lost-in-limbo
Searing, passionate and stylish revenge thriller that rises above its b- grade formula due to its well-written character dramas lead by a powerful performance from Virginia Madsen. Its her character's fierce determination of a mother that drives it, especially in her commitment as she gets the tattoo of the avenging red tiger on her back. Madsen really takes it upon herself to portray a damaged individual who's desire for revenge sees her character entering the dangerous underworld of the Japanese mafia seeking the identity of the killer of her son who was caught in the crossfire during an Yakuza hit. The only clue driving her was the glimpse of a tattoo of a blue tiger across the killer's chest. Fearsome action with heated drama and cold straight-faced villains
no surprises with the intrigue, but its well-made and there's perfect support parts led by Harry Dean Stanton.
Cristi_Ciopron
In this Virginia Madsen vehicle, the writing is quite badnot unusually bad, I would hurry to add; she looks extremely cool as a vigilante.Let's face it, Virginia is a piece of fine assnot necessarily very glamorousbut rather like your sexiest neighbor, a very sexy midwife.Here she does a nice physical role, as an action star in a very average Yakuza thriller.The cast offers one more interesting actordaddy Stanton.You can enjoy Virginia as a tough babeGina Hayes. If you're, like myself, her fan, then there's no discussionBLUE TIGER offers Virginia a lead role; otherwise, the flick sucks rather badly.The action sequences are few and stale.'Gina', Virginia's character, is a single mother set to revenge the death of her little son who was accidentally killed by a Yakuza murderer. She trains to acquire some confrontational skills, learns to handle a gun, and learns Japanese.A mention of presumable interest to a Virginia fan:--no nudity, alas; only, now and then (a shower scene, a sex scene), small portions of her breasts. Yet she is, as I said, at her very hottest, and a delight to behold.
squelcho
I finally managed to track down a VHS copy of this movie, and I'm glad I did. The quality of the print is astonishing. No blurry edges or twitches to distract the eye from a superb little revenge movie. The plot reminded me of Ms.45. Woman goes a bit obsessively bonkers and vows to track down a tattooed killer when her son gets killed in the crossfire from a bodged gang hit. Cue hair dye, naff outfits, shooting practice and Japanese lessons. Woot! The tattoo thing allows Harry Dean Stanton to reprise his wheezy old wise man role from Repo Man. A neat cameo from one of my favourite actors. Michael Madsen also appears briefly to sell his sister a gun. Well he wasn't going to sell her flowers, was he?The surprising thing about this movie is the pace. It's relentless, and it has that moody low budget Ferrara/Cohen urgency about it from start to finish. Great performances all round from a decent cast. Shame the mob guys looked like extras from the Kojak school of pie munching. Seeing as their main role is as cannon fodder, that's forgivable. At just under 80 minutes, this movie feels way too short. It's a good lesson in lean mean movie making , and appears to have left all the excess baggage on the cutting room floor. Worth the price of the video if you can find one, and worthy of a few brews if it turns up on cable.
Phroggy
From the crop of "Yakusa thrillers" made in the eighties, this one is easily the best. It has it all : a great actress (Virginia Madsen of "Candyman"'s fame), a good story unfolding almost like a Greek tragedy, good direction with more than one nod to John Woo
Yes, there are shoot-outs, but not ONLY shoot-outs. In more than one aspect, this movie reminded me very much of Gans's excellent and sensuous "Crying Freeman".
AD
