User Reviews

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.

A Japanese martial artist Chuji Kurenai (aka Tiger) comes to Las Vegas to take revenge on the man who killed his father and gets involved in the illegal fighting racket. A martial arts film of which unfortunately the most boring parts are the martial arts sequences. The romantic pair of Bruce Locke as Tiger and Barbara Niven as Jane Costello is also boring.

It does however have an entertaining cast of villains played by Richard Lynch, Robert Z'Dar, Timothy Bottoms and Stoney Jackson. Not to mention the titanic Matthias Hues as a rather sweet wrestler. Low budget martial art films can be fun but this was a chore to sit through. A sequel was set up but thankfully it never saw the light of day.

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!

"Lone Tiger" is proof that having a great B-Movie cast filled to the brim with fan favorites doesn't mean the movie is going to be any good.

Bruce Locke stars as Kurenai , a Japanese Karate man who moves to America and lives in an abandoned warehouse with some runaways. His goal is to defeat the American fighter "Dark Tiger" (Hues) because he thinks he killed his father many years ago. But Kurenai has a "Tiger" mask of his own that he wears when he fights.

Lynch plays Bruce Rossner , an unscrupulous fight promoter who hires Jane (Barbara Niven) to act interested in Kurenai, but really wants dirt on his background. She finds Kurenai and gets Rossner's right-hand man King (Z'dar) to train him to be a killer in the ring, but it goes against his moral code of honor. However if he doesn't fight, the runaways that he cares for will go into foster care. The underground matches run by Rossner are in an underground pool with no water. Rossner primarily bets with Marcus (Bottoms) on the outcomes of the matches. It is not punch-fighting, it's pool-fighting.

Twice Rossner forces Kurenai to kill his opponent and he refuses. Unfortunately, the hobo he's fighting dies accidentally and Kurenai begins to sour on the whole enterprise.

It all comes a head at Rossner's birthday party and the truth is finally revealed. Stoney Jackson is constantly commanding one of the runaways to "Get me my money!" Jackson looks like Dave Chappelle as Rick James and gets the most cringe-worthy line in awhile: He exits the bathroom in one the first scenes of the movie and proudly and un-ironically announces "I love to pee!". The viewer will then realize, this will be a tough sit.

This movie is overlong at a punishing 105 minutes.

Matthias Hues is seen next as the wrestler "Dark Tiger" doing his thing in the ring. What seems to be going on is some sort of "Punch-Wrestling". Hues looks like Fabio more than ever in this flick. However, Hues brings considerable and much-needed charm to the proceedings.

Robert Z'Dar's presence is always welcome and he does what he can in the role as Coach King. There is a training sequence where King drags Kurenai on his dirt bike. In most states this is a crime. There's also some other slapstick which feels forced. Inexplicably, Kurenai trains while wearing the tiger mask. Apparently it is not for the crowds, it is for his own personal use. From a film-making standpoint, the mask is useful because it could be any number of fighters or stunt men at any time. Or better fighters for that matter.

When's Rossner's moll, Jane states "We are having fried chicken for lunch." King angrily yells at Kurenai: "GO TO LUNCH!" This is the most inappropriately shouted line since Glenn Ford bellowed "I LIKE FLOWERS!" in Raw Nerve.(1991) Timothy Bottoms joins his "Total Force"(1997) cast-mates Lynch and Z'Dar as Marcus, manager of the wrestler "Mr. Mexico" and "Dark Tiger". Bottoms seems glum and would probably rather be making a something better, like the "Total Force" sequel "Absolute Force" which also stars the director of "Lone Tiger" himself Warren A. Stevens.

Super fan favorite Richard Lynch is enjoyable as Rossner, but far from his glory days as Rostov in the classic Chuck Norris fight-fest "Invasion U.S.A." He always makes a good baddie. Rossner prays to a strange altar that his men will win his fighting matches.

Sad to say, the fight sequences and choreography are laughably inept and totally inane. They are slow, stagey and lifeless. They seem to be in slow motion, but aren't. It's all very ham-fisted. Just look at the scene with the bum and his whip for the worst example. The biggest injustice is that this is just another waste of Hues' fighting abilities. Ugh. Speaking of ugh, King appears to have been eating a least one jelly donut when he gets kicked in the face at the climax.

Bruce Locke's broken English and clumsy martial arts moves are another detriment to a production whose crud already runneth over.

Leave this one a"lone" and avoid this one tonight!

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While searching Las Vegas for the man who killed his famous father - a wrestler known for his trademark tiger mask who is totally not Naoto Date, the Tiger Mask of anime and pro wrestling fame, despite this being written by Hisao Maki (Joe vs. Joe, Bodyguard Kiba), the younger brother of Ikki Kajiwara, who actually did create Tiger Mask - Chuji Kurenai (Bruce Locke, Shang Tsung from the Mortal Kombat: Conquest series and Otomo in RoboCop 3) discovers a world of fighters that battle to the death, which gets in the way of his quest to defeat Dark Tiger (Matthias Hues, Oscar the Lion Tamer in Big Top Pee-wee, as well as Kickboxer 2, TC 2000 and Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich), the pro wrestler who killed his father.

Meanwhile, Bruce Rossner (Richard Lynch) wants him as his main fighter, using money as motivation, as Hisao is taking care of some runaways - kind of like how Naoto Date would take care of the orphange (and to this day, Japanese fans of the manga and anime anonymously donate to childrens' charities using Date's name). He asks his main fighter, King (Robert Z'Dar) to train Hisao to be a killing machine, which takes all of one wacky montage.

Somehow, Tomothy Bottoms is in this. Yes, the same Timothy Bottoms from The Last Picture Show, Johnny Got His Gun and The Paper Chase. Then again, this is also the same Timothy Bottoms that was in Total Force, In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro and The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, in which he played President George Bush. The George Walker Bush President Bush.

Warren A. Stevens also directed Dragonfight and Eagles Law, but spent most of his career doing stunts, like Cannon's Lambada and Super Mario Bros.

As for the movie, well, instead of spending time showing us pro wrestling or fighting to the death, there's an extended fried chicken eating scene. And the tiger mask of this Nise Tiger Mask is poofy and goofy and the fight scenes seem shot underwater, but then again, seeing Z'Dar spit out fake blood and a character scream, "I love to pee!" are the better parts of the film, so maybe it could have used more fried chicken eating.