The same principle cast from Tony Lou Chun-Ku's Dragon Fighter (also 1990) return for Fire Phoenix, adding Shaw Brothers star Candy Wen and Sandra Ng into the mix but losing Michiko Nishiwaki and Eddy Ko. Despite these similarities, the two films are completely unconnected in terms of story.
A Japanese business associate of Ko Kwan Tien (Alex Man) is found murdered with the suspicion falling on a prostitute he was last seen with. The businessman was in possession of a floppy disk containing a formula worth $30 billion. With a vested interest in this formula, Ko Kwan Tien orders his men to track down the woman.
A brother and sister private investigator pair, Miss Lo (Sibelle Hu) and Lu Che (Francis Ng), are hired by Ko Kwan Tien. He gives them $1 million dollars to find and rescue a woman named Sophia (Carrie Ng), who has been kidnapped by a tribe somewhere in remote Thailand. The siblings assemble a heavily-armed team and set out to infiltrate the tribe's compound. Why does Ko Kwan Tien want to rescue Sophia? And, is there a connection between her and the murdered Japanese businessman?
The first half of the film takes place in Thailand and is at times quite silly with lots of big guns and explosions. However, the action is bloody, exciting, well-staged and there is plenty of it!
Despite some silly slapstick and melodrama, the second half boasts some superb fights, most notably Alex Fong vs Mark Houghton and Ko Kwan Tien's henchwoman (who looks like she's been lifted straight out of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal music video!). There's also some great girl versus girl action too with the henchwoman (I couldn't ID the actress) taking on Candy Wen (impressive) and Sibelle Hu in two separate fights. Carrie Ng's character acts like she's about ten years old and is quite annoying at times but she is smoking hot here with a nice range of outfits to go with her smouldering looks. Sandra Ng plays Dorinda who gets mixed up in the action by accident and is well equipped with explosive condoms...
Of the two films Tony Lou Chun-Ku made in 1990, Fire Phoenix is the goofier of the two but arguably contains much better action than Dragon Fighter. The strong cast and brisk pace both benefit the film greatly. If you can tolerate some of the unfunny jokes and accept the frequent wild shifts in tone, you'll eventually be awarded with a very entertaining action film.
On a side note, in my opinion, Tony Lou Chun-Ku is a bit of an unsung figure of Asian cinema. He is responsible for directing some of my all-time favourite 'Girls With Guns' films e.g. Angel Terminators 2 (1993) Killer Angels (1989), Dreaming The Reality (1991) and notably starred in some great 'punch and block' films in the early 1970s, where he was often paired with Jason Pai Piao (e.g. Fingers That Kill (1974) and the superb Stranger From Canton (1973).
3.5 out of 5
Review sources: Universe Laser & Video Co Ltd, Laserdisc (Hong Kong) (Cantonese language with English subtitles); Pan Asia, VHS (USA) (Cantonese language with English subtitles)
A Japanese business associate of Ko Kwan Tien (Alex Man) is found murdered with the suspicion falling on a prostitute he was last seen with. The businessman was in possession of a floppy disk containing a formula worth $30 billion. With a vested interest in this formula, Ko Kwan Tien orders his men to track down the woman.
A brother and sister private investigator pair, Miss Lo (Sibelle Hu) and Lu Che (Francis Ng), are hired by Ko Kwan Tien. He gives them $1 million dollars to find and rescue a woman named Sophia (Carrie Ng), who has been kidnapped by a tribe somewhere in remote Thailand. The siblings assemble a heavily-armed team and set out to infiltrate the tribe's compound. Why does Ko Kwan Tien want to rescue Sophia? And, is there a connection between her and the murdered Japanese businessman?
The first half of the film takes place in Thailand and is at times quite silly with lots of big guns and explosions. However, the action is bloody, exciting, well-staged and there is plenty of it!
Despite some silly slapstick and melodrama, the second half boasts some superb fights, most notably Alex Fong vs Mark Houghton and Ko Kwan Tien's henchwoman (who looks like she's been lifted straight out of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal music video!). There's also some great girl versus girl action too with the henchwoman (I couldn't ID the actress) taking on Candy Wen (impressive) and Sibelle Hu in two separate fights. Carrie Ng's character acts like she's about ten years old and is quite annoying at times but she is smoking hot here with a nice range of outfits to go with her smouldering looks. Sandra Ng plays Dorinda who gets mixed up in the action by accident and is well equipped with explosive condoms...
Of the two films Tony Lou Chun-Ku made in 1990, Fire Phoenix is the goofier of the two but arguably contains much better action than Dragon Fighter. The strong cast and brisk pace both benefit the film greatly. If you can tolerate some of the unfunny jokes and accept the frequent wild shifts in tone, you'll eventually be awarded with a very entertaining action film.
On a side note, in my opinion, Tony Lou Chun-Ku is a bit of an unsung figure of Asian cinema. He is responsible for directing some of my all-time favourite 'Girls With Guns' films e.g. Angel Terminators 2 (1993) Killer Angels (1989), Dreaming The Reality (1991) and notably starred in some great 'punch and block' films in the early 1970s, where he was often paired with Jason Pai Piao (e.g. Fingers That Kill (1974) and the superb Stranger From Canton (1973).
3.5 out of 5
Review sources: Universe Laser & Video Co Ltd, Laserdisc (Hong Kong) (Cantonese language with English subtitles); Pan Asia, VHS (USA) (Cantonese language with English subtitles)
