The Paper Tigers Blu-ray review

Jul 17, 2021- Permalink

After a delay — insert tale here about feeling under the weather for a couple of weeks and not going downstairs to check the mail during a pandemic — I had a chance today to review Well Go USA’s Blu-ray release of The Paper Tigers.

The film opens with three young friends — Danny, Jim and Hing — studying martial arts for years under the tutelage of Sifu Cheung. Fast forward to the present day and the three are estranged adults and except for Jim, not quite the physical specimens they once were. They’ve reunited to attend the funeral of Sifu Cheung, but when they realize his cause of death may not be what it seems, they have to put aside their differences and work together to get to the bottom of the mystery. The added personal dynamics and comedy elements make this a bit of a twist on the standard martial arts flick, and while the story does drag a bit at times, it’s a fairly entertaining combo of heart and martial arts. Now on to the technical aspects…

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. For the most part the image is sharp with good detail in facial textures, textiles, and environmental elements. The colour palette is natural and black levels fairly good, though some interior and nighttime scenes do lose some details in the shadows.

On the audio side, there’s one soundtrack available, an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese. The immersive aspect of your surrounds is put to good use in action scenes and the dialogue is clear, centred, and well-prioritized.

The Blu-ray disc comes with a small selection of extras including deleted scenes, bloopers, a trailer, a couple of featurettes on the production and production design, and a quick look at the Tai Tung restaurant.

Though it may not be a martial arts epic, The Paper Tigers combines action with a sweet humour as three old friends confront their past, and their present, selves. If that sounds like a mix you’d be interested in, then The Paper Tigers is recommended.