The squad of misfits are army recruits who have landed themselves in a military prison for various crimes. Rape, arson, and murder are vicous crimes and I had a hard time cheering for the 'heroes'. Their enemy is a terrorist group who is intent on 'giving America back to the Americans'. The terrorist leader is so over the top that I was sure there was going to be a scene where he would reveal that he was doing it all for the money or something, because his rants made no sense and it's to much believe that anyone would follow his 'cause'. For example, he goes off on a rant about a number of different ethnic groups using a variety of racial slurs, presumably this is to inspire his followers, but the funny part is that his group consists almost entirely of same ethnic groups he's cursing.  

The movie is mainly focused on the training of the misfits. The training is fairly standard stuff, rope climbs, balancing, target practice, etc etc. But suddenly things turn a little surreal when Duke decides he needs a little help teaching the recruits how to fight. So he calls up Cynthia Rothrock. Not a character played by Cynthia Rothrock, but Cynthia Rothrock as herself.

I'm going to digress just a bit here and analyze this movie way to deeply for a bit. Early in the picture, Duke meets his (ex?) wife who is still upset with him for screwing up their marriage. She implies that he was cheating on her. Later when Duke calls Cynthia , she lights up as soon as she hears his voice on the phone and says 'Sure, anything for you' when he asks for her assistance. Hmm. When they meet, he thanks CR for helping him 'again'. That means that they had worked together in the past. Hmm again. When CR is finished, she waves goodbye to everyone else but Duke gets a long deep hug. See where I'm going? Cynthia Rothrock was the reason Duke's marriage broke up! Sure the fictional affair is long over, but the two are still close enough where he can call her up at a moments notice to ask for help on a top secret military mission. Of course the wife is upset. There's no way she could compete with  a martial arts legend and actress like Cynthia. But the real person-fictional character love triangle is only part of the puzzle. Does this mean Cynthia Rothrock exists in just the fictional 'American Tigers' world, or can she also appear in other movie environments? The answer is yes. The real CR can and has shown up in other movies. If 'Eye for and Eye' is good for anything, it's to show Cynthia Rothrock teaching Sally Field's character how to fight. Since Cynthia Rothrock is a great teacher in real life, and she's never mentioned by name in the movie, I submit that it was the real Cynthia Rothrock teaching Sally Fields fictional character self defense. And CR also appeared on the animated show Eek the Cat, which was based on tv producer Savage Steve Holland's cat. Savage Steve Holland also created the TV show VIP, which means (if you really, really make a huge mental leap) that CR could have appeared on that show, she just didn't. And since VIP featured real people like Jerry Springer, Sherman Helmsley and ... well thats the only two I can think of right now.. anyway, since VIP had real people, that cements the fact that Cynthia Rothrock has the ability to exist in both the real world and fictional Hollywood worlds.  Phew. Okay, thats enough of that. Thats the type of discussion a bunch of friends get into after a late late night watching a bunch of action flicks. I'm pretty sure Jackie Chan has the same dual world existence as Cynthia Rothrock, but I'll stop while I'm ahead.

Back to the movie. Bottom line, American Tigers is a solid action movie that's made better with an extended cameo by Cynthia Rothrock. She shows up, beats up people and leaves. And there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Best Fight
CR versus each and every one of the recruits. Beat down after beat down after beat down.

Best Line
She is a girl!

Last update : 09-06-2006 08:39

Average user rating

   (0 vote)