All an informed kung fu fan needs to know about Death Cage (aka. Bloodfight 2: Deathcage, 1988) is that it is a Robert Tai film. For those not in the know, Robert Tai is a very colorful man, an actor, a stuntman, a director, a fight choreographer. His signature films like Ninja: The Final Duel and Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu display his truly zany eye and fight-a-minute sensibility. While you could argue many b-kung fu films don't care much about deep plots and well-defined characters, Robert Tai films truly throw most of that out the window and usually do not hinge on much of a story. His films are just about action-action-action with simply drawn but colorfully costumed characters punching each other in the face and then doing a gratuitous backflip.

The basics of Death Cage are a rivalry between evil Kent's Gym and the goody-goody Wai Chai Gym which is run by master Sui Chui and championed by main student Hon (Robin Shou, Mortal Combat 1&2 ). The two gym's square off in regular fights that are big on the Bangkok betting circuit. The BIG BAD of the piece is Mr. Hunter (Joe Lewis, former 70's point karate champ and star of Robert Clouse's 80's martial actioner Force: Five), who secretly operates both Kent's Gym and the betting parlor. In the first of the films many logic defying plot points, Mr. Hunter has his Kent's Gym fighter play dirty which results in Hon losing, as well as Master Sui Chui getting crippled and losing the deed to his gym. Taking out his biggest competition may be good for his gym but it kills Mr. Hunter's gambling business, so now he has to get the Wai Chai Gym boys (which seems to only consist of Hon, the master, the masters daughter, and one other dude) to start fighting again.

To be frank, the whole film boils down to the point that Master Sui Chui is- 'Ahem'- a pussy. He lays down a "no fighting" rule, so Mr Hunter is forced to send over thugs to pick a fight or just kidnap someone, he fails, tries it again, and there is your film. Further fight scene instigators are the master's buddy Uncle Tong who has some bad guys on his tail, and a Kent's Gym pompadoured loser who dates the masters daughter and picks a fight with Hon. But, more or less, Robert Tai just strings together action sequences, instigating them with a kidnaping or a bit of bullying, killing some time with a couple of obligatory training sequences, until we get to the titular death cage finale where Hon squares of in a (apparently legally sanctioned- hey, its Bangkok!) fight to the death inside a bamboo spike lined, wooden framed cage.

No one would ever accuse Robert Tai of being elegant. Damn if Death Cage isn't tacky, but in the best breakneck action way. Its hero's and villains often sport some spandex fight gear that is so loud and tasteless it wouldn't be welcome at a gay pride parade. I mean, for instance, two assassin chicks in the film might as well have stepped off the set of a 60's sci fi film. And, of course, Robert Tai cannot help but throw in some ninjas too, in this case, for some reason, it takes a whole team to kidnap one crippled man. Why? Because ninjas are cool. Because kids love sugar. Because it takes a strong man to hold onto his woman. Because a dog loves a bone. Because deep down maybe all anyone really wants it's a wildly stupid, kung fu action movie.

The DVD: Image.

Note: My disc arrived loose and scratchy, and ended up pixelating for a few minutes (around the one hour mark) on all the players I tried. Wether this was because of the disc being damaged or an encoding error, I do not know.

Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. Honestly, I was really quite surprised at how good the film looked. Cheapie kung fu films usually have zero preservation and transfers end up being disappointing. While I wont say it looks great, that is mostly due to the source being low budget (grainy, a bit soft and dirty). For what it is, the film looks fine, relatively good sharpness, color, and contrast depth. You cannot ask for a film of this type to look much better. Techwise, some minor combing and ghosting will be apparent on higher end set-ups.

Sound: 2.0 Cantonese with optional English subtitles. Basic. Muffled. Hollow. All source based, of course, common with this kind of film.

Extras: Nothin'.

Conclusion: This is the kind of film that I could say, "Go watch it" and someone would come back saying, "Are you retarded? I thought Death Cage film was terrible, cheap, dumb, a total waste of time" and I'd say, "Yep, you're probably right." It depends on how easily you digest kung fu b-films with two guys in gaudy spandex outfits fake punching each others brains out. You either love it or hate it.