The Tattoo Connection

A friend of mine picked up this "gem" from one of those $2 DVD bins at the local supermarket. I was somewhat interested in seeing it, after all I did enjoy "Enter the Dragon" and wanted to see some more of Jim Kelly and Bolo Yeung. This flick falls short of the mark, but I can't quite put my finger on why. The dubbing is bad, the camera work is poor, and the script is extremely predictable (all of these things I expect from a cheesy kung fu movie), but there seems to be something missing from this piece of celluloid. It may be that between the ass beatings, utterly pointless nudity, and wah-a-chicka music there's not much substance.

The plot is that there's a diamond heist in Hong Kong by a gang (they all have the same tattoo, hence the title). Lucas (Jim Kelly) is called in by the insurance company to track down the diamond. Lucas seems to keep finding that his leads are killed off before he can get all the information that he needs. The other aspect of the story revolves around one of the gang members and his internal struggle with his loyalty to his boss and escaping the gangster life with his girlfriend.

Still the whole thing seemed to be thrown together kind of haphazardly. There are some good lines, decent kung fu action, and naked girls, but it still seems to lack something. The times between the action are really boring.

"i couldnt give a shit" what an opening line.laughing from the start at the bad camerawork,acting,clothes,hair and dubbing this film is a classic.Flash legs tan is on amazing form his kicks are just great a real martial artist of the highest quality.Jim kelley is also on form(with terrible but funny dubbing)and philisophical wisecracks and quips.Favorite scene has to be where the fat dog is getting mercilessly beaten by bolo yeung and his associate with bars and fists.just as they are drowning him the camera looks up at them to give a first person perspective of them scowling angrily pure magic.the plot isnt up to much a diamond heist undercover ex c.i.a man in search of thieves doublecrossing and killing ensue nothing new here.i would recomend people see this movie funny dubbing and good flash legs martial arts what more can you ask for

Although lightly touted as Black Belt Jones 2, The Tattoo Connection is the farthest thing from in most ways. Not that that is a bad thing, just a bit misleading. I grabbed this from a dollar bin a while ago and have finally thrown it in the ol'DVD warmer for watching. What I got was a crime drama with some martial arts action and some really awkward dialogue between the men and women of this movie.

The Tattoo Connection is about the theft of a very expensive diamond, and how the insurance company sends an ex-CIA operative with a martial arts background to retrieve it before they have to pay out on the money owed. That operative being Jim Kelly AKA Black Belt Jones...except not in this movie. He is either referred to as Lucas, or The Black Guy, which is a bit offputting. There is also a side story about the more honorable number one lackey of the thieves trying to make his life better for him and his woman. This same woman that his boss wants to own and push about.

For the most part, this has a spy movie feel to it, except really dull. It is a bit too mish-mashed together to flow well, and it never seems to want to pick who the main character is. Jim Kelly doesn't appear until 15 minutes in and then takes over from the lackey who was in charge for that time. Yet, by the end, we are jumping between both of them but never landing on anything interesting in their stories. I will say the last 25 minutes is pretty fun with non-stop action and hand to hand fighting, and when Jim Kelly takes off his shirt, the poop hits the fan, like his shirt was holding him back.

The Tattoo Connection gets fun. Yet, it starts a bit dull and never seems to gain momentum after that until the very end. Still, if you have to see everything Jim Kelly does then you should give this one a watch.

Having had the rare opportunity to see it in the Mandarin/Chinese language , I can give a review that is more fair than some others. "Tattoo Connection," or "Hong Kong Connection" in certain regions, is a wildly entertaining, colorful and stylish Chinese import, that happens to star a martial arts legend who belongs to the West. Sometimes billed as "Black Belt Jones 2," this film has no connection to that earlier movie, which had a very different, and much lighter tone. Jim Kelly, who is basically the embodiment of everything that was considered cool in the 1970's, stars as Lucas, a CIA agent on a mission to recover a stolen priceless diamond. Lucas is sent to Hong Kong to find the missing jewel, and encounters a criminal organization, and an underworld of violence, espionage and death. The Hong Kong setting is brilliant, as the city is one of the most mysterious and fascinating places in the world, and like Hong Kong, "Tattoo Connection" is filled with color and decadence, as well as eroticism, something rarely found in this genre. Sadly, this film was poorly marketed in the West; this is a patently "Eastern" production,with Eastern sensibilities. So when distributors got their hands on it they apparently tried to Westernize it, by dubbing everyone with totally silly English dubbing with British accented actors. The result of that is a kind of "death blow," stripping the movie of it's intense mood and turning it into silly comedy. It's very apparent that it's a much better movie when you watch it in Mandarin with English subtitles. Unfortunately that version is very rare. A personal favorite of mine, I put it up there with more respected Martial Arts titles such as "Master of the Flying Guillotine" and "Boxer From Shantung," and even "Enter the Dragon." It is a film I can watch repeatedly and never be bored with. The kung fu action is fast and furious, with well choreographed fights that look quite authentic. There is also quite a bit of sex and nudity on screen, but it's all done very well, and doesn't look cheap. A remastered dvd in it's original 2;35 aspect ratio, (and original language) would be most welcome.

Jim Kelly stars in this action packed kung fu extravaganza of a movie. In a time when kung fu cinema was more abundant in Hong Kong than rice, The Tattoo Connection was just another export of the time. The cinema in Hong Kong at the time did not even touch Hollywood, in terms of actual film quality, with a ten foot pole. However, the kung fu movies from Hong Kong had a big leg up over the States in terms of fight choreography. Under the fight choreography of Bruce Liang, The Tattoo Connection shone out like a bright beacon of Hong Kong cinema. Punch for kick, the fight sequences in this movie were absolutely awesome.

Back when the genre of kung fu movies was an accepted category, there were two basic kinds: those taking place in the 70's and 80's, and those taking place in feudal Japan and China. Every movie, regardless of when it took place has the same basic stereotypes and formulas. The bad guy boss, and his henchmen, the bad guy turned good, the hero, and the two faced 'good guy'. This movie was no exception, it filled all of these categories, however the main bad guy does not have any odd deformities like so many of them did (but he did wear sunglasses). However, unlike every other kung fu movie, this was not a revenge story. Most kung fu movies the protagonist is seeking revenge on the bad guy boss for something that happened during his childhood. This story stands alone in a very unique way, the protagonist (Jim Kelly, Enter The Dragon, The Black Samurai) is a hired man, seeking the return of some stolen diamonds for an American insurance company.

From a technical aspect, the movie does not offer much. There are bright colours, usually lacking in Kung Fu movies, and the uses of extreme close ups are way overdone. The sound in the movie was, well, less than par is a nice way of putting it. It was poorly dubbed, and Jim Kelly's character's voice is dubbed by another man, not the same, compared to the cool and calm voice of Enter The Dragon ('When it comes I wouldn't have to worry about it… I'll be busy lookin' good'). They did, however, manage to get the timing of the dubbing relatively well but, the fact that the people selected to dub the movie, save Kelly's dubber, all had British accents did not help the believability of the movie, although the story was not too believable either. On the box it says something along the lines of, watch Jim Kelly get sucked into a world of hookers and prostitutes because of a stolen diamond. Although, during the movie, Kelly is seeking it out, going to strip clubs and inviting the dancers back to his hotel room. Well, what can you expect from a 70s action, kung fu, drama, blaxploytation movie? The music, however, was totally cool, the wet funky theme music brought the movie to a level of cool unequaled by any other Hong Kong cinema production.

It is still no Shaft theme, but cool none the less. Sound effects in kung fu movies are usually limited to the whacks and thunks of punching and kicking. This movie, along with every other kung fu flick, could not get the timing down. There would be a foonk with no punch thrown, and a whap with no kick, and the same the other way, a kick and punch with no sound. Overall though, much like another huge Chinese export, the sound quality was grainy, and I found myself straining to hear what was being said in some instances.

The true great quality of this movie is the level of 'coolness' emanating from the movie. It really achieved a 'wow, I want to be as cool as him' feel, which few other movies can broadcast. Aside from the cheesy antics, and less than perfect acting, this is one gem of Hong Kong cinema that should be on everybody's too watch list. 'That's why they call me the six million dollar man.'