Produced by star Wong Tao and his father, Along Comes The Tiger is their tribute to Sergio Leone's infamous Once Upon A Time In The West. Wong's father had actually been quite a popular actor in Italian cinema from the 1960's through to the 80's, as well as starring in a number of Chinese productions, so I guess his love of Italian movies was a big influence in getting this going.
While Wu Ma has never been the strongest director, he still delivers a decent kung-fu adventure (or should I say Western?), that hardly wow's at all, but still entertains as it borrows a few elements from its Italian counterpart, but still provides enough of its own ideas to keep things different!
As a big fan of Wong Tao, I found it cool that his character didn't speak, allowing for a new approach from his usual chop-socky roles and creating a more, mysterious hero. He gets to trade kicks with a young Philip Ko (in his 17th movie of that year), and teams up with famed HK fight director, Stephen Tung Wei, to take on a number of interesting adversaries.
The fights in Along Comes The Tiger are directed by the fantastic Tommy Lee who worked with Wong Tao on the classic, Secret Rivals, Eagles Claw, and The Hot, The Cool & The Vicious. While they certainly aren't his best, they still entertain and have some great moves from Tao especially, with director Wu Ma getting in on the action in a one-on-one with our silent hero...
At the end of the day, this is a film about revenge, leading to a nice and lengthy one-on-one between Tao and Tommy Lee!
Overall: A good cast and decent fights make this an above average flick that's worth at least one watch!
