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Film / Island of Fire

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Island Of Fire is a 1990 Hong Kong prison film with an Ensemble Cast including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Andy Lau, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Jimmy Wang Yu, and directed by Taiwanese director Kevin Chu who previously collaborated with Chan and Wang-yu in Fantasy Mission Force.

When Andrew (Tony Leung Ka-fai) witnessed the murder of his father-in-law and the assassin responsible subsequently being killed by a car bomb, he realize a conspiracy is at large, and he can only find out the truth by going undercover in a high-security prison as a prisoner. There, Andrew meets a colourful cast of prisoners, including mob boss Uncle Lucas (Jimmy Wang Yu), and convicts Lee (Andy Lau), Da Chui (Jackie Chan) and Fatty (Sammo Hung), all whom are actually good men who ends up being screwed by the legal system and sentenced to jail for one reason or another. But as days in prisons drags into months, every prisoner soon enough becomes gradually stripped of their humanity and ends up becoming pawns of a bigger operation.

Mostly remembered by audiences to be that Jackie Chan movie which suddenly and inexplicably becomes a Heroic Bloodshed in the last 15 minutes, where the final scene inexplicably have the main characters walking into the set of a John Woo film.


This film contains examples of:

  • Accidental Murder:
    • Da Chui's flashback involves him accidentally killing a punk when said punk whips out a pocket knife and tries stabbing him In the Back, only for Da Chui to dodge aside and slam said punk into a door, causing the knife to end up in the punk's stomach.
    • Fatty's last escape attempt from the prison quarry ends with him hijacking a police cruiser and unintentionally running into - and killing - a prison guard.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Happens in the last 15 minutes, when the movie inexplicably enters John Woo / Heroic Bloodshed territory, and Andrew, Lee, Da Chui and Fatty are reduced to mindless killers and sent to assassinate a South-East Asian dictator.
  • Bar Brawl:
    • Andrew's attempts to have himself being sentenced to prison involves initiating a brawl against some punks in a bar.
    • One of these happens in Da Chui's flashback.
  • Barefoot Captives: The prisoners aren’t allowed shoes when indoors, although if they’re working outside they do have shoes.
  • Black Site: The titular Island of Fire is the prison where the main characters are kept in, stripped of their humanity, and reduced to simply expendable killing machines.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Car Bomb that kills the assassin in the opening scene, which Andrew remembers right in the final scene, where he immediately warns Lee, Da Chui and Fatty to not enter their getaway vehicle. Sure enough, their vehicle suddenly explodes a few seconds before they can enter.
  • Cool Versus Awesome: This is the only movie so far where audiences get to see Jackie Chan fight Andy Lau.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: Basically what happens to Andrew throughout the movie, after being sent to prison and, like all fellow prisoners, gradually stripped of his humanity.
  • Cue the Billiard Shot: Featured in Da Chui’s flashback, where he is shown to be an exceptionally good pool player.
  • Destination Defenestration: Well, this being a Jackie Chan movie, more than one extra ends up going through this. Da Chui’s flashback notably have him throwing bouncers and punks through glass windows and frames.
  • Endearingly Dorky: Andrew (Tony Leung Ka-fai), a nerdy, geeky and borderline dorky Ridiculously Average Guy, complete with Nerd Glasses. Too bad spending time in prison, even for undercover purposes, can seriously screw up a person…
  • Ensemble Cast
  • Faking the Dead: The entire main cast in the end – Andrew, Lee, Da Chui and Fatty are either killed onscreen or sentenced to be executed, only for the final scene to have them being shown alive… having been drafted into an assassination squad sent on a Suicide Mission.
  • Fight Clubbing: Among the various illegal activities in the prison, one of these is a fighting ring where prisoners can bet on outcomes of fights.
  • Guns Akimbo: Lee and Fatty, in the final shootout ripped from a John Woo flick.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: In traditional Jackie Chan manner, one shows up in the credits of this film. It allows for audiences a serious breather after sitting through this entirely dark, gritty, and heavy-hearted film.
  • The Gambling Addict: Basically, all the prisoners. One scene had an entire prison gang betting on the outcomes of a makeshift cardboard racetrack – between a cockroach, a mouse, and a gecko.
  • Genre Shift: From a gritty prison movie to, roughly 15 minutes before the credits, a full-blown Heroic Bloodshed flick that seems more fit for John Woo than Jackie Chan...
  • Happy Flashback: Most prisoners have some variations of this. Da Chui with his girlfriend, Fatty with his son, Lee with his brother. Too bad all those went to hell near the end of the film.
  • I Have a Family: Fatty is revealed to have a son who’s living with his wife, and he would regularly sneak out of prison to visit his child (despite being repeatedly flogged every time he gets re-captured).
  • Leave No Witnesses: The prisoners-turned-assassins' fate. Their getaway vehicles supplied by the syndicate they worked for are rigged with a Car Bomb, making their assignments a Suicide Mission.
  • Oddball in the Series: For Jackie Chan’s fans, how many Jackie Chan movies do you get to see him dual-wield pistols, John Woo style, and take names in shootouts instead of fighting?
  • Prisons Are Gymnasiums: The prison here has its own workout area and basketball court.
  • Prison Riot: One inevitably happens near the end of the film, right before the ending scene, an its in this scene where Charlie gets killed.
  • Reflective Eyes: A variation, in the final shootout Da Chui use his Cool Shades to reveal a few mooks coming at him from a corner, before doing a Leap and Fire gunning down every mook.
  • Rodent Cellmates: Andrew "adopts" a mouse while imprisoned. He ultimately loses his mind when the corrupt prison system, in order to break him, serves him lunch, rice with his dead mouse buried in it.
  • Rugged Scar: Uncle Lucas have a really nasty looking one running across his face, extending from his forehead to his cheek, but somehow without blinding his right eye.
  • Sole Survivor: Andrew in the final shootout against the dictator’s army.
  • Tattooed Crook: Uncle Lucas, the imprisoned mafia kingpin (Jimmy Wang Yu in a guest role).
  • Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: At one point in the finale, Lee points his pistol on an enemy soldier, pulls the trigger, and realize its empty. So instead he hurls his pistol as a distraction before leaping at his opponent using his legs to execute a Neck Snap.
  • Together in Death: In their last moments, Lee, Fatty and Da Chui are gunned down together by the dictator’s army after failing to escape the airport.


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