Five Tigers - Final Part: Group Works
Final installment of my Five Tigers posts tribute! ^_^ I'm sharing their group works, TV series and films, also my thoughts on them.
The Yang's Saga (1985)
Five Tigers lead a 6 episodes miniseries to celebrate TVB's anniversary titled "The Yang's Saga" adapted from the folklore which tells about the chivalrous General Yang's seven sons in the Sung dynasty. Michael Miu and Tony Leung were paired with their real life then-girlfriends, Jamie Chik and Margie Tsang, in this series. Michael Miu played the 4th son, who became a war prisoner toward the end, he had a wife already but he had to marry the enemy's princess (Jamie Chik) so he can become the informant for his family later. Felix Wong played the 5th son, who became a monk in the end due to his guilt feeling and left his wife behind. Andy Lau played the 6th son, the strategist of the family who married the Emperor's daughter, Princess Chai (Carina Lau). Tony Leung played the 7th son, the troublemaker in the family and he married the daughter of a bandit gang leader (Margie Tsang). Kent Tong played the Emperor's son, the 8th prince.
I remember watching this on beta video with my brothers when I was 5 or 6. I couldn't remember much, but now that I have watched it again properly, I have to say it surpassed my expectation. Usually star-studded drama would lack meat in the story department, but this drama definitely have a great script! And I think adapting the Yang family folklore for a Five Tigers drama is a brilliant idea. The roles suits them to a tee!
It immediately caught my interest right at the moment, when they realized 6th son (Andy) and 7th son (Tony) were missing from their father's birthday celebration. Haha, the mischievous youngest duo. Andy/Tony made a cute brothers pair. I like the plot of Andy trying to win the princess' heart and he joined the princess' marriage contest, accompanied by Tony. Tony's romance with the bandit gang leader's daughter was really funny too! My other favorite plot was when Tony caused trouble by killing the son of a fellow general. General Yang, their father was going to punish and beat Tony, but all of Tony's brothers and sisters tried to protect him and told him to run away. It made me in tears T_T Michael had his own subplot toward the end, when he had to choose between his 1st wife or 2nd wife, and I quite like it. Felix' subplot with the monk wasn't as intriguing, but I like Felix/Tony's scenes.
Kent as the 8th prince was okay, not much I can say about him since he didn't appear much and his role is not really significant to the plot.
Overall, it was a really good miniseries, if only they cut off the gods and goddesses' stories then it'll be perfect XD
You can download the English-subbed miniseries here.
The Tigers (1991)
RAW (Cantonese / their original voices) | Chinese subs | English subs (I google translated it, lol, so don't expect much)
*if you know where to find the proper English subs, pls lemme know
I remember I saw this movie the first time on TV when I was 11 or 12 and even though it was dubbed, it left me a very deep impression. I just saw it once but several scenes stuck in my mind clearly, esp. Andy and Tony's scenes. I remember the first time I saw it I went "Whoa! Five Tigers! All five of 'em in a movie!" A few days ago, I have finally watched it once again (and I think I'm gonna repeat a few scenes again and again). There's really nothing special about the storyline, 5 corrupt cops were falling down further and further to hell as they tried to do something illegal once. Five Tigers really made this movie special, thanks to their superb acting performance.
Andy and Tony were amazing, as I mentioned before, they played best buds, the two comical duo of the group, and their scenes together are so funny. Felix is the serious one who strongly disagree of the corruption act and the only one who didn't wanna take the money. Kent was brilliant as the insane villain, which shows he really doesn't care abt his idol image. Too bad, Michael Miu's character totally doesn't shine in this movie, his character was so boring and did nothing much.
*SPOILER*
I really love Andy's acting, facial expressions, his gestures, after Kent shot Tony dead in the car. Starting from his expression when he heard the gun shot, the way he hesitantly move closer to the car, the way he reluctantly walked... like he didn't believe it and he didn't want to see what's really happening, his expression when he found Tony's head bleeding, his expression when he carried Tony out of the car, then he hugged him and slipped to the ground, his teary face, and how he cupped the blood with his hand and pour it back to the hole in Tony's head, like not knowing what to do.... omggg, soooo real... the scene really broke my heart into pieces T_T
Michael-Felix-Andy vs Kent climax scene in the hotel, was quite memorable too. And how Andy killed himself in a cool style in the end, was really memorable too.
I'm not sure if non-Tigers fan would enjoy this movie, cos I'm thinking if the cast is someone else, I might not watch it. But I really recommend for Five Tigers fans to watch this one!
Brothers (2007)
RAW (Cantonese; original voices) | English subs (properly translated one, don't worry)
*I'm so glad I can find the Cantonese raws for all of them, cos I prefer to listen to their real voices rather than the Mandarin-dubbed ones
It tells the story of two sons of a Triad leader, separated since childhood since the fortune teller says the two brothers will kill each other in the future, if they stay together, so the father sent the younger brother to America. Michael Miu plays the big brother and he became his father's successor. Eason Chan plays the little brother sent overseas. Felix Wong plays their father's godson, and has the role as Michael's right-hand man. Kent Tong plays the son of Uncle Nine, a man who works under their father but also an enemy-in-disguise. Andy Lau plays the cop who swears to himself that he's gonna arrest the whole family.
I keep imagining Tony Leung as the little brother throughout the whole movie, lol. Michael and Eason looks more like uncle and nephew rather than brothers XD The age difference was too obvious, and Michael/Eason doesn't have the chemistry as brothers, at all.
The story is typical Triad movies that I'd definitely skip if the Four Tigers aren't in this one. I have to say the story is disappointing, but since Four Tigers are playing the characters, it still has the "wow" factor whenever two or three or four of the Tigers are in the same scene, and/or facing each other. I love Michael and Andy's confrontation scenes, you can feel the tension and they have chemistry as two people opposing each other. Michael and Kent's confrontation scene had sparks too and I love Kent's cynical first line in the scene after Michael killed his father, "What? You're not even gonna give me some comforting words? My father died last night"
Michael and Felix had their moment too, when Michael doubted Felix' loyalty for a moment there. The Four Tigers' superb chemistry and acting talents were wasted by the mediocre script... really too bad.
Hoping for a better collaboration in the near future.
I was thinking that if there's ever gonna be another 5Tiger movie, I'm hoping it'll be wuxia. They have made 1 cop movie that involves triad and 1 triad family movie that involves cop, lol, I think it's time for them to do wuxia and what else more suitable for the middle aged Five Tigers other than Legend of Condor Heroes spinoff story of the Five Greats? Maybe a prequel to LoCH, a story that focuses on the Five Greats. Tony Leung as the North Beggar, Kent Tong as the West Venom, Michael Miu as the Eastern Heretic, Andy Lau as the South Emperor and Felix Wong as the Central Divine. Maybe a story of how the other four witnessed Central Divine's death. There were many LoCH spinoffs in films about the Five Greats, but none of them stay even half true to the book.
The Yang's Saga (1985)
Five Tigers lead a 6 episodes miniseries to celebrate TVB's anniversary titled "The Yang's Saga" adapted from the folklore which tells about the chivalrous General Yang's seven sons in the Sung dynasty. Michael Miu and Tony Leung were paired with their real life then-girlfriends, Jamie Chik and Margie Tsang, in this series. Michael Miu played the 4th son, who became a war prisoner toward the end, he had a wife already but he had to marry the enemy's princess (Jamie Chik) so he can become the informant for his family later. Felix Wong played the 5th son, who became a monk in the end due to his guilt feeling and left his wife behind. Andy Lau played the 6th son, the strategist of the family who married the Emperor's daughter, Princess Chai (Carina Lau). Tony Leung played the 7th son, the troublemaker in the family and he married the daughter of a bandit gang leader (Margie Tsang). Kent Tong played the Emperor's son, the 8th prince.
I remember watching this on beta video with my brothers when I was 5 or 6. I couldn't remember much, but now that I have watched it again properly, I have to say it surpassed my expectation. Usually star-studded drama would lack meat in the story department, but this drama definitely have a great script! And I think adapting the Yang family folklore for a Five Tigers drama is a brilliant idea. The roles suits them to a tee!
It immediately caught my interest right at the moment, when they realized 6th son (Andy) and 7th son (Tony) were missing from their father's birthday celebration. Haha, the mischievous youngest duo. Andy/Tony made a cute brothers pair. I like the plot of Andy trying to win the princess' heart and he joined the princess' marriage contest, accompanied by Tony. Tony's romance with the bandit gang leader's daughter was really funny too! My other favorite plot was when Tony caused trouble by killing the son of a fellow general. General Yang, their father was going to punish and beat Tony, but all of Tony's brothers and sisters tried to protect him and told him to run away. It made me in tears T_T Michael had his own subplot toward the end, when he had to choose between his 1st wife or 2nd wife, and I quite like it. Felix' subplot with the monk wasn't as intriguing, but I like Felix/Tony's scenes.
Kent as the 8th prince was okay, not much I can say about him since he didn't appear much and his role is not really significant to the plot.
Overall, it was a really good miniseries, if only they cut off the gods and goddesses' stories then it'll be perfect XD
You can download the English-subbed miniseries here.
The Tigers (1991)
RAW (Cantonese / their original voices) | Chinese subs | English subs (I google translated it, lol, so don't expect much)
*if you know where to find the proper English subs, pls lemme know
I remember I saw this movie the first time on TV when I was 11 or 12 and even though it was dubbed, it left me a very deep impression. I just saw it once but several scenes stuck in my mind clearly, esp. Andy and Tony's scenes. I remember the first time I saw it I went "Whoa! Five Tigers! All five of 'em in a movie!" A few days ago, I have finally watched it once again (and I think I'm gonna repeat a few scenes again and again). There's really nothing special about the storyline, 5 corrupt cops were falling down further and further to hell as they tried to do something illegal once. Five Tigers really made this movie special, thanks to their superb acting performance.
Andy and Tony were amazing, as I mentioned before, they played best buds, the two comical duo of the group, and their scenes together are so funny. Felix is the serious one who strongly disagree of the corruption act and the only one who didn't wanna take the money. Kent was brilliant as the insane villain, which shows he really doesn't care abt his idol image. Too bad, Michael Miu's character totally doesn't shine in this movie, his character was so boring and did nothing much.
*SPOILER*
I really love Andy's acting, facial expressions, his gestures, after Kent shot Tony dead in the car. Starting from his expression when he heard the gun shot, the way he hesitantly move closer to the car, the way he reluctantly walked... like he didn't believe it and he didn't want to see what's really happening, his expression when he found Tony's head bleeding, his expression when he carried Tony out of the car, then he hugged him and slipped to the ground, his teary face, and how he cupped the blood with his hand and pour it back to the hole in Tony's head, like not knowing what to do.... omggg, soooo real... the scene really broke my heart into pieces T_T
Michael-Felix-Andy vs Kent climax scene in the hotel, was quite memorable too. And how Andy killed himself in a cool style in the end, was really memorable too.
I'm not sure if non-Tigers fan would enjoy this movie, cos I'm thinking if the cast is someone else, I might not watch it. But I really recommend for Five Tigers fans to watch this one!
Brothers (2007)
RAW (Cantonese; original voices) | English subs (properly translated one, don't worry)
*I'm so glad I can find the Cantonese raws for all of them, cos I prefer to listen to their real voices rather than the Mandarin-dubbed ones
It tells the story of two sons of a Triad leader, separated since childhood since the fortune teller says the two brothers will kill each other in the future, if they stay together, so the father sent the younger brother to America. Michael Miu plays the big brother and he became his father's successor. Eason Chan plays the little brother sent overseas. Felix Wong plays their father's godson, and has the role as Michael's right-hand man. Kent Tong plays the son of Uncle Nine, a man who works under their father but also an enemy-in-disguise. Andy Lau plays the cop who swears to himself that he's gonna arrest the whole family.
I keep imagining Tony Leung as the little brother throughout the whole movie, lol. Michael and Eason looks more like uncle and nephew rather than brothers XD The age difference was too obvious, and Michael/Eason doesn't have the chemistry as brothers, at all.
The story is typical Triad movies that I'd definitely skip if the Four Tigers aren't in this one. I have to say the story is disappointing, but since Four Tigers are playing the characters, it still has the "wow" factor whenever two or three or four of the Tigers are in the same scene, and/or facing each other. I love Michael and Andy's confrontation scenes, you can feel the tension and they have chemistry as two people opposing each other. Michael and Kent's confrontation scene had sparks too and I love Kent's cynical first line in the scene after Michael killed his father, "What? You're not even gonna give me some comforting words? My father died last night"
Michael and Felix had their moment too, when Michael doubted Felix' loyalty for a moment there. The Four Tigers' superb chemistry and acting talents were wasted by the mediocre script... really too bad.
Hoping for a better collaboration in the near future.
I was thinking that if there's ever gonna be another 5Tiger movie, I'm hoping it'll be wuxia. They have made 1 cop movie that involves triad and 1 triad family movie that involves cop, lol, I think it's time for them to do wuxia and what else more suitable for the middle aged Five Tigers other than Legend of Condor Heroes spinoff story of the Five Greats? Maybe a prequel to LoCH, a story that focuses on the Five Greats. Tony Leung as the North Beggar, Kent Tong as the West Venom, Michael Miu as the Eastern Heretic, Andy Lau as the South Emperor and Felix Wong as the Central Divine. Maybe a story of how the other four witnessed Central Divine's death. There were many LoCH spinoffs in films about the Five Greats, but none of them stay even half true to the book.