“To Kill A Jaguar” Hong Kong Theatrical Poster
Director: Wa Saan
Producer: Sir Run Run Shaw
Cast: Chung Wa (Tsung Hua), Lau Wing (Liu Yung), Nora Miao, Siu Yam Yam (Shaw Yin-Yin), Ling Yun, Johnny Wang (Lung Wei), Fan Mei Sheng, Chan Shen, Gam Lau
Running Time: 90 min.
By Mighty Peking Man
To Kill A Jaguar is, first and foremost, a drama-love-story-gangster tale. Even though there’s enough action for it to qualify as a straight up kung fu flick, the dreary feeling I get from watching it stops the movie from having almost no strong points at all.
First of all, the plot sucks. Basically, a village chick named Bobo (Nora Miao) has just arrived in Shanghai. She comes across a gang fight and notices that one of the dudes involved is an old childhood friend of hers. She remembers him as Silly Boy, but he now has a new name: Jaguar.
Warning: Possible spoilers in the next paragraph.
Jaguar explains to her that he is now the right-hand man for some big wig gangster dude. Anyways, they do a little catching up together, fuck and fall in love. The rest of the movie… well… to make a long story short: Jaguar ends up getting set up by his own boss. Eventually, Jaguar ends up partnering up with his jumbo-bow-tied sharp shooter buddy; Jaguar punks him; then we find out the Bobo is actually the daughter of Jaguar’s old boss. Along the way, Jaguar turns into an asshole and then Bruce Lee’s co-star from The Big Boss (Liu Yung) shows up and screws things up for Jaguar even more.
I’m sure the above plot doesn’t sound so bad, but trust me, there are so many twists and turns, that, by the time you’re half way through, you start to not care about the characters, the plot, or the movie.
Even if you’re in it just for the action, there’s not much here to get a kick out of. The choreography is pretty tight for the most part, but nothing really stands out. If you want see some guys beat each other up, I can think of 50 other movies you could watch for that reason alone.
Personally, what attracted me to this movie was the presence of Nora Miao. She’s that Asian chick with white features who co-starred in most of Bruce Lee films. Not only does she get super-fiesty in this flick, but she also gets naked…A LOT! (okay, obviously it’s a body double, but who cares. It’s still a nude female.)
Also in the mix is Liu Yung (aka Tony “Now You Know. So What? You’re headed for the freezer!” Liu), another person who was pretty much in every Bruce Lee flick. So, in a way, To Kill A Jaguar is almost a Bruce Lee movie. The only difference is, there’s no Bruce Lee, the movie sucks, and you’re stuck with a guy who has big ass sideburns and a mustache instead.
To Kill A Jaguar is a dull feature folks. Even Wang Lung-Wei looks bored in this one.
Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 4/10
