Jim Kelly plays the role of "Lucas" a CIA agent in pursuit of gem thieves in this 1978 sequel to "Black Belt Jones" called "The Tattoo Connection". The movie is set in Hong Kong in the mid 70's. A gem worth over three million dollars is stolen by a thugs in a roadside hit. It's up to Lucas to find the thieves and get the stolen gem back.
The karate scenes in the movie look straight out of the old movies featured on the 1980's USA Network show "Kung Fu Theater". Lots of posturing and posing. The story was very good. I wont give much of the plot away, but just when I thought I knew who all of the bad guys were, a surprise popped up. The camera work was great. Lots of fast zooms to enhance the reaction shots. I especially liked a fight scene where a "P.O.V." angle was used when one of the unnamed thugs was swinging and jabbing Lucas in the face with a shovel.
The movie was ripped from a DVD that had extras and other stuff and compressed down onto an 8-film set called "Urban Connection". Thanks to the re compressing of the movie, the voice overs and sound effects would slip from time to time. My only other complaint is that we see so little of Jim Kelly; it's as if the writers of this film assume if you are watching "Tattoo Connection" you must have seen "Black Belt Jones". If you have not seen the first movie, then Jim's character means very little, as I learned next to nothing about him and he became less and less important to the outcome of the plot.
Jim Kelly was cast in his role of "Lucas" just to gain the movie enough attention to have some success when released. Otherwise, Kelly could have never been cast and the movie would of have the same outcome. Despite this thought, "The Tattoo Connection" is a fun film and I encourage you to check it out. When you do though, try to find the movie on a single or double movie set.
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