Characters / Tiger Cage 2

Tiger Cage 2 Characters:

Yau

Portrayed by: Donnie Yen

• Anti-Hero: Yau gets wrapped in the plot after going through a divorce with his wife. He wasn't trying to be a hero at all when he witnessed the robbery going down in the building he was exiting.
• Butt-Monkey: Inspector Yau is probably the most accident-prone character Donnie Yen has portrayed, from getting tangled with the obnoxious lawyer Mandy, getting unintentionally handcuffed to her which results in him nearly getting run over by a truck, getting filthy water dumped on his head during a stake-out, forced to hide in a water tank full of kitchen waste, nearly getting arrested by the police after losing his badge, and getting put through torture.
• Combat Pragmatist: Being a cop on the run, he's capable of fighting off a group of thugs with whatever is in the environment:
  • When he and Mandy ate out at an outdoor restaurant, a thug tries to hit on Mandy. The thug tells Yau to get lost. When Yau refuses, the thug starts a fight. Yau takes a wrapped up table cloth with dishes inside and uses them as a blunt weapon to fight the group off. He manages to fight off the thugs and run off with Mandy without paying for the $180 meal they just ate.
  • When he and David accidentally knockout Uncle Chiu in an botched kidnapping attempt on Waise, he runs from a group of Triad members into a narrow walkway with hazards and trash. Cornered, he uses a trash can lid to disarm a few members before beating down the others.
• Cowboy Cop: Yau's attitude while apart of the police. It ends up destroying his marriage.
• Establishing Character Moment: When the robbery goes down at the Lawfirm Yau is at, Yau sees a wounded Kent run to the elevator while carrying a bullet riddle brief case of $7 million dollars in cash. When Kent fumbles the brief case, he drops one stack of cash while running into the elevator. Yau picks up the cash and chases after the man while behind the robbers. Once he reaches the parking garage, he realizes that the men he was behind were chasing the man to steal the case. He proceeds to kick ass and disarm the remain thugs before the police arrive. A key point to his character to let the audience know that he will wipe the floor with you if you cross him.
• Had to Be Sharp: Despite his bad attitude, he had to be skilled in order to survive as a cop for so long. His battles throughout the film shows it.
• Mistaken for Thief: Mandy, after waking up in the ambulance, accuses Yau of being with the robbers during the robbery. Yau, being short tempered, yells at her to take it back. Tak sees that Mandy is too freaked to want to cooperate with the police. He knocks Yau out and covers him with a blanket to calm her down.
• Not What It Looks Like:
  • Yau, after stopping the thugs in the parking garage, joins Tak in the ambulance that transfers Mandy to the hospital to inquire of her witnessing the crime. Mandy wakes up and accuses Yau of being a robber even though he actually stopped the remaining robbers. He gets angry at her, causing her to panic and leading into Tak knocking him out. Tak covers Yau with the red blanket on the stretcher so Mandy can calm down.
  • He tails Mandy to her and Petty's apartment to force her to take back calling him a robber. They then find Petty dead shortly after Petty had called the cops earlier. Inspector Yeung arrives in the apartment and has Mandy handcuff to Yau. As they are being taken out of the apartment, Waise's assistant opens fire on the police officers. This allows Yau and Mandy to escape, going on the run from the law.
• One-Man Army: When he and David accidentally knockout Uncle Chiu in an botched kidnapping attempt on Waise, he gets separated from David and Mandy to where he has to fight a large angry group of Triad members. Needless to say, he wiped the floor with them.

Mandy Chang

Portrayed by: Rosamund Kwan

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: A possible explanation for her attraction to Yau. It comes out of nowhere and feels underwhelming.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the Law Firm, while celebrating the merge between Phillip and Mandy, Mandy accidentally places her cup on her scarf and spills her cup over the folder Waise gave her. This was a dead giveaway that she was going to be a unintentional comedic relief for her panicky character being unable to do right Street Smarts wise.
• The Klutz: Mandy accidentally causes a mess in Waise office. Indicating that she is also The Ditz.
• The Load: Mandy Chang's contribution to the film is to scream through most of her lines, whine at Yau for being too rough with her, nag him through most of her screentime, nearly get Yau arrested by the police, made him trip during his fight scenes, cause him to get kidnapped together with her, and being just plain unhelpful in general. She actually makes Willie Scott appear tolerable in comparison!
  • Subverted that she managed to bash Waise, the Big Bad, though the skull by the end of the film. But at that point she's practically stealing a potential moment of awesome from Yau, much to the chagrin of Donnie Yen's fans.
• Over-the-Shoulder Carry: After Mandy refused to cooperate with Inspector Yau after they got handcuffed together, Yau had to resort to carrying her over his back while making a run for it. With her slapping him and demanding to be let down all the way. To the point of nearly causing him to get run over by a truck...
• Not What It Looks Like: Mandy is confronted by Yau for falsely accusing him of being a robber. Panicking, Mandy falls over the couch and grabs the knife from Petty's dead hands before she sees Petty's dead body. To make the timing worse, Inspector Yeung arrives with backup to respond to Petty's call while Mandy is holding the murder weapon. She pleads that she is innocent, but Yeung doesn't buy it. Yeung decides to arrest Yau and Mandy to interrogate them. Though Waise's assistant opens fire on the group, allowing Yau and Mandy to escape.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: : Mandy Chang comes from a different class culture from Yau. When street smarts are required to survive after she is framed for Petty's murder, she lacks them due to having a sheltered life far from such dangers, leading to the grief of Yau having to save her multiple times.
• Rescue Romance: This occurs only after Phillip breaks off the engagement with Mandy and Yau's divorce is finalized. Though, it's out of nowhere and has no build up. It's also strange seeing them bond over meals.
• Screaming Woman: Mandy Chang, who screams her way through 70% of her dialogue.
• Spit Take: When Yau gives Mandy breakfast after outrunning the police, Mandy isn't prepared for hot food offered to her. She spits the noodles out proclaiming that the food is hot. Yau doesn't reply, but gives her a slightly angry smile with a thumbs up.
• Too Dumb to Live: Mandy Chang. Mandy clearly lacks street smarts as evident with her interaction with Yau, though she slowly grows over the course of the film.
• Wake Up Fighting: Mandy, after regaining consciousness and finding Inspector Yau in front of her, instantly lashes out at him repeatedly trying to kick him.

David

Portrayed by: David Wu

• The Alcoholic: In the first few minutes of the film, David is drinking from a wooden panel flask. He loses the flask in the robbery, as it takes a bullet meant for him.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Despite an actual Love Triangle coming out of nowhere, David doesn't end up with Mandy after he loses in his battle against Waise.
• Had to Be Sharp: He might have a drinking habit, but being that he's apart of the Triads, he can't afford to be a slouch.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • When the robbery occurs, David gets hit by a bullet. However, because his flask is in the pocket where the bullet strikes, he survives the attack and fights his way to find Kent, who ran off with the briefcase. His drinking habit, though unhealthy, ends up saving his life during the robbery. Without the flask, he would have been killed in the crossfire and Waise's plan would have succeeded.
  • After getting his ass kicked by Waise, David manages to help out Yau and Mandy find Waise's secret location before he dies. By getting knocked onto the desk in David's last confrontation with Waise, the note David grabs lets Yau and Mandy find the dock where the trade is going down and when it will happen. This leads to Waise's downfall and eventually death or arrest depending on the version of the movie is being watched.
• Tragic Dream: In the Karaoke scene, Mandy asks David what he'll do now that he found the money. David tells her that he'll go back to the United States first and then come back to find a girlfriend in Hong Kong. Said girlfriend he was talking about is her. Unfortunately, Waise beats him to the point of death and he dies shortly after being rescued by Yau and Mandy.

Tak

Portrayed by: Gary Chau

Petty Lee

Portrayed by: Carol Cheng

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Averted. When Petty discovers that Waise is the Big Bad, she breaks up with him. Too bad she was...
• Too Dumb to Live: She made the mistake of confronting Waise after overhearing his conversation with David in the office. Shortly after confronting him, Petty is murdered by Waise's assistant in her apartment while on the phone with the police. Her death happens before Mandy comes to the apartment with Yau tailing Mandy for accusing him of being a robber. This kick starts the both of them having to go on the run for being framed for Petty's murder.

Inspector Yeung

Portrayed by: Cynthia Khan

• Expy: Cynthia Khan's character, Inspector Yeung, is pretty much Rachel Yeung all over again, although she's never identified by her full name.
• Lady in a Power Suit: Yeung wears a nice suit to match her authority in the police force.

Uncle Chiu

Portrayed by: Lo Lieh

• The Cameo: Lo Lieh as a small-time mob boss.

Waise Chow

Portrayed by: Robin Shou

• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He schemed and climbed the ladder to the top of the Triads. He's also physically dangerous.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He's a Lawyer working for the Triads who can kick your ass and look good doing it.
• Bad "Bad Acting": In the robbery scene, Waise is knocked out cold by one punch. Seeing that he is portrayed by Robin Shou, a real life Martial Artist, one flimsy punch to the face is not going to keep him down.
• Big Bad: Waise is responsible for everything that happens throughout the whole plot.
• Desecrating the Dead: A Call-Back to the first film. Only, unlike Uncle Tat punching the dead assassin sent by Huang to kill him, Waise kicks over the chair Uncle Chiu's dead body without remorse since now he controls the Triads.
  Waise (Smuggly talks to Chiu): Uncle Chiu, David says he has evidence... so judge it. (Slowly turns the office chair around, revealing to David that Waise had already murdered Chiu. David's reaction says it all)
  Waise (Acting surprised but not): Oh! He can't talk! He can't judge it!
• Diabolical Mastermind: He mastermind the whole takeover of the Triads as well as the robbery to cover up suspicion of his involvement. By the time David discovers what he has done he already killed Uncle Chiu and already planned to kill David next.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Why does Waise give a toast to Chiu's health at the beginning of the film with David and Kent? Because to Waise, the toast wasn't a celebration of living. It was a celebration for Waise finally offing Chiu at last.
  • Why is Waise willing to take over finding Mandy after David fails to bring her back? By leading the investigation with Chiu's approval, it gave Waise a chance to kill both Chiu and David immediately without raising suspicion.
• If I Can't Have You…: Waise doesn't take Petty dumping him well and is aware that she knows too much. He sends his assistant to kill her so she can't rat him out to the police.
• Love Makes You Evil: Waise's excuse to Petty for the money laundering scheme was to give them a financially set future together. Though he never went into full with Petty what scheme entailed, understanding the plot in whole makes sense as to why this excuse is present: He not only masterminded the robbery to blindside Uncle Chiu, but also plotted to kill the old man in the process. With Chiu gone and Waise next in line to lead the Triads, he would have been the most powerful man in Hong Kong and super rich from washing all the dirty money that David and Kent brought into Hong Kong from the United States. When Petty confronts him over this, he uses this excuse. Sadly, Petty wasn't interested in being apart of his life after his true colors come out and she dumps him when she realizes that he is a member of the Triads.
• Rules Lawyer: Waise Chow, who works for the Triads, knows his way through Hong Kong's laws left and right. In fact, when Tak tried to record him and get him to admit to his role in the recent robbery, Waise called his bluff and knew immediately that: 1) No one would know of his involvement unless they were in contact with someone who worked for the Triads (David in this case) and 2) He knew of the wire that Tak tried to conceal. Alerting him that Tak was not a lowlife thief, but an undercover police officer. Waise was well prepared for someone to try to confront him about the robbery that he called Inspector Yeung to take Tak in as a dirty cop and even told Tak that he recorded their conversation. If Tak allowed him to represent him in court, he would make the whole thing go away. Needless to say, Tak had every reason to be pissed off while being dragged off to the station.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's portrayed by Robin Shou, who is not only the looker, but also slightly tan and is close to six feet tall. Petty seems to think so... to a fault.