IMDb RATING
5.7/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
A cop goes undercover to infiltrate a deadly prison where a team of mercenaries is being assembled.A cop goes undercover to infiltrate a deadly prison where a team of mercenaries is being assembled.A cop goes undercover to infiltrate a deadly prison where a team of mercenaries is being assembled.
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Sammo Kam-Bo Hung
- Fatty Liu Hsi Chia
- (as Sammo Hung)
- …
Tony Ka Fai Leung
- Wei Wang
- (as Leung Ka-Fay)
- …
Chung-Hua Tou
- Chiu
- (as Tao Chung Hwa)
- …
Jimmy Wang Yu
- Kui
- (as Wang Yu)
- …
Ko Chun-Hsiung
- Prison Chief
- (as Ko Chuen-Hsiung)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I see reviews about this being a decent movie.... Have i been watching something different to everyone else?
The entire thing feels like seven movies all randomly edited together with totally nonsensical plot lines and timings. It's jarring, weird and quite frankly, crap.
The dubbed version obviously made the acting look and sound worse than it probably really was but wow, what an interesting hour and a half this has been.
Also, definitely NOT a Jackie Chan film. He's like a random, almost unnecessary secondary character.
Overall: Loads of unfinished threads, messy ending, messy editing, unanswered questions. 3.5/10.
The entire thing feels like seven movies all randomly edited together with totally nonsensical plot lines and timings. It's jarring, weird and quite frankly, crap.
The dubbed version obviously made the acting look and sound worse than it probably really was but wow, what an interesting hour and a half this has been.
Also, definitely NOT a Jackie Chan film. He's like a random, almost unnecessary secondary character.
Overall: Loads of unfinished threads, messy ending, messy editing, unanswered questions. 3.5/10.
With a stellar line up of HK stars including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung and Andy Lau (some of whom appeared as a favour to the director, who was in dire financial trouble with some 'dodgy types'), this brutal film mixes emotional drama, savage violence and OTT action to deliver an effective little addition to the prison movie sub-genre.
Tony Leung plays Andy, a cop who gets himself sent to prison after his future father-in-law is murdered by a supposedly executed convict. Whilst trying to figure out how a dead prisoner can become an assassin, he befriends various other prisoners, but himself becomes a target of some of the less desirable characters in the prison.
Those drawn to this film by the presence of 'wacky Jackie' will be sorely disappointed, since Mr. Chan appears in only a few scenes, and even the fights he participates in are not up to his usual acrobatic standard. However, fans of the other big stars should get their money's worth; Prison on Fire may be no classic, but it is entertaining enough to be worth a go.
Anyone who has seen their fair share of prison movies will know what to expect from this kind of affair: nice guy prisoners who we are supposed to root for; bad guys who make our hero's life a living hell; prison escapes and riots; and the occasional 'funny' scene to lift the mood (in this case, Sammo's ogling of a big breasted woman whose car breaks down near to his work detail). This one has it all!
It also has a rather enjoyably silly ending which features loads of gunfire and some slow-motion squib effects, and more disturbingly, a shocking scene which features an Alsatian being kicked in the head (the poor mutt flies through the air and lands awkwardly on its back!).
If you wish to check out this movie, find either the Taiwanese version, or the Hong Kong Legends DVD; the Taiwanese cut features several scenes missing from the US release, whilst the HK Legends disc includes them as an extra.
Tony Leung plays Andy, a cop who gets himself sent to prison after his future father-in-law is murdered by a supposedly executed convict. Whilst trying to figure out how a dead prisoner can become an assassin, he befriends various other prisoners, but himself becomes a target of some of the less desirable characters in the prison.
Those drawn to this film by the presence of 'wacky Jackie' will be sorely disappointed, since Mr. Chan appears in only a few scenes, and even the fights he participates in are not up to his usual acrobatic standard. However, fans of the other big stars should get their money's worth; Prison on Fire may be no classic, but it is entertaining enough to be worth a go.
Anyone who has seen their fair share of prison movies will know what to expect from this kind of affair: nice guy prisoners who we are supposed to root for; bad guys who make our hero's life a living hell; prison escapes and riots; and the occasional 'funny' scene to lift the mood (in this case, Sammo's ogling of a big breasted woman whose car breaks down near to his work detail). This one has it all!
It also has a rather enjoyably silly ending which features loads of gunfire and some slow-motion squib effects, and more disturbingly, a shocking scene which features an Alsatian being kicked in the head (the poor mutt flies through the air and lands awkwardly on its back!).
If you wish to check out this movie, find either the Taiwanese version, or the Hong Kong Legends DVD; the Taiwanese cut features several scenes missing from the US release, whilst the HK Legends disc includes them as an extra.
First of all, this movie doesnt really have main character. There are five of them. Like the original trailer says, "five stories in one", the film is about five main characters, whose life are somehow related to each other. Jackie Chan does a different role in this movie. Role is similiar to Heart of the Dragons. There are only few fight's, but it didnt bother me. I didnt watch this as a Chan movie.
Movie is touching especially the ending. Surprising is the violence level in this movie. Endings big shootout and some other brutal violence too. The way jail-staff(movie happens in jail)treats the main character's made me wanting them to die. Guards are real a***oles.
Movie success as a drama too. Samo Hung's character is most touching. He desperately escapes from jail to meet his son and pays for it, with pain. Ending is surprising and shocking. This movie is very very good. I can recommend this movie to every one who likes HK movies. Great actors. Great plot. Great emotions. I loved it.
Movie is touching especially the ending. Surprising is the violence level in this movie. Endings big shootout and some other brutal violence too. The way jail-staff(movie happens in jail)treats the main character's made me wanting them to die. Guards are real a***oles.
Movie success as a drama too. Samo Hung's character is most touching. He desperately escapes from jail to meet his son and pays for it, with pain. Ending is surprising and shocking. This movie is very very good. I can recommend this movie to every one who likes HK movies. Great actors. Great plot. Great emotions. I loved it.
Film maker Chu Yin-Ping's Island of Fire (1990, Hong Kong) stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Andy Lau and Tony Leung and they're all great. Tony plays a cop who goes undercover into one infamous prison in order to search for the truth behind one criminal who was supposed to be dead but seems not to be that way. Jackie plays a sort of lowlife who kills a man and is sent to the prison. Andy plays a violent triad boss who seeks revenge for the man who killed his brother. Sammo is a man who misses his son and occasionally breaks free from the prison in order to see him, and is always badly beaten as a punishment. Living in that prison is dangerous and so are the wardens, and once violence finally reaches a horrific climax mostly because of Leung's character, some new aspects about the prison death sentences and those "killed" are revealed.
Director Chu has made many films which include a violent and gritty triad film Requital (1992) and Island has some familiar elements from that film, too. Fortunately Island omits all the possible comic situations which too often destroy many otherwise great or noteworthy HK films and make them more than irritating to watch. Island is serious and pretty dark film and that is a great thing.
There are couple of great and also emotional scenes which include the rice eating scene and Sammo meeting his son scene, but they remain a little separate as they don't, after all, give too much to the whole story, characters and film content and they just serve to give those scenes themselves some touching and dramatic elements without adding anything which would mean something important for the whole film. So this film is pretty shallow and misses any message or themes it may had been able to have. It has some heroic (bloodshed) scenes and scenes depicting the friendship and loyalty between the prisoners and those scenes are among the greatest things this film can give, but they are never handled as far as John Woo does, for example. Also, the ending is pretty non-believable but still great and gritty action scene which also could have meant something more than it now does. The gratuitous final image is there just to make the film look nicer and leave sweeter taste to the mouth, and thus it is pretty commercial and unnecessary, I think.
The film concentrates on to give us fierce martial arts fights and equally fierce gun battles and as a pure action film this film succeeds and should please the junkies of HK action cinema, but if one prefers films with something more than just action, then Island of Fire isn't among the greatest recommendations. I can appreciate this due to its high impact action and mayhem on screen, again something never/rarely equaled by Western cinema, but still I give this "just" 6/10.
The British DVD by Hong Kong Legends includes the rare deleted scenes (approx. 30 minutes) which were included only in the Taiwanese version of the film. They give many new aspects to the film character's and in a way improve the film. Also the interview with the director is among the most interesting (albeit brief) extras I've seen in any DVD.
Director Chu has made many films which include a violent and gritty triad film Requital (1992) and Island has some familiar elements from that film, too. Fortunately Island omits all the possible comic situations which too often destroy many otherwise great or noteworthy HK films and make them more than irritating to watch. Island is serious and pretty dark film and that is a great thing.
There are couple of great and also emotional scenes which include the rice eating scene and Sammo meeting his son scene, but they remain a little separate as they don't, after all, give too much to the whole story, characters and film content and they just serve to give those scenes themselves some touching and dramatic elements without adding anything which would mean something important for the whole film. So this film is pretty shallow and misses any message or themes it may had been able to have. It has some heroic (bloodshed) scenes and scenes depicting the friendship and loyalty between the prisoners and those scenes are among the greatest things this film can give, but they are never handled as far as John Woo does, for example. Also, the ending is pretty non-believable but still great and gritty action scene which also could have meant something more than it now does. The gratuitous final image is there just to make the film look nicer and leave sweeter taste to the mouth, and thus it is pretty commercial and unnecessary, I think.
The film concentrates on to give us fierce martial arts fights and equally fierce gun battles and as a pure action film this film succeeds and should please the junkies of HK action cinema, but if one prefers films with something more than just action, then Island of Fire isn't among the greatest recommendations. I can appreciate this due to its high impact action and mayhem on screen, again something never/rarely equaled by Western cinema, but still I give this "just" 6/10.
The British DVD by Hong Kong Legends includes the rare deleted scenes (approx. 30 minutes) which were included only in the Taiwanese version of the film. They give many new aspects to the film character's and in a way improve the film. Also the interview with the director is among the most interesting (albeit brief) extras I've seen in any DVD.
I saw the dubbed-into-English version of this. My recommendation is, don't bother. It's a stretch to call this a Jackie Chan movie, since he's involved in less than one-third of the movie.
The fight scenes are not nearly as well choreographed as thoes in most other Chan movies, and the filmmakers try to make up for this through tight editing. Much of the time, it's impossible to see what the moves are.
The plot is confusing, and the script is horrible. There are times when it takes on some qualities of "Plan 9 from Outer Space" when it blends incoherence with bad acting.
The surround sound is technically well done, though.
The fight scenes are not nearly as well choreographed as thoes in most other Chan movies, and the filmmakers try to make up for this through tight editing. Much of the time, it's impossible to see what the moves are.
The plot is confusing, and the script is horrible. There are times when it takes on some qualities of "Plan 9 from Outer Space" when it blends incoherence with bad acting.
The surround sound is technically well done, though.
Did you know
- TriviaJackie Chan was reportedly so displeased with the movie, and that his name and image were being used to sell it, that he bought the rights and attempted to shelve it indefinitely. Despite his efforts the film was released in several parts of Asia none the less.
- GoofsJackie Chan's hair was so long that they would have shaved him before he was admitted to jail in Hong Kong, this is to prevent lice.
- Crazy creditsAn outtake reel in shown during the end credits.
- Alternate versionsTaiwanese video is 35 minutes longer than Hong Kong version and features more character development of the Taiwanese actors and bit players.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cinema of Vengeance (1994)
- SoundtracksYuri's Arrival : The Sadist
(From No Retreat No Surrender 2)
Performed by David Spear
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- The Prisoner
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