u00a0 Seriously, that’s about it.<\/p>\n
Mike Ryan is an adrenaline junkie and consummate bachelor.\u00a0 After his partner (and possibly lover) gets killed in a drug sting gone bad, Ryan decides that the vengeance he seeks cannot be granted to him through legal means and so goes on to take down an entire drug empire himself.\u00a0 He doesn’t have a real plan or anything, just blind luck and some serious martial arts skills to back up his straightforward ways.\u00a0 He’s also got what appears to be a kind of sixth sense when it comes to his imminent demise.\u00a0 If someone has the drop on him, he instantly flips or rolls out of the way before they fire off a shot or land the killing blow.\u00a0 While not fair to the other guys, it certainly increases his ability to overcome any and all foes.<\/p>\n At some point it is revealed that Jade actually works for Victor Chow.\u00a0 Now, I’m not sure what her job description was, but it seemed to be some sort of whore\/pimp relationship… and maybe even something weirder.\u00a0 Anyhow, she’s actually some sort of forced assassin, with her child or little sister or something (I really don’t think they tell us) being held by the Elder Triads until she performs her duties.\u00a0 She manages to be integral to the plot and a fairly reliable getaway car driver-type person for Mike Ryan, so I guess she’s kinda<\/em> bad-ass.<\/p>\n Tagawa doesn’t really get to pull out all the stops with Victor Chow like in many of his other roles, but he still gets to do some things.\u00a0 Chow kills lots and lots of people in increasingly brutal ways over the course of the film, making him quite the sinister baddie.\u00a0 But it’s only toward the end of the film, when he’s huffing his own stuff (and forcing Jade to partake) that he really comes out as an interesting character.\u00a0 He seems to have some serious abandonment issues (at a couple points literally begging people not to leave him), but sets that shit aside to go one on one against kickboxing champ Gary Daniels.\u00a0 So he’s a tough fucker.<\/p>\n Daniels, at one point, mentions that he used to live a life of one-night stands until he met his partner.\u00a0 This seems to indicate a very comfortable and awkward situation untold in the film.\u00a0 This is because his partner had a wife and kid, which is normal enough, but when they go on family camping trips they bring Daniels so he and his partner can go climb mountains while the wife and kid sit back at camp in awkward silence.<\/p>\n Despite the small presence of the dead partner’s wife representing the usual female buzzkill, White Tiger does go to some lengths to establish Julia Nickson’s character as not only necessary to the progression of the plot, but also as a strong and formidable female character.\u00a0 She’s almost the most developed character in the movie.\u00a0 Of course, she still strips down and bangs Gary Daniels, so what can you say?<\/p>\n Plenty of people killed here, mostly by Tagawa and his goons.\u00a0 Daniels does manage to slay 11 guys, but he’s the heroic type in this one, claiming not be an assassin.\u00a0 The deaths are largely gunshot, but there’s also a fair amount of death by incineration here.\u00a0 So if you like seeing your bad guys get toasted, White Tiger<\/strong> is for you.<\/p>\n In one of cinema’s biggest non-surprises, Julie Nickson’s Jade turns out to be working for the evil druglord, detailing Ryan’s whereabouts and doings to the baddie behind the scenes.\u00a0 The real surprise comes later though, when Jade arrives to kill Victor Chow, revealing herself to actually be a double agent for the Chinese Triads Chow has recently split from.<\/p>\n Both Ryan and Jade have a moment of doubt as to whether or not they can actually be assassins.\u00a0 Jade thinks she’s been playing Ryan the whole time as well, but when he speaks Chinese, she realizes he’s been aware of the double-cross the entire time.\u00a0 But their little moment is suddenly broken up when a martial artist suddenly comes flying through the air and kicks them both, beginning a close quarters combat match.\u00a0 It’s so completely out of nowhere I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.<\/p>\n In a movie filled with many such moments, this one was easily my favorite, demonstrating that explosions and kung fu fights should always come before exposition and catharsis.<\/p>\n Daniels and Tagawa are battling through the drug lab as it’s being consumed by fire, slamming each other through desks and windows.\u00a0 As the two struggle on top of one desk, Tagawa takes the phone off the receiver nearby and delivers this gem:<\/p>\n And then he proceeds to beat Gary with the phone still clutched in his fist.\u00a0 Amazing.<\/p>\n Made during the “good” years of Gary Daniels’s film career, White Tiger<\/strong> is one of the great unseen action movies of the 90s.\u00a0 Though I think the pacing is a little off at times, the action is pretty much top-notch, being something of a blend between early 90s John Woo and 80s American action.\u00a0 The choreography in the fight scenes is damn good and the use of slow motion techniques to add emphasis to every bad-ass moment helps sell the film as better than it should be.\u00a0 And look back over that cast.\u00a0 We’ve got Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, B-action movie villain veteran of such awesome movies as The Perfect Weapon<\/strong>, Showdown In Little Tokyo<\/strong>, and Mortal Kombat<\/strong>.\u00a0 Rambo’s tragic sidekick, Julia Nickson (“What mean expendable?”), shows up too, and this time without the goofy accent.\u00a0 Gary Daniels is just the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n Richard Martin’s direction has a lot of energy and power, even if it is just because he rips off Hong Kong styles very well.\u00a0 It seemed like he was destined for a career making awesome action flicks after this one, but a quick glance at his IMDb page shows he went from this to directing Highlander television episodes before his career took a tragic turn and he ended up at the helm of Air Bud: Golden Retriever<\/strong>.\u00a0 Yeah, what the fuck!?<\/em>, right?<\/p>\n But the name that stuck out most for me from the credits was Bey Logan, who wrote White Tiger<\/strong>‘s story.\u00a0 Anyone who’s ever listened to the commentary track on a Hong Kong Legends dvd recognizes his name and knows that he knows his shit about Hong Kong films.\u00a0 This makes it all the more striking that he would wind up being the writer of a fairly simple story to an American cop revenge thriller.\u00a0 Still, the movie does retain a very Asian flavor and it’s quite likely Logan is the reason.\u00a0 One wonders how much control he had over the direction.<\/p>\n As I was saying though, the action is great.\u00a0 The shootouts could probably be a tad more intense, but the fights and explosions are all very good.\u00a0 And when I’m talking about explosions, I don’t mean just from cars blowing up and whatnot, I mean, like, every time a goon shoots a gun, a giant flame ball shoots out of the barrel.\u00a0 Sometimes with sparks.\u00a0 Most of these fiery clouds and shootouts are somewhat central to the plot, but there are also fights that come out of nowhere, interrupting dramatic moments or scenes of exposition.\u00a0 It’s as if the movie doesn’t want you to forget what kind of film it is.\u00a0 And while this may be distracting to some, I was pleasantly entertained by these shenanigans.<\/p>\n I guess my only real problem was with the lack of fatalities produced by our hero.\u00a0 I know he’s supposed to be the incorruptible good guy, even going so far as to say he was “a cop not an assassin”, but I really wanted Daniels to let loose like in Rage<\/strong>.\u00a0 There were plenty of bodies, but not enough from team good guy.\u00a0 Oh well.<\/p>\n Mostly White Tiger<\/strong> is just a fun ride and good showcase for Gary Daniels as an action star.\u00a0 It’s full of fighting, ‘splosions and slow motion bad-assery.\u00a0 These days you can usually find it online for pretty cheap and I’d recommend picking it up as it’s one of Daniels’s best.<\/p>\n If you’re a D.E.A. agent, there will be no consequences if you decide to go rogue, kill off all the members of a drug kingpin’s burgeoning empire, blow up half a city and a ship docked in the countryside.\u00a0 The rules don’t apply to you.<\/p>\n White Tiger (1996) \u00a9 Den Pictures, Inc. and Evergreen Entertainment\/<\/strong>Review \u00a9<\/strong><\/span> AllOuttaBubbleGum.com<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [THE CHALK-OUTLINE] White Tiger (1996): Breakdown by Kain424 When a D.E.A. agent’s partner is killed, he decides to find his own justice.\u00a0 Seriously, that’s about it. [THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THEIR BADASSITUDE] THE HEROES: Gary Daniels is Mike Ryan Mike Ryan is an adrenaline junkie and consummate bachelor.\u00a0 After his partner (and possibly lover) … Read moreAMB: WHITE TIGER (1996)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[637,2069],"class_list":["post-9029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-gary-daniels","tag-white-tiger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gary\"](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Gary.jpg\" "\\"Gary\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nGary Daniels<\/span> is Mike Ryan<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nJulie Nickson<\/span> is Jade<\/span><\/h3>\n
THE VILLAIN:<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCary-Hiroyuki Tagawa<\/span> is Victor Chow<\/span><\/h3>\n
[THE SEX AND VIOLENCE]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO:<\/span><\/h3>\n
EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY:<\/span><\/h3>\n
MURDER BY NUMBERS: [44]
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/a><\/p>\n[THE BEST OF THE REST]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
EPIC MOMENT:<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nBEST LINE:<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n“It’s For You!”<\/span><\/h1>\n
[THE EXECUTION]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
[THE AOBG ACTION CHECKLIST]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n
[X] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[\u00a0 ] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[\u00a0 ] Crotch Attack
\n[X] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[\u00a0 ] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel
\n[X] Factory\/Warehouse\/Castle
\n[X] Giant Explosion(s)
\n[X] Heavy Artillery
\n[X] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[X] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting [George Cheung]
\n[X] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[\u00a0 ] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[X] Shoot Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[X] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[X] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)
\n[X] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[\u00a0 ] Tis The Season
\n[X] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Unnecessary Sequel
\n[X] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[X] Vigilante Justice<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n[TOTAL: 18 outta 25]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n