(1993) Cheetah On Fire (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION

Something to do with a stolen computer chip carrying information regarding H. K. missiles and an eye witness Shing Fu-On (the main baddie in John Woo's The Killer). The movie stars Cheung Man (frequent female co-star of many Stephen Chiau/ Chow Sing Chi's comedic movies) playing yet again as a cop teaming up with other authorities Carrie Ng and Donnie Yen as an agent to retrieve it back. Low budget and not as good, obviously inspired by Jackie Chan's major Hong Kong hit "Police Story III: Super Cop" released in 1992! This movie has one of the most bizarre scenes I had ever seen similar to something what Tarantino or Takashi Miike would've shown, showcasing Chia Hui Liu (star of the "Master Killer" movies or "The 36 Chamber of Shaolin) as a bad guy making out with a woman while a bullet is being taken out of his back, a prime example of 'Asian Trash cinema' at it's best. (Spoiler Warning) One of my Chinese friends was totally stoked about the Donnie Yen character being killed off!

"At first, I was a bit surprised at the cast list of this movie. But, of course, Cheetah on Fire was made during the early '90s, where there seemed to be an overabundance of talent, but not enough quality producers, directors or scriptwriters to work with them. Granted, none of the cast (with perhaps the exception of Gordon Liu) are really "A-list" stars, but if you were looking to make an action movie, you could do much worse than the actors assembled here.

Which makes the results of Cheetah on Fire a bit disappointing. There is a good deal of action, but it lacks that certain something -- that extra punch -- to set it above other similar films. The action is staged and shot well, and there could have been some classic stuff (such as when Donnie Yen takes on Ken Lo, and then later when he fights Gordon Liu) but it all falls a bit flat. What makes matters worse is that the exposition in Cheetah on Fire is fairly poor.

The direction is workman-like at best, and that make the plodding script seem all the worse. When we're supposed to develop sympathy for the characters and care when they are hurt, but all that happens is boredom or laughter, something fell apart in the execution -- much like Cheetah on Fire as a whole. It's not a bad movie. In fact, I had a pretty good time with it because of the abundance of action. It's just that I had fairly high expectations and they were not met. Cheetah on Fire does a good job for a low-budget action movie, but don't expect much more than some decent action sequences."

A Hong Kong action film about a wanted fugitive who is to be extradited who is released and chased by the police. I've been watching a good number of Chinese martial arts and police action films lately and to be honest most of them have blended together. Most of the films simply copy from each other in a weird daisy chain of generic action. This is a film that is different enough that I know I will actually remember it a week or three down the road. This has some wild action and several good scenes you're not likely to see else where including what has to be a unique way to remove a bullet- have the injured person be distracted by having sex. Its a trip. Worth a look if you run across it.