Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 02/29/2024 Summary: Mars brings excellent action with top-notch staff fights... Lackey and the Lady Tiger is a kung fu comedy designed to push Mars, a mainstay in Jackie Chan's stunt team, into the spotlight and hopefully leading role status. He plays a hapless restaurant worker whose constant mishaps get him fired from his thankless job. He meets a young rascal (Tien Niu) who he mistakes for a boy and gets a taste of her kung fu in a brief scuffle. She then bails him out of a fight with local thugs and promises to teach him her style. In actuality, she is being taught at the same time by her grandfather (Sek Kin) and realizes her limitations when Mars asks to learn the Fisherman's Staff style. Stumbling across the master, Mars learns directly from the source, and eventually challenges a local martial arts master (Charlie Chan) whose students have been harassing him. The ultimate showdown comes when a former convict (Hwang Jang-Lee) is released from prison and comes back to exact revenge on the grandfather. Surprisingly enough, Lackey and the Lady Tiger is a really solid movie. Mars is amazingly acrobatic and funny, and other than his less-than-average looks (by movie industry standards?), he easily handles the leading role. Tien Niu is also good in the parts where she is doing her own fights, but gets stunt-doubled a few times in more demanding scenes. Sek Kin is also still spry at age 67 in his role, handling action scenes with pretty decent believability. The real parts that shine are Mars' staff fights with Charlie Chan and his final boss duel with Hwang Jang-Lee. The staff choreography is some of the best you'll see in this genre, with wide shots and single takes of complicated sequences. It's a treat to watch, along with the excellent battle with Hwang that starts with a staff and ends with open hand shapes. Hwang's kicks are otherworldly as usual and deserve a second viewing to fully appreciate. After assisting on legendary films Drunken Master and Dance of the Drunk Mantis, first time director Norman Law does a fine job with the strong cast and utilizing choreographer Chan Siu-Pang's skills. A fun watch that should be more well-known. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 05/20/2002 I liked this movie. It's fairly entertaining and never takes itself too seriously. Amusing scenes where Mars throws a poor cat way up in the air REPEATEDLY in order to observe how it lands. The whole throwing sequence it shot, and you get to see just how a cat behaves in the air. Mars then practices the cat style of landing (and fighting). That poor cat must have gotten air-sick. The plot is very typical. Boy knows no kung fu, boy gets picked on by punks who know little kung fu, boy thinks a girl (Tien Niu) is a boy, boy learns kung fu from a master, boy teches punks lesson, villain comes in, master gets in trouble, boy comes to rescue, and boy discovers the girl is a girl after all. [7/10]

Reviewed by: SBates Date: 02/07/2001 Summary: The Seasonal Formula Another good, if slightly assembly-line, film from Seasonal. Mars is a sprightly kung fu kid who has a running fued with a young girl who's disguised as a boy (actress unknown, though she performs well). Her dad is Shek Kin, who teaches Mars his Dragon pole so he get back at the local bullies. Enter Wong Jing Li, as a convict out to avenge those who wronged him (I think; I saw an undubbed print and couldn't totally figure out that thread of the plot). Anyway, Mars uses a ''cat style'' he devises from tossing his pet kitten around (!) and observing his landing skills. e uses his new moves to beat Wong in a fine finale.