The Tiger Blade (2005)

The German cover praised it as a mix between Rumble in the Bronx and Ong Bak and while I am aware that marketing tries to sell me something, I rarely felt as ripped off as with this flick.The humour is kind of strange and rather dull. At times it felt more like a parody than a comedic martial arts movie, without succeeding in it. To be honest, many things may be worse in the German translation, but that is the one I watched and it was horribly bad.The martial arts was underwhelming. Very many cuts, some even switched directions and left me wondering what actually happened. No real moves where shown because of this, which is why I had the impression the actors could not really fight. Whenever there was a fight that tried to resist from cutting every other second, the director decided to use too much slow-motion and unwarranted "explosive actions" (aka bodies flying away comically after being hit).The director, furthermore, decided to use many different styles, for example artsy shots, strange close-ups, grey filters, black and white moments with some colour as if it tried to be a Sin City movie. Many cuts were disorienting, because it failed to follow the movement of the characters or showed things that could not be or should not be continued this way. Easy continuation errors, I'd think.The Tiger Blade is not a blade, but the name of the protagonist, but we only get to know it is his moniker after a real blade is introduced as some kind of McGuffin, because it doesn't really do much. Add to that the sad point that the "magic" in the movie was unnecessary and boring and didn't make the story better.I am willing to say that the movie may be better in the original, but the German version was laughably inept. That said, I believe it is one of the first movies of the director, so I may view it as an inspired "first try".In conclusion, if you're looking for a good martial arts movie, great actors, a gripping story, you should look somewhere else. If you are in the mood to make fun of a movie with a group of friends, this may be it, though.It is not horrible, it is simply far from good.

When Tony Jaa burst onto the scene in 2004, his motto was "no wires, no computers, no special effects." Sadly, the new Thai action films haven't tried to maintain that idiom. Newer films like DYNAMITE WARRIOR, MERCURY MAN, and this one are closer to Hollywood action flicks with lots of editing, wire work, and CGI effects. This film has a few interesting action moments but they all get ruined by those factors. The end result isn't nearly as thrilling as Jaa's work. Another thing I found funny is that the titular weapon - which is considered so important - isn't even used in the finale.Special Agent Yosthana is on the trail of Commander Kao Yod, a political prisoner who has broken out of prison. Yod and his gang are planning something big (the audience isn't allowed to know until the last 15 minutes) and use black magic to protect themselves from bullets. To combat this, Yosthana procures the Tiger Blade, a mythical sword that can kill the seemingly impervious villains.On a side note, this is the first film I have seen under Thailand's new censorship laws. They blur out any image of a gun being pointed toward someone's head or a cigarette in someone's mouth. You can show the gun or cigarette being raised. Hell, you can show someone get shot in the head. Just don't show the gun pointing towards the head. Very strange! It makes for an interesting scene at the end during a four way stand off where the screen is almost just one big blur.

Thinking of "Ong Bak" and "Born to fight",I expected "Tiger Blade to be the same! Well,it isn't! It could have been just like them because of the action! But the action scenes were not that special! The scenes had some beautiful effects,but the martial arts were below average! Surprisingly the plot was interesting enough with a lot of humor. This movie would have been better if the martial arts were as good as in "Ong Bak". Although it is obvious it is a low budget production,everything looks great! "Tiger Blade" has these small sequences which do spark your interest,but sadly there are not enough of them to give the movie an edge. Most memorable scene I have to mention is the scene where the main character returns home and finds seven women waiting for him. They start to make dinner and dance with the prospect of more,then the sister spoils the fun! It does show promise but for now I have to say that this title is not worth your time!

The Tiger Blade starts with a great kick off and manage to hold that throughout the entire movie. The story might not be that clear but actually it doesn't matter. You just go with the flow and accept the holes in the story which are filled in with great action scenes. It's Thai and of course you're thinking about Ong-bak but The Tiger Blade does use wire work and probably stunt men but it does't mean the action would be less. The direction is good and it shows that the greatest attention went to the action aspect. Would that bother? The story of Ong-bak isn't also that great. Just forget the story, tolerate the acting performances and you're settled for a good action ride. It deserves your attention when you loved Ong-bak and the Russian Night Watch because it's a perfect combination of those two.