Death Cage (1989)

Death Cage (1989)
Aka; Bloodfight 2; Mortal Combat 2: Death Cage

Starring: Robin Shou, Joe Lewis, Steve Tartalia, Mark Long, Kam Seung-Yuk, Wayne Archer, John Ladalski, Toby Russel
Directors: Chan Man-Sam, Robert Tai
Action Director: Robert Tai, Alexander Lo Rei

 

I don’t really have an intro to this particular piece of work. It’s such a shoddily-plotted time-waster that it’s hard to comment on it beyond its fight scenes. It does, however, occupy an interesting place in director/choreographer Robert Tai’s filmography. By 1989, his Shaw Brothers days were long behind him, and his ninjasploitation era had apexed with Ninja: The Final Duel only a few years earlier. I guess this film was a transition in this Tai’s final period, which saw ever-so scant returns during the 1990s. The last time I’d heard about him was when he teamed up with Chi Kuan-Chun and the Wu Tang Clan to make a wuxia film during the late 90s/early 2000s, although that film never saw distribution. I find it rather odd that one of the genre’s highest-paid choreographers (according to an interview he gave at the now-defunct Kung Fu Cult Cinema website years ago) had practically drifted into obscurity by the late 90s (unless he was a regular on Taiwanese TV).

In the city of Bangkok, there are two very “important” schools, those being the Wai Chai School (whose master is a real sissy) and the Kents School, ran by farang Joe “I beat Chuck Norris” Lewis. During a tournament, a Kents fighter named Lai Chai (Kam Seung-Yuk, who looks like Lam Ching-Ying on steroids) beats the Wai Chai’s top student, See Hom (Robin Shou, of the Mortal Kombat films), by cheating. While working See Hom’s leg over with brass knuckles, his master tries to intervene and gets his leg permanently broken for his troubles. The Wai Chai school is disgraced and closes down, although to be honest, we never had much evidence that the school had any more than three students.

Some months later, See Hom’s master and his worthless adopted daughter is living with him at his car garage, when they are visited by the master’s brother-in-law, Tang Chuan (the Ghost-Faced Killer himself, Mark Long). Tang Chuan decides to pass his wushu and tai chi skills on to See Hom via exercises that involve objects at the car garage. So See Hom is slowly becoming a real kung fu master, while the lack of decent competition for the Kents school means lower betting profits for its owner, Mr. Hunter (Joe Lewis). Thus, a rematch between See Hom and Lai Chai is in the works. And what will happen when See Hom proves to be more than a match for Lai Chai *and* the Kents star fighter (Steve Tartalia)? Then we’ll see just how dirty these farangs are willing to play.

Death Cage is little more than The Karate Kid with a few extra helpings of stage blood for our actors to be doused in and spit up. Beyond that basic premise, not very much in this movie makes any sense. I don’t know how the Wai Chai school could have become so popular when the master is so against fighting that he encourages See Hom to *let* a bunch of random Thai thugs wreck his garage in front of his face. How could a sissy like that run a school capable of producing the only competition worthy of the Kents Gym fighters? Oh, yeah, I remember now: bad writing.

If you were to judge the film on the first three fights or so, you’d wonder how Robert Tai ever reached the exalted position at the Shaw Brothers that he once did. The first fights in the ring, especially those between Robin Shou and Kam Seung-Yuk, who wears a lion’s mane wig and is decked out in leopard print, are rather lackluster. Shou’s punches and kicks are pretty basic, broken up by the occasional drop kick or throw. Still, Shou did better work in the American Mortal Kombat films than he did here. Things pick up a little during his first fight with Tartalia, since the latter is a more dynamic fighter. We didn’t see much of his skills in Once Upon a Time in China (1991), but Tartalia is actually a first-class kicker. His moves are more stylish than Shou’s, who turns out to be a more economical fighter.

The movie picks up in the second half, with several 1-on-2 and 1-vs-many fights. These dwarf those earlier ring fights, and choreographers Lo Rei and Robert Tai feel much less restrained in their choreography. We see Robin Shou take on a bunch of machete-wielding Thai thugs (probably the only Thai people in Thailand we see in this film), with a rhythm that recalls some of Jackie Chan’s better group fights. Shou’s moves are still pretty basic, but the direction itself is solid. Mark Long gets two fights, his main one being against Mr. Hunter’s two bodyguards, a white girl and a black girl (both of whom are blonde, if you care). Those two girls have a lot of acrobatic moves and moving-in-tandem choreography, which is really neat and comes close to representing the high point of the movie.

Later, Mark Long’s daughter, whom we saw practicing baguazhang earlier, takes on the two female bodyguards in a brutal and vicious fight in closed quarters. The movie ends with a rematch between Robin Shou and Steve Tartalia and then a final fight against Joe Lewis. These two fights are set in a bamboo cage adorned with sharpened stakes. By this point, Tartalia’s character has trained in classic kung fu as well (watch for a cameo by the late John Ladalski as one of his teachers), so the two are better matched. Shou gives the best wushu-centric performance of his career in this fight, with lots of traditional handwork and forms being integrated into his kickboxing. Tartalia, while still showing us some great bootwork, backs it up with some more classical kung fu movies as well. It actually becomes less interesting when the legendary Joe Lewis steps in, since he’s obviously over the hill (although he’s still pretty built) and his moves are even less flashier than Shou’s (Lewis does try to make up for it with some bizarre overacting). Things get outrageously violent as characters get impaled in different ways and nobody faints from blood loss, Thai people, where muay thai was invented (or at least popularized), aren’t even worth mentioning.despite the red paint being splashed about. But when these characters die, boy, do they die hard.