Lam, a cop approaching 40 but without much accomplishment, always wants to achieve something memorable before his retirement. He is obliged by his sister to find a decent Chinese girl for his nephew, Baffalo, who is an "American Born Chinese". But Baffalo has an eye for a sweetie, Ellen, who has accidentally witnessed a murder. The incident gets Lam, Baffalo and Ellen being involved in a ruthless underground arms smuggling ring, wich sends the killer to eliminate them.
Ellen Chan sure has a knack for getting herself into trouble. When she witnesses a murder (and steals the victim's diamond ring), dangerous hoods start to come after her. Luckily, Danny Lee and Conan Lee (who has just returned from the States to find himself a Chinese wife) are there to protect her. High-octane insanity insues..Boy, Tiger on the Beat 2 did not disappoint! The movie is by no means a nonstop action spectacle, but when the action is on screen, it's absolutely berserk.So many people get thrown through windows, off buildings and out of cars. Best of all, the movie also has a scene* where someone jumps off a bridge, tries to grab a streetlight, misses, and hits the pavement instead. They show that stunt twice (the second time, from a different angle, in slowmotion). It's B O N K E R S!There's quite a bit of unfunny comedy in this, but it didn't bother me too much.The English subtitles were shoddy throughout. Everytime a character said "fuck", the subs said "fart" instead:Get in my farting car!*Big thanks to @ALISTAIR for sharing that clip. It made me check this out sooner rather than later.
Slig0013.0
Tiger on the Beat 2 is a sequel in style and tone to Lau Kar-leung's original film, but bears no relation in terms of plot. Much of the cast from the first film appears here, though Chow Yun-fat is replaced by Danny Lee, who plays a cop out to find a girl for his nephew (Conan Lee) only to end up getting on the wrong side of a drug smuggling ring. This sequel is less funny and violent than the original. It has to be said that Danny and Conan Lee don't have the best on screen chemistry and the script is rather weak too, with a plot that doesn't really hang together and keeps getting caught up on the same plot points. Luckily the film has the action to fall back on. The first hour is rather light on it, though it does feature Conan Lee missing a jump from a building to a lamppost, which aparently was an actual accident that got left in the film. All the best stuff is saved for the final act and Tiger on the Beat 2 really flies off the handle at this point - with shootouts, car chases, martial arts and more. There's nothing to rival Gordon Liu with a chainsaw at the end of the last film, but its entertaining stuff and ensures that it at least ends on a high note.
Josh Lewis3.0
Losing Chow Yun-fat for this sequel (in name only) and replacing him with his The Killer co-star Danny Lee hurts this one quite a bit. As does it's somehow even broader comedy, thinner characterizations and more generic cop actioner plot. Which aren't qualities I'd praise the first film for by any means, but at least I was able to follow its Miami Vice in Hong Kong buddy cop stuff a little more than the story here of drug dealers looking for a ring that a prostitute stole and middle-aged unc cop + brash muscular nephew trying to help her (though not even believing her for most of the movie lol) while also finding him a "nice Chinese wife." Thankfully Lau Kar-leung, Gordon Liu and Conan Lee returning means all the Police Story inspired action setpieces are extremely competently handled, and filled with plenty of athletic choreography and dangerous looking stunt craft that's still blast to watch even if it doesn't quite get to any of the ridiculous and cartoonishly gruesome extremes as a swashbuckling chainsaw fight. The early highlight you've probably already heard of is Conan Lee's accidental stunt gone wrong of leaping from an overpass to a street lamp pole he intended to fireman slide down and instead overshot and hit the ground (so clearly real they even play it back in slow-motion for you to see it again), but there's an equally impressive bathroom assassination attempt that throws some dumb sex comedy gags into it and an apartment complex chase/fight sequence in here where half the cast ends up kicked through a window or dangling from a rooftop and hospitalized. Leading to a number of amusing physical gag action beats down the stretch: Danny and Conan rocking wigs so that the assassin will think they are Ellen Chan, the lady cop bursting out of her full body cast armed with a defibrillator, the bad guy trying to drive away in a white bedsheet that looks like a Scooby Doo ghost is on the run. And that's before the warehouse finale with Conan Lee barefoot slipping in oil/stepping on glass and doing a spark-heavy pole fight inside a shadowy (cocaine filled) bus with Gordon Liu. Wish the action wasn't so back-loaded into the final half hour but once it arrives this was an easy watch. I wonder if the new 4K Shout is putting out will leave in the awesome subtitles where every time a character says “fuck you” it reads as “fart you.” (Which they say a lot lol.)Full discussion on ep 423 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.
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Common questions
What is Tiger on the Beat 2 about?+
A Hong Kong police officer attempts to help his nephew find a partner while both become inadvertently tangled in a dangerous criminal conspiracy involving a witness and an arms smuggling ring.
Who directed Tiger on the Beat 2?+
The film was directed by legendary martial arts filmmaker Lau Kar-leung in 1990.
