Ringue de Fogo

I remember watching the 1991 martial arts action movie "Ring of Fire" on VHS a couple of times back in the early and mid-1990s. Back then I had purchased the movie because I was a fan of Maria Ford. And then I stumbled upon "Ring of Fire" again here in 2023, needless to say that of course I opted to revisit the movie.

The movie is actually still as good, watchable, enjoyable and entertaining as I remembered it to be. So writers Jake Jacobs, Richard W. Munchkin and Steve Tymon definitely managed to put together a good script and storyline for the movie. Sure, it was full of early 1990s martial arts cheese, but that is what makes the movie so enjoyable.

The acting performances in the movie are fair enough. You know when you sit down to watch a movie such as "Ring of Fire" then you're not exactly in for Academy Award winning performances. But Don "The Dragon" Wilson actually carries the movie well enough with his combination of acting and martial arts skills. And of course it is a pleasure to see Maria Ford on the screen. I had actually totally forgotten about Eric Lee being in the movie, and he adds a wonderful element to the movie with his performance and character.

The martial arts sequences in "Ring of Fire" are fairly good. And the movie does have sufficient enough fights throughout the 100 minute runtime to keep it entertaining and action-packed.

If you enjoy the 1990s martial arts movie, then "Ring of Fire" from directors Richard W. Munchkin and Rick Jacobson is definitely well-worth watching.

My rating of "Ring of Fire" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Alright kids, we got a movie with Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Gary Daniels, Vince Murdocco, Eric Lee and many other badass guys, also, we have Maria Ford, we can expect 100 minutes of badass violence and probably get to see some boobs.

Yes, we get violence and boobs, but unfortunately we get too much romance, some of the fights are pretty cool, but the amount of "romance" pretty much ruins the movie (and sometimes, it gets boring), oh yeah, Don Wilson manages to kick some ass only in the last minutes.

I was going to give this movie a 5 out of 10 because of the fights, but i decided to add one extra star because of Maria Ford.

With a cast like this, i would make a proper action/martial arts film, but instead they decided to make a movie that would appeal the female audience.

Don 'The Dragon' Wilson stars as Dr. John Wu (No relation of course to Hong Kong legend John Woo) a doctor who falls in love with Julie (Maria Ford) John is Asian, Julie is white both their siblings run rival gangs and hence West Side Story is turned into a ridiculous martial arts clunker. For a movie called Ring Of Fire there sure is very little action, even Don Wilson doesn't get into the ring until the climax and while this fight sequence is admittedly well choreographed the rest of the movie is completely dulls-ville with a nauseating love story that never develops any spark and action sequences that lack the overall edge a Bloodsport or Kickboxer might. I still can't believe that somebody thought that putting Don Wilson and Maria Ford in a romance plot angle was a good idea. I also can't believe that Don Wilson didn't even fight until the climax. I also can't believe how bad this movie was.

* out of 4-(Bad)

If there was any point in history when Romeo & Juliet could have been transposed into a Los Angeles setting, with added kickboxing, it was the early 1990s, and thankfully Don 'The Dragon' Wilson was at hand to provide it to us. I suppose it makes a change from movies based on better movies starring Jean Claude Van Damme!

The movie follows retired Kickboxer-come-doctor Johnny Woo (Wilson) whose cousin Terry (Steven Vincent Leigh) is part of an all Chinese Kickboxing gang. Terry's gang are embroiled in a bitter feud with 'The Surfers' an all white (though not strictly all American) rival Kickboxing gang. Who knew it was such a popular pastime? Things take a turn for the complicated when Johnny falls for Julie (B-Movie Queen Maria Ford) blonde, beautiful and the American Dream. Only slight hiccup is Julie's brother Brad (Dale Jacoby) happens to be leader of The Surfers. Oh and her fiancée Chuck (Vince Murdocco) is his main sidekick.

As Johnny and Julie go for romantic walks on Venice Beach, the gangs decide to settle their differences 'the way of the Ancients' with their gloves dipped in broken glass (Wilson couldn't make ONE FILM without a Van Damme 'homage') the devastating result of this leads Johnny to question his peaceful life and consider stepping back into the ring...

Ring of Fire is somewhat unique for its time and genre in that it seems to give its plot and love story precedence over the action sequences. It also pulls no punches with regards to the racial tension between the two gangs, which is perhaps almost too mature a subject to embrace in a movie like this. Unique isn't always better and perhaps given the calibre of the talent involved, it would have made more sense to stick to the high kicks as opposed to high drama. It's interesting to note that our leading pair are actually morally questionable, with their romance a full blown affair behind her fiancées back, and the tragic incident the film's final battle revolves around is actually Wilson's idea.

The movie features a veritable ensemble cast of early 90s fighters turned actors, with Gary Daniels and Eric Lee in there as well as the aforementioned stars. Needless to say these gents were hired for their fighting prowess more so than their acting. Wilson himself is...well, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson. This is an unusually 'meaty' role for The Dragon, with his kickboxing skills relatively restrained. I'd love to say he nails it, but I'd be lying. There are flashes of a performance in there, but almost as many flashes of solid wood. On the flipside Jacoby delves far into the depths of over-acting, making him hard to take seriously. By large I've always found Vince Murdocco a somewhat likeable presence, so seeing him as a racist villain takes some getting used to.

This isn't to say that the action sequences are perfect either. Considering the lack of them, when they do come along, results vary. The in-ring fights are, by large, of a passable-to-good standard, but the Chinatown gang war is one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes I've seen in a while. Neither full blown, fantastic Hong Kong style choreography not realistic scrapping, we're treated to the sight of grown men performing roundhouse kicks and flipping off benches to evade attacks. The final fight, where we finally get to see Wilson in action, is also a strange one, starting as a fairly disappointingly scripted fight, it quickly degenerates into a hilarious pro-wrestling (and I mean like WCW at its worst) style farce you have to laugh at.

Indeed some of the movies best moments come from the comedy it provides. Some intentional, some...not so. Eric Lee as the Chinese gangs 'Drunken Master' actually works surprisingly well for a character of this type, and one scene, where Ford's character mistakes Wilson for a waiter, is made funnier than it should be thanks to his reaction. Sadly some of the scenes the pair share that are meant to show their romance blossoming are actually as funny, which I don't believe was the plan.

Ring of Fire is neither the best nor the worst Don 'The Dragon' Wilson movie (albeit I'm not strictly sure what either of those are off hand) It was made with a target audience in mind, and if you are a fan of this type of Direct-To-Video Martial Arts movie there is a high chance you've seen it, and if you haven't I wouldn't go as far as recommending it, it's a bit too thin on action for that, but if TV channels that still show this type of movie still exist, there are worse ways to pass your time. Remarkably, this spawned 2 sequels, which, even more remarkably, I also subjected myself to.

WOW, this movie was garbage, by looking at the cover and reading the back of the box, it looked sorta cool... but no, no it was not. I would not recomend this movie to anyone... I may as well have rented Titanic, although that seemed a bit more interesting than this, the only good part to this movie was the 30 second old skool Thai fight scene with the ring of fire and tar/glass hands wraps... that is all!!! Garbage... oh yeah, did i mention that this movie was garbage?!