''Island of Fire'' () is a 1990

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

Hong Kong action film Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling an ...

directed by

Kevin Chu Kevin Chu or Chu Yen-ping (; born December 1950) is a Taiwanese film director. Chu once said in an interview that he is "not an artist," but rather "a movie factory that puts out products to match the season", and is compared to Hong Kong directo ...

, and starring

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

, Andy Lau,

Sammo Hung Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...

Tony Leung Ka-fai Tony Leung Ka-fai (; born 1 February 1958) is a Hong Kong actor who is a four-time winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor. As he is often confused with actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai is known as "Big Tony," while Tony Leu ...

and

Tou Chung-hua Tuo Tsung-hua (; born 10 October 1962) is a Taiwanese actor. He won the 2005 Golden Bell Award for Best Actor. Selected filmography *''Osmanthus Alley'' (1987) *'' A Home Too Far'' (1990) *'' Zodiac Killers'' (1991) *'' 18'' (1993) *''The Day th ...

. The film was shot in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 42 days from 5 April until 17 May 1989. The film's theme song, ''The Last Gunshot'' (最後一槍) by Cui Jian, was written as a response to the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

in Beijing, China. This is the third collaboration between producer Jimmy Wang Yu and Jackie Chan, With their first, collaboration being ''

Killer Meteors ''Killer Meteors'', (Chinese: 風雨雙流星) (or The Killer Meteors, Jackie Chan vs. Wang Yu) is a 1976 kung fu Hong Kong action film, directed by Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Wei. Since then, it have become a cult film. Overview Jackie Chan plays Imm ...

'' in 1976, the film's producer and co-star, Jimmy Wang Yu, came to Chan's aid when the then young actor sought his help in settling a dispute with the veteran director Lo Wei. The dispute was settled by Golden Harvest paying 10 million HK dollars (2 million US dollars) to Lo Wei. Chan repaid the favor by acting in Wang's 1983 film ''

Fantasy Mission Force ''Fantasy Mission Force'' ( Pinyin: ''Min ne te gong-dui'') is a 1983 Hong Kong Horror film, horror Hong Kong action cinema, action Mo lei tau, mo lei tau film directed by Kevin Chu and starring Jackie Chan (who got top billing in a supporting ...

''. As with both of those earlier films, recent

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and VHS releases market ''Island of Fire'' & ''Jackie Chan Is the Prisoner'' as a Jackie Chan film, displaying an image of Chan on the cover as though the lead actor. In fact, Chan only appears in a supporting role, with Tony Leung Ka-fai as the central character.

Synopsis

In the Taiwanese version, the film begins with the execution of a prisoner inside a prison. Wang Wei (

), a police officer, witnesses the murder of his father-in-law, a police commissioner, at the hands of an assassin. When the assassin attempts to escape, he is killed by a car bomb. Wei and his partner later identify the assassin but discover that he was a felon who was apparently executed in prison several months ago. Wei decides to go undercover in the prison by assaulting a group of gang members at a bar. While inside, he is immediately suspected of being a cop and is beaten in a prison-orchestrated fight, leaving him bloodied and bruised. Wei's fellow prisoners include Da Chui (

), who accidentally killed a card player while trying to raise money for an operation to save his girlfriend's life; Iron Ball ( Andy Lau), who has himself thrown in jail to exact revenge for his dead brother killed by Da Chui; and Fatty (

), a compassionate but pathetic inmate who frequently escapes visiting his young son. Significant tension occurs when Chui and Iron Ball are part of the same block, but any attempts on Chui's life are forbidden by Lucas ( Jimmy Wang Yu), a powerful warlord within the prison. This ends when Lucas is set up and killed by the prison when he and Fatty escape. Fatty attempts to escape yet again during an outdoor workday, but kills a prison guard when Fatty hits him with a police cruiser; Fatty is subsequently executed. With Lucas gone and the corruption of the guards plain to see, Wei and Chui are at risk. An attempt on Wei's life accidentally kills Wei's cellmate Charlie (

), prompting a large-scale riot in which the head guard is assaulted by Chui and eventually killed by Wei. In response, Chui, Iron Ball, and Wei are executed. Wei suddenly awakens in an undisclosed location where the Warden greets him. The Warden says that he fakes the execution of the inmates so that he can recruit them to be part of a vigilante hit squad. Wei is dispatched along with Chui, Fatty, and Iron Ball, to an airport where a drug lord is being extradited. They kill the drug lord, but are betrayed by the Warden, like the assassin that killed Wei's father-in-law, and barely dodge a car bomb meant for them. They become surrounded in an airport tower and take a police captain hostage. Wei's partner, who was present with the police escorting the drug lord, helps Wei hijack a plane and Fatty, Chui, and Iron Ball attempt to reach the plane. Fatty, Chui, and Iron Ball are all gunned down as Wei escapes. When the Warden returns to his home, he finds Wei waiting for him, asking for answers. The Warden explains that those who were killed by the hit squad were actually connected to the Warden; the drug lord worked with the Warden and the Commissioner was getting too close to discovering the Warden's activities. Angered, Wei threatens the Warden, but is talked down from doing anything further from his partner, who replies that everything the Warden said is on tape. The Warden is arrested and Wei returns to his life as a cop.

Cast

as Da Chui / Lung (Hong Kong version) / Steve (US version) * Andy Lau as Iron Ball / Lau / Boss Lee *

as Fatty John Liu Hsi-chia *

as Wang Wei / Andy / Andrew *

as Chiu / Charlie (as Tao Chung Hwa) *

Barry Wong Barry Wong (20 November 1946 – 16 October 1991), also known as Wong Ping-Yiu (黃炳耀), was a Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and actor. He was hailed as one of the most prolific screenwriters of Hong Kong cinema penning scripts for ...

as Inspector Wong * Jimmy Wang Yu as Kui / Lucas (as Wang Yu) *

Ko Chun-hsiung Ko Chun-hsiung (; 15 January 1945 – 6 December 2015) was a Taiwanese actor, director and politician. He had been acting since the 1960s and had appeared in more than 200 films. His career accolades included three Golden Horse Awards, two Asi ...

as Prison Chief / Prison Superintendent *

Jack Kao Jack Kao (, born 23 April 1958) is a Taiwanese actor. Career He began his career in the late 1980s films of Hou Hsiao-hsien. Kao credits his success to the many real-life gangsters he knew when he was young. He appeared in '' City of Sadness'' ...

as Ho Lin * Ken Lo as Bodyguard * Rocky Lai as Iron Ball's thug / Prisoner * Chin Ho as Iron Ball's assistant * Teddy Yip Wing-cho as Prisoner *

Wang An An Wang (; February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990) was a Chinese–American computer engineer and inventor, and cofounder of computer company Wang Laboratories, which was known primarily for its dedicated word processing machines. Wang was an impo ...

* Yen Ru-chen * Kao Ming * Kang Ho *

Fang Jing Fang Jing (; June 1971 – 18 November 2015) was an anchorwoman of China Central Television (CCTV). She hosted several programs including the prime-time military program Defense Watch.China.org.cnCCTV anchor suspected of spying for TaiwanRetrieve ...

* Yuen Yi * Wai Hung-ho * Tou Hu * Wang Yao * Bang Yu * Chien Tsao

Special Participation

* Subas Herrero as a police officer (uncredited) * Conrad Poe as Col. Sam (uncredited)

Versions

There are two different versions of this film: a 96-minute

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

version and a 125-minute

version which focuses more on character development and plot detail.

References

External links