Huo yun chuan qi

(1994) Fire Dragon (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION/ HISTORICAL FICTION

Directed by Yuen Woo-Ping using simplistic Chinese folklore tale centering on a letter sought by an evil prince with complete corruption on his mind using biological martial art sisters to go after it, even if it meant killing innocent civilians to do it. Hong Kong veteran actress Brigitte Lin(Police Story) as Fire Dragon poses as an innocent bystander to whom Yuen Ming (Mok Siu Chung) is still suspicious about. Fire Dragon eventually changes after building a rapport with it's normal traveling performers. Idea is similar to Jet Li's "Swordsman II" which also stars Brigitte Lin except this one has more action and ridiculous comedy! All of the martial art action which is mostly use of wire -fu some has been sped up but gets entertaining as it becomes more of it. The rating is strictly for the action and not the comedy aspect of it.

Some incredible fight scenes if you're a fan of Woo Ping. Lots of flying and other fantasy kind of stuff, like Fire Dragon shooting flames from her hands. The special effects are very well done. Plenty of Woo Ping's silly, light hearted humor throughout as well.

Too much attempt at a plot though. Fast forward through some of the more boring dialog to the fight scenes and you'll enjoy it.

Fabulous cinematography, costumes, the always competent presence of Brigitte Lin, and a handful of effects laden fights cant save this movie from its focus on a dud of a plot and comedic turns that make up most of the film. Woo Ping fans know that there are two things he likes to do- dazzling, well-choreographed fight sequences and hair-brained comedy. Unfortunately, it is his comedy focus that can often drag his movies down, such is the case with Fire Dragon. Instead of getting fantastic fight scene after fantastic fight scene (Iron Monkey), this flying kung fu fantasy spends the better part of the movie expanding on lame jokes and flat character interaction. Sure there are a few action scenes throughout, but they are very brief. It is only at the beginning and, particularly, the end, in which we get the masterful, jaw dropping, fights one expects from Woo Ping.

This film belongs in the Swordsman 2, Chinese Ghost Story, and Deadful Melody category of HK fantasy. Although, in many ways, Woo Ping outdoes those other films in the genre with his harrowing use of pyrotechnics and wirework, the action makes up so little of the running time, its hard to recommend Fire Dragon to anyone outside of the die-hard Woo Ping/ Brigitte Lin fanatics. But, even they may be turned off by a film so mired in the finer points of stale character development and jokes that are repeatedly hammered into the ground. Sure, the finale is as good as anything Woo Ping has directed, but it is too little too late. Its drudgery, like watching paint dry, the hour and ten minutes that leads up to the conclusion. There just isn't enough of a story and the jokes are not funny enough to justify the lack of action.

This is one of the last movies of Brigitte Lin before she retired from the silver screen in 1995. The movie tells the tale of an evil assassin who eventually turned good. Brigitte brings to the character a touching sensibility. Underneath the cool assassin exterior, she harbours a warm and generous heart. If only her upbringing was not trained in the assassin way, she would have been a wonderful human being. As a movie, this one remains a favourite that you can watch over and over again. There is romance, comedy, and action thriller all wrapped up in one movie.

I came across this movie an odd way. I was at a local comic convention and won this movie along with some other stuff as a door prize. When I popped this DVD in I could barely believe my eyes. What I was watching was some crazy stunts and fx. Then a really interesting story comes in about a corrupt general and we learn the story of this woman assassin who works for him (only I get the feeling she's not to thrilled about serving him. But she seems to be in debt to him for his teaching of the "fire stance") Then to top it off we get some HUGE laughs that had me rolling on the floor. I don't agree with some of the other commenter's that think the plot is boring or the humor bad because so far I'm enjoying every moment of this wonderful tale. The only way I can describe this film is like you are watching a live action cartoon. Sometimes I feel like I am watching anime but I'm shocked to see live actors!It achieves this surreal experience through two things: a) Stunning special fx that leave you asking "how'd they do that!" and b) Off the wall comic jokes and characters. My opinion: How could you go wrong with this one? 10 stars and I haven't even finished watching the movie!