As teenagers, they were known as the Three Tigers, disciples of a kung fu master and fearsome fighters who could take on all comers. Now, though, the main characters of action-comedy The Paper Tigers are just slow-moving middle-aged guys, with their champion martial arts days long behind them. An opening montage of camcorder-style footage shows the three friends in their younger days training with Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan) and easily dispatching opponents in a variety of locations.
Thirty years later, former champion Danny (Helstrom’s Alain Uy) is introduced behind the wheel of a minivan with a Bluetooth headset in his ear. He’s a divorced dad who works in insurance, and his advice to his young son about potential violent confrontations is to always walk away. He hasn’t seen the other Three Tigers in years, but Hing (Ron Yuan) shows up on his doorstep one night to let him know that Sifu Cheung has died of an apparent heart attack, and as his official disciples, they need to pay their respects at his funeral.
Danny immediately suspects something isn’t quite right about Sifu Cheung’s death, and he and Hing seek out the third Tiger, MMA trainer Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins), to help them get to the bottom of what’s really going on. A pre-credits scene shows a mysterious figure attacking Cheung outside the restaurant where he works, so there’s never really a question that the master’s death was not from natural causes, and The Paper Tigers isn’t trying to be an elaborate mystery. The investigation of their teacher’s death is just a chance for the three old friends to reconnect, mend fences and re-evaluate their lives.
Writer-director Quoc Bao Tran’s debut feature unfolds at a leisurely pace that can occasionally be frustrating, especially with such a rudimentary plot. But the three leads are charismatic and likable, with believable chemistry as bickering old friends, and the low-key humor carries most of the lulls between fight scenes. In their efforts to find out what happened to Sifu Cheung, the Three Tigers first take on a group of snotty local teens, and then their old rival Carter (Matthew Page), a pompous white man who’s prone to spouting aphorisms in Chinese and insists that they use his “Sifu” title when speaking to him.
The actual villain doesn’t show up until more than halfway through the movie, though, and his presence is mostly underwhelming. But he’s more of a symbol than a character, a cause for the three men to rally around. Danny gets the most substantial character arc, as he learns some important lessons about being a good father. He also heals the somewhat underdeveloped rift he had with Jim after ditching out on a martial arts tournament in Japan when they were teenagers. All three men rediscover a sense of purpose and reconnect to the passion they felt for martial arts as teenagers.
Along the way, they engage in some impressive fight sequences, which Tran stages simply and effectively on his obviously limited budget. There are no elaborate Jackie Chan-style stunts or special effects shots here, aside from a little slow motion and blurring. The three main stars all handle themselves well, striking a balance between the characters’ extensive skill and training and the rustiness that comes from aging and lack of practice. Hing wears a knee brace from an old on-the-job injury, and Yuan keeps the character’s limp consistent even when winning fights. These aren’t feeble middle-aged men who suddenly reveal themselves as unstoppable badasses. They’re former athletes who gradually regain some degree of the skills they had when they were younger.
Even as they seek vengeance for their late master, the characters maintain a sense of humor, and the tone of The Paper Tigers is gentle and light. Tran treats the main characters with respect through their most embarrassing moments (including, yes, farting in the middle of a fight), and the movie is generally laughing with those characters, not at them. The biggest buffoonery is reserved for Carter, who is a formidable fighter but doesn’t realize how insecure and clueless he appears to others.
Especially in its cheesiest inspirational moments (which get a little excessive toward the end), The Paper Tigers is a tribute to crowd-pleasing martial arts dramas of the ’80s and ’90s. Tran owes a lot to Cobra Kai, which takes a similar approach to the story of middle-aged former martial arts champions revisiting their past. These characters could easily be hanging out with Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Like Cobra Kai, The Paper Tigers is accessible and fun, appealing to both martial arts fans and anyone looking for an entertaining if somewhat simplistic comedy about the travails of getting older.
Starring Alain Uy, Ron Yuan, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Matthew Page, Jae Suh Park, Joziah Lagonoy, Raymond Ma and Roger Yuan, The Paper Tigers opens Friday, May 7 in select theaters and on VOD.