Bruce Locke (the robot ninja in "RoboCop 3") stars here as Chuji Kurenai, a young man who has just arrived in Vegas. He's in town not to gamble, but to avenge the killing of his father. He is soon agreeing to work for underground fight organizer Rossner (Richard Lynch), who likes his fighters to duel to the death. Kurenai, a.k.a. "Tiger", doesn't think much of this notion, but finds it hard to extricate himself from this situation. "Tiger" (so named because of the mask that his father wore, and which he inherited) also acquires allies such as private investigator Jane Costello (Barbara Niven) and wrestling star "Dark Tiger" (Matthias Hues, the villainous alien from "I Come in Peace").
The cast also includes such luminaries as Robert Z'Dar (the Maniac Cop) as a trainer & henchman, Timothy Bottoms ("The Last Picture Show") as Rossners' smarmy, cocky rival, and Stoney Jackson ("Trespass") as a gang leader. Potential viewers may want to give this a look on the basis of the actors assembled, and in truth they're all watchable enough, especially eternal B movie villain Lynch and the physically imposing Z'Dar. Z'Dar in particular has nothing but contempt for Tiger and spends the movie yearning for an inevitable showdown. The story is extremely trite stuff, overall, but unfortunately there's just not that much to say about a movie - even a routine one such as this - in which most of the fighting is pretty lackluster. I'll also agree with the comment that it looks pretty cheap.
Locke struggles with his English dialogue, and he's not a terribly charismatic hero to boot. At least the movie has sexy blonde Niven and assorted other attractive female bit players to provide eye candy.
The ending is the most unsatisfying part, obviously serving to set up a sequel. Lynch and Z'Dar raise the rating by a point.
Five out of 10.
The cast also includes such luminaries as Robert Z'Dar (the Maniac Cop) as a trainer & henchman, Timothy Bottoms ("The Last Picture Show") as Rossners' smarmy, cocky rival, and Stoney Jackson ("Trespass") as a gang leader. Potential viewers may want to give this a look on the basis of the actors assembled, and in truth they're all watchable enough, especially eternal B movie villain Lynch and the physically imposing Z'Dar. Z'Dar in particular has nothing but contempt for Tiger and spends the movie yearning for an inevitable showdown. The story is extremely trite stuff, overall, but unfortunately there's just not that much to say about a movie - even a routine one such as this - in which most of the fighting is pretty lackluster. I'll also agree with the comment that it looks pretty cheap.
Locke struggles with his English dialogue, and he's not a terribly charismatic hero to boot. At least the movie has sexy blonde Niven and assorted other attractive female bit players to provide eye candy.
The ending is the most unsatisfying part, obviously serving to set up a sequel. Lynch and Z'Dar raise the rating by a point.
Five out of 10.