SPOILER WARNING (This is definately a warning in more ways than one!)
It is amazing how a joint US/Japanese co-production could still look cheaper than one of those crime reenactment segments on America's Most Wanted. The film's mask wearing title character is clearly inspired by the Japanese wrestling icon, Tiger Mask. Similarities end there. Our hero, played by Bruce Locke (most famous as the robot ninja in Robocop 3), is the son of a murdered Tiger Mask rip-off who now wanders the streets of Las Vegas, hangs out with the homeless, and gets into back alley fights with escapees from Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video, led by the immortal Stoney Jackson, only to be recruited by an evil rich guy to take part in the big money sport of human cockfighting. When engaging in one of these fights to the death, he dons his dad's tiger mask, but our hero refuses to kill and soon comes to realize that his evil benifactor may have also had something to do with dad's murder. Insert plenty of flashbacks, montages, and guys being kicked in slow motion. The actual fighting in this duller than dirt movie is so poorly choreographed it makes the battles in an episode of Bibleman look like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!
Ironically, the tiger mask is less a mask than a helmet and leaves one wondering how it manages to stay on his head during the fights. In addition to the underground fighting, our hero also does some pro wrestling to boot. However, wrestling is portrayed in this movie as being essentially the same as the underground fighting only with an actual ring and a referee to count pins. So not only are the karate fights crappy, but the wrestling matches defy all logic!
You'd think having Richard Lynch (who played the bad guy in most direct to video action films made in the late 80s/early 90s), Robert Z'Dar (Maniac Cop himself), Matthias Hues (the evil drug dealing alien from I Come In Peace), & the legendary Stoney Jackson together in one movie for the first time would be a good thing? WRONG! Not even the brief cameo by Timothy "I know that name from somewhere, but I just can't place it" Bottoms can save it. Personally, I think Lynch only agreed to be in this stinker as long as he received free cigars, back rubs from moderately attractive women, and that he be allowed to dress like a combination of Dr. Who & Kolchak The Night Stalker.
One final sure fire sign of this film's wretchedness is the fact that IMDB lists it's year of release as 1998, yet the closing credits list 1994. Four years from the time it was made to the time it was released. I'm amazed this snoozefest got released at all!
It is amazing how a joint US/Japanese co-production could still look cheaper than one of those crime reenactment segments on America's Most Wanted. The film's mask wearing title character is clearly inspired by the Japanese wrestling icon, Tiger Mask. Similarities end there. Our hero, played by Bruce Locke (most famous as the robot ninja in Robocop 3), is the son of a murdered Tiger Mask rip-off who now wanders the streets of Las Vegas, hangs out with the homeless, and gets into back alley fights with escapees from Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video, led by the immortal Stoney Jackson, only to be recruited by an evil rich guy to take part in the big money sport of human cockfighting. When engaging in one of these fights to the death, he dons his dad's tiger mask, but our hero refuses to kill and soon comes to realize that his evil benifactor may have also had something to do with dad's murder. Insert plenty of flashbacks, montages, and guys being kicked in slow motion. The actual fighting in this duller than dirt movie is so poorly choreographed it makes the battles in an episode of Bibleman look like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!
Ironically, the tiger mask is less a mask than a helmet and leaves one wondering how it manages to stay on his head during the fights. In addition to the underground fighting, our hero also does some pro wrestling to boot. However, wrestling is portrayed in this movie as being essentially the same as the underground fighting only with an actual ring and a referee to count pins. So not only are the karate fights crappy, but the wrestling matches defy all logic!
You'd think having Richard Lynch (who played the bad guy in most direct to video action films made in the late 80s/early 90s), Robert Z'Dar (Maniac Cop himself), Matthias Hues (the evil drug dealing alien from I Come In Peace), & the legendary Stoney Jackson together in one movie for the first time would be a good thing? WRONG! Not even the brief cameo by Timothy "I know that name from somewhere, but I just can't place it" Bottoms can save it. Personally, I think Lynch only agreed to be in this stinker as long as he received free cigars, back rubs from moderately attractive women, and that he be allowed to dress like a combination of Dr. Who & Kolchak The Night Stalker.
One final sure fire sign of this film's wretchedness is the fact that IMDB lists it's year of release as 1998, yet the closing credits list 1994. Four years from the time it was made to the time it was released. I'm amazed this snoozefest got released at all!