Between 1990 and 1995, the Hong Kong film industry was booming, and lots of low-budget producers were jumping on the bandwagon. It was during these years that a new sub-genre of films was born, that I like to call ‘the Angel series’. These were low-budget action movies that ripped off the Michelle Yeoh films by featuring various female Hong Kong stars in leading roles kicking ass on the bad guys. I’m talking about films like ANGEL MISSION, ANGEL TERMINATORS, ANGEL OF VENGEANCE, etc. These films are not sequels and don’t have much in common, other than hot Hong Kong actresses in starring roles. ANGEL ON FIRE was actually filmed in the Philippines in 1995, and was carefully produced to look like a Hong Kong film. Tai Seng has recently released ANGEL ON FIRE on their budget HK DVD line.

ANGEL ON FIRE is directed by Hong Kong director (and former action star ) Philip Ko, who also has a feature role in the film as a gang leader named Rocks. Cynthia Khan, best known for the IN THE LINE OF DUTY series, takes top billing as an unnamed Interpol agent, who goes undercover to catch a thief. Waise (13 COLD BLOODED EAGLES) Lee plays Su Chin, the Interpol chief who gives her this assignment. Sharon Yeung plays another Interpol agent named Wong Li, who joins Cynthia Kahn’s character uncover.

Mimi is a former-model turned thief. She breaks into a Shaolin temple and steals an ancient relic. She is caught in the act by the monks, and they chase her through the streets of Hong Kong on bicycles. She is then picked up by helicopter, which is piloted by the gang leader who hired her to steal the relic, Rocks. Mimi tells him that she was caught in the act and wasn’t able to get the relic. Meanwhile, Interpol chief Su Chin (Waise Lee) assigns one of his top agents (Khan) to go undercover and capture Mimi and recover the relic, no matter the cost. He informs her that she will be joined by another under cover Interpol agent named Wong Li.

Rocks accompanies Mimi to the headquarters of a crime boss named Tony. Tony hired Rocks and Mimi to retrieve the relic, but Rocks betrays them both and steals the relic at gunpoint. Rocks is actually loyal to a different crime boss who wants the relic. What Rocks does not know is that the statue he possesses is a fake; Mimi still has the original. Rocks' boss is furious when he finds out he has a fake relic, and threatens to kill Rocks. At the airport, Cynthia Kahn meets a goofball taxi cab driver named Harry, and they attempt to follow the suspects, but the taxi breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Cynthia and Harry become fast friends, and she calls on him again for her transportation needs.

Harry tells her he is a boxer, and asks her to go to one of his fights. The fight turns out to be one of the illegal pit-fighting affairs, held by the crime lord that is desperately trying to acquire the relic. Harry has to fight a massive fighter from Africa called Black Leopard. The mean African fighter clearly has the advantage, but Harry manages to outsmart the Black Leopard, and he and Cynthia flee the illegal fight.

Mimi has managed to avoid capture and retain the relic. She goes to a huge field with a large circular electrical tower to make the switch and get her payoff from a third party buyer. Things get a little complicated when Tony and his men show up. Tony goes on a tirade saying how hurt he is she betrayed him (apparently they had some romantic thing going on). Just as Tony is about to kill Mimi, Rocks arrives with his own battalion of thugs, including the Black Leopard. An all-out war erupts between the gangs for possession of the relic. Cynthia and Harry show up and join the fray. Then undercover Interpol agent Wong Li arrives to assist them. But how can three people stop an explosive gang war?

Director Philip Ko wrote the script, directed, and acted in ANGEL ON FIRE. The only positive thing I have to say about Mr. Ko’s talents, is that he is a decent character actor. This film is very bad, even by B movie standards. Some films are so bad, that they are entertaining (like MIGHTY PEKING MAN or PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE), but this is just plain bad. The script is terrible, the direction and production is without any style or flair, the characters and acting are atrocious (except for some of the character actors portraying the crime lords). Ko does not know how to generate any suspense or tension, or give us any characters we can care about.

Cynthia Khan is graceful in ANGEL ON FIRE. She kicks butt and looks good doing it. Though she mostly uses her martial arts skills to beat the bad guys, she does resort to firearms a few times. She is an underrated actress, but you would never now it from this film (I still can’t believe she slummed in this production). Sharon Yeung is looking butch and showing her age. But she can still move like a limber young panther. Her role is limited, and she just shows up at the climax to help Cynthia Khan fight the rival gangs.

The film chugs away at a snails pace, until the last thirty minutes or so. Despite the ineptness of the entire movie, the last act delivers some excitement and violent action. Two gangs do battle over who will keep the relic, and our heroines help take down thugs from both gangs. The battle ground shifts to a small airport where things get crazy when the gang leaders take to the sky. Tons of rapid-fire, machine-gun action, exploding grenade launchers, and endless kung-fu fights finally bring the film to life for a little while. This climax still does not justify having to sit through the entire movie though.

SIGHT

The original theatrical ratio for ANGEL ON FIRE is 1.66.1. Tai Seng presents this film Full Frame. A little image information is missing off the sides. This in itself is not the problem. Being a Philippine film, the budget is significantly cheaper than your average Chinese production, and this really shows in the areas of production facilities and camera equipment. ANGEL ON FIRE has the production value of a high-school film. I couldn’t believe this movie was made in 1995; if not for the costuming and haircuts, this looks like something from the 1970s. The image is free from scratches and print damage, but the cinematography is very murky, and cheap looking. The night scenes (like the fight between Harry and Black Leopard) are horrendous. You can’t make out a thing in these poorly lit sequences. Thankfully, the night scenes are few. Because of the murky look to the film, the image is soft, without sharpness or detail. Colors are affected by this softness and appear muted. The black levels are definitely oversaturated. Grain is also a big problem. The Philippines are a beautiful place to visit, but you would never know it from this film. It’s as though they purposely castrated the cinematography, hoping the audience would believe it’s China. As mentioned earlier, the film redeems itself somewhat in the last half hour (because of the explosive action) and thankfully, this last half hour actually looks like they employed skilled camera men. The martial arts choreography during the half hour isn’t the best ever caught on film, but at least Cynthia Khan and Sharon Yeung look good while chopping the gang members down to size. There are also some impressive gun battles (between the rival gangs ) that take place around our heroines while they are kicking booty. There is also an impressive sequence involving an airplane piloted by the asshole gang leader. This guy is armed with a combination M-16 and grenade launcher, which he shoots down on people, blowing the away the local populace. This non-stop, last half-hour is the only thing worth recommending in the whole film.

SOUND

The audio is Dolby Digital Mono 1.0. The sound is rather flat and has no bass, but the soundtrack has no hiss, dropouts, or distortion. The first hour is dialog driven, but it’s hard to make out what they are saying. The last act consists of a lot of gunfire and explosions, which cries out for bass and surround effects. The sound effects get the job done, but they are uninteresting. The real surprise is that this film has a pretty good score. The score is not credited to anyone, which usually means it was lifted from another production. The dubbing is average, and well synchronized. One problem is that it the sound effects and score overpower the dubbing (not that you would want to hear these performances) making it nearly impossible to keep up. Though I did not have high expectations for the audio, it still sounded like VHS quality, minus the analog audio aspects.

FEATURES

This is a no-frills DVD per Tai Seng’s marketing strategy. Included is the original theatrical trailer. The trailer is letterboxed (1.66.1) and looks good, with clarity and detail (though the production still looks cheap). The trailer is in mono, and runs 2:16. There is also a trailer-medley (as I like to call it), consisting of scenes of their Shaolin Classic Series. Scenes are lifted from Tai Seng’s budget DVDs in the series, SHAOLIN AVENGERS, DECENDANT OF WING CHUN, and LEGEND OF THE DRUNKEN TIGER. This trailer medley is accompanied by an appropriate rock soundtrack.

CONCLUSION

Cynthia Khan is a good actress, a superb fighter, and she’s great to look at. But, this is surely one of her worst films, and I have to wonder how a proven Hong Kong starlet of her caliber got involved in this Philippine production posing as an HK film. Though the film redeems itself (somewhat) during the last half hour, it is still tough to sit through, even by B movie standards. The last half hour of shooting, fighting, and explosions, may make it worthwhile for diehard fans of the popular girls n’ guns genre (though I only suggest a rental). The treatment given by Tai Seng is a bit disappointing, too; the widescreen trailer has better image quality than the feature. In their defense, they released this Cynthia Khan film on their budget label. DVD has the power to make even the worst films look and sound good, but this one just doesn’t cut it.

ANGEL ON FIRE is available from DVDEmpire.com

11645

                                               Rating (out of 5):