Cheetah on Fire (1992)

A group of American cops travel to Hong Kong to extradite a local gangster, as he is believed to be in possession of a computer chip vital to US national security. On the way to the airport they are ambushed and the perp escapes, but it doesn't look like it was a rescue attempt. Cops and crooks are in a race to find him first.

Cheetah On Fire is kind of nonsense and the plot is basically unimportant, it's just there to bring together the characters the film wants to include. The characters are not particularly interesting, they're standard archetypes bordering on cliches, but they're colourful enough to allow the cast to inject their own charisma into the role.

Donnie Yen gets the best and worst of this - his character is phenomenally cliched, a hot-headed cop who won't follow orders etc., which plays into Donnie's cocky self-assurance... and reminds us what an irritating character trait that is. His Hong Kong counterpart is Eddie Kwan, whose performance is actually not bad, but more understated and therefore forgettable. Carrie Ng has a more playful role and has fun with it, whilst Cheung Man is more "mature" and her performance is correspondingly bland.

The villains arguably have the best deal - Gordon Liu, Ken Lo, Michael Woods and John Salvitti are not tasked with much character development beyond "evil badass fighting machine", which allows them to go big and loud with their performances - and that is the register where this film is at its best.

That's the bottom line, the film is big, loud and kinda dumb but it serves up plenty of action, delivered in the classic 80's/90's modern day Hong Kong style. Fists, kicks, bullets and explosions fly across the screen in implausible quantities, resulting in spectacular carnage. It's not the tightest choreography, a bit sloppy and generic, but it's plentiful and extravagant.

If you're expecting another great Donnie Yen vs Michael Woods showdown, be aware that whilst Michael Woods has one of his bigger roles here, he and Donnie don't fight! Donnie takes on Gordon Liu in the finale, whilst Eddie Kwan and Carrie Ng tackle Woods and Salvitti. It's a bit disappointing, but at least everybody gets something to do.