Yuen Woo-Ping directed this darker-than-normal cop thriller that finds comedy superstar Dodo Cheng rooting out corruption in the Hong Kong police force. The film opens in an initially happy state, but soon bad stuff starts to happen. Dodo's cop boyfriend (Leung Ka-Yan) gets offed early, but we soon learn that he was crooked. Dodo is surprised, but that's only the beginning to the chicanery at the police station. Elder cop Ng Man-Tat is secretly running drugs, much to the dismay of his juniors Jacky Cheung and Donnie Yen. The concept of "righteousness" is invoked, but evil will not go quietly. Simon Yam is the benevolent (or is he?) police chief.

The plot of this routine cop flick is nothing new, but Yuen Woo-Ping does his best to make sure that bullets and blood flies by film's end. The violence is both brutal and spectacular and despite its lack of innovation, the plot manages to keep you on your toes. While not an extremely special picture, Tiger Cage is still a great example of the lengths to which Hong Kong flicks will go to screw with its audience. We'd like justice to prevail, but the price the characters pay makes it a bitter pill to swallow. In the end, there really are no winners; everybody loses. That is, except the Hong Kong action junkie, who should find their action jones satiated. Thank you, Yuen Woo-Ping. (Kozo 1996/1998)

DVD (Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Joy Sales (HK)
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles
*Also Available on Blu-ray Disc