The Paper Tigers (Fantasia Fest)
**Seen for the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival.
This is the type of escapist entertainment COVID-19 has deprived audiences of this year, and boy have I missed it. “The Paper Tigers” formula has been done in several different variations before, and this one is an utter delight to watch. Writer-director Quoc Bao Tran understands the archetypes and genre to a t, and makes it land with sincerity and the biggest smile on its face. This will be an audience fave.
We start with a dark ally in the present day. An old kung fu master, Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan) is pinned with his back to the wall. An assailant has cornered him, and he goes down easily, dying, with a quick move. Cut to 30 years earlier, and we see Sifu Cheung training three young disciples- Danny, Hing and Jim. We see them grow into their strength and powers, and they are best friends all throughout high school, in an title sequence made up of old camcorder footage that also reveals several of the dynamics that will permeate throughout the film, including a rivalry with a classmate named Carter. Cut to now, and the glory days are behind them for the Three Tigers, whom were Master Cheung’s only students. Now, his death brings them together after 15 years, and they try to solve the mystery of what happened.
There is a sequence at the halfway point of “The Paper Tigers” that solidified my absolute adoration of the film. Danny (Alain Uy), Hing (Ron Yuan) and Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) have officially all teamed back up to discover what happened to their Sifu, and just had a brutal wakeup call about how out of shape they are with their kung fu. They go back to the dojo of their rival, Carter (Matthew Page), who sent them to the kids in the first place. Carter’s maintaining of his kung fu training has made his arrogance over the three, who used to easily handle him in high school, insufferable, but wildly entertaining to the audience. Page’s performance reminded me of Ben Stiller in “Dodgeball,” and that is a massive compliment. If the film were to end at this scene, you would be finishing on a high point because of how well developed and fun the scene is. It does progress from there, though, and the movie reaches a satisfying conclusion with the three ending up exactly how you hope they do.
The gift in this film is not just Tran’s blend of well-developed action scenes and humor, but the heart that really wins us over. We see the bond between the three Tigers reform as they realize their limitations after so long apart from not just one another, but their training. Danny is the central character we’re following, but Hing and Jim are also thoughtfully written as we witness them having to rediscover what they learned as kids all over again, for the sake of honoring the memory of their Sifu. “The Paper Tigers” lands all of the punches it needs to, and leaves us wanting to see more with them.
