The Tiger’s Apprentice

[Drunk Monk]

The Tiger’s Apprentice (full trailer)

This film is exactly what you might imagine it is from the trailer. Another chosen one. Another mystical item. Another villain who wants to use it to destroy the world. Another band of legendary warriors. Another training scene. Another fight solved by heart. Another Disney death. Another top notch cast of Asians (Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Bowen Yang, Jo Koy).

But it has no soul. It’s just going through the cliches of this sort of film. Where it shines is SF. Chinatown looks like Chinatown with shots of the Confucian gate, the classic lampposts, the Columbus building, the transamerica pyramid (where the finale fight takes place).  Everything looks right and even in the right place, more or less. 

There’s also some nice details like the villainess’ magic parasol and the yaoguai, which are called exactly that and look like green glowing taotie (an ancient doglike demon). 

But they blow it with the dragon and the phoenix by connecting both to fire like their western counterparts. Chinese dragons oversea the ocean and rain. And the Chinese phoenix has nothing to do with fire. But that’s just me being picky. 

Not D00M recommended.