Island of Fire (Huo shao dao) (Jackie Chan Is the Prisoner) (Island on Fire) (1990)

48% of users liked it
(7,584 ratings)

Chu Yen-ping directs this all-star cast prison flick about cop Huang Wei (Tony Leung Kar-fai) who goes into the clink undercover to figure out how the fingerprints of a long deceased death-row inmate ended up at the scene of a recent murder. There he quickly runs afoul of gangland powers, making his… More Chu Yen-ping directs this all-star cast prison flick about cop Huang Wei (Tony Leung Kar-fai) who goes into the clink undercover to figure out how the fingerprints of a long deceased death-row inmate ended up at the scene of a recent murder. There he quickly runs afoul of gangland powers, making his life a living hell. His fellow inmates include Lung (Jackie Chan) who killed a card sharp to pay for an operation for his girlfriend; Triad (Andy Lau Tak-wah) who looking for the guy who killed his brother in jail; and Lui (Sammo Hung Kam-po) a sadsack con who regularly breaks out to visit his son. Later, Huang kills a prison guard and is sentenced to death. He soon learns that the jail's crazed warden is using supposedly executed criminals to kill crime bosses who are beyond the law. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Yen-ping Chu
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International

In Theaters: Aug 1, 1991 Wide
On DVD: Feb 20, 2001

Critic Reviews

Fred Topel, About.com
Not a JAckie Chan movie. He's only a cameo. Some decent fighting, but a nonsense plot.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Tsubaki S

What the hell was this?
Dean M

Great epic prison picture enlivened by Hong Kong superstar cast.
Doctor S

'The Prisoner (aka Island of Fire)' Captures the Attention In Spurts I knew going in this isn't typical Jackie, or even very good Jackie, but it is on my dwindling list of unseen Jackie. Basically he appears in it as a 'favor' to a shifty filmmaker named… More
'The Prisoner (aka Island of Fire)' Captures the Attention In Spurts I knew going in this isn't typical Jackie, or even very good Jackie, but it is on my dwindling list of unseen Jackie. Basically he appears in it as a 'favor' to a shifty filmmaker named Jimmy Wang Yu and has about a quarter of the screentime. More heavy drama than humor, but you still get Sammo Hung and a host of other usual HK suspects, and you can play "spot the Cool Hand Luke scene" as a drinking game. Unique feature: Jackie gets gunned down, where else are you gonna see that? At worst, surely it's still a helluva lot better than any Van Damme/Chuck Norris/Steven Seagal greatest hits package. Fights/stunts: -------------- with bags of money in bar with gangsters 1-on-1 prison fight