Shamrock Media German Mediabook Synopsis: Donnie Yen's Hong Kong action blockbuster “Cheetah On Fire” is finally in Germany for the first time! Freshly dubbed, the fiery cinema legend presents his big cat reflexes in this action film that is packed with martial arts fights and shootouts! A secret microchip falls into the hands of brutal criminals in Hong Kong. The security of the world is threatened and the CIA sends its best people to track down the gangsters together with the local police. This is the beginning of an infernal hunt that leads the powerful law enforcement officers from the dark streets of the metropolis into the deepest jungle, where an entire army of terrorists is already waiting for them! Big guns, powerful kicks and an immense body count: action icon Donnie Yen (Iron Monkey, Hero, Ip Man) shows off his skills as a CIA agent, which made him one of the most popular martial arts stars in the world. Also included are Man Cheung (Hard Game), Carrie Ng (Cover Hard 2) and martial arts legend Gordon Liu (Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2)! (87 Mins)

 

Views: A weapons dealer in Hong Kong has possession of a special computer chip which is needed to complete the build of a secret missile, and is attempting to sell it to a foreign government. But before he can make the sale, both the Hong Kong secret police and the CIA are determined to stop him – as well as a band of assassins who want it for themselves in order to make their rebel army unstoppable! Released in the Philippines as Fight To Survive, which is an understandable retitling, the action-packed Cheetah On Fire has always been seen as a throw-away piece of junk-food entertainment from this period of Hong Kong cinema, which I guess – to a point – it kinda is. But when you've been a die-hard fan of Asian cinema and this particular genre for almost 40 years already, you learn to enjoy these types of movies for what they are!

 

Of course, this was a period when every other film-maker in Hong Kong was pumping out fast-and-furious action flicks and I, for one, wasn't complaining. Many of these starred favourites such as Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Sibelle Hu and every other B-grade femme fatale of the time, often cast alongside past Shaw Brothers stars or lesser thought-of actors that were willing to work fast and cheap. To some degree, Cheetah On Fire falls into that very category. Even though it boasts a very impressive cast, the film is still plagued by a generic script and smaller production values, but proves to be an entertaining piece for the most part with plenty of outrageous action sequences, comic book-like characters, and some unintentional laughs. One of the people behind these very types of movies is the prolific Tsui Fat – a film journeyman who started life as a bit player in Shaw Brothers films such as The New One-Armed Swordsman (1971), The Angry Guest (1971), King Boxer (1972), Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires (1974), Heroes Two (1974), Killer Clans (1976), Death Duel (1977), and The Vengeful Beauty (1978) among many others. Over the years Fat would appear in films such as Hapkido (1972), Broken Oath (1977), Dragon Fist (1979), Last Hurrah For Chivalry (1979), Royal Warriors (1986), and more while becoming a fight director in the late 70s on films such as Kung Fu Vs Yoga (1979), Five Superfighters (1979), Fearless Hyena 2 (1983), The Fighting Fool (1980), The Innocent Interloper (1986), and then some. Although he produced The Executor in 1981, it would be a good decade before Tsui put that hat on again to deliver a quick fire set of films such as this, Crystal Hunt (1991), Dreaming The Reality (1991), Holy Virgin Vs The Evil Dead (1991), and the awesome 13 Cold Blooded Eagles (1993) of which he would also direct. Of course, each of these titles would also benefit from him choreographing the action, making stars such as the great Donnie Yen, Sibelle Hu, Ken Lo, Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, and Cynthia Khan look amazing on screen...

 

Utilising both of those duties here in Cheetah On Fire, as well as making an appearance as the Chief of Police, Tsui Fat – brother to the equally talented Hsu Hsia who is more famously known as the King of Sticks from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master (1978) – handed the directing reigns over to the little known Thomas Yip Shing Hong; the very same man behind one of my favourite Lam Ching Ying films, An Eternal Combat (1991), as well as Today's Hero (1991) with Kenny Bee and Maggie Cheung. Working with what he had, based on the budget and a script written by assistant director Hung Hin Pan who also wrote the aforementioned Tsui Fat/Donnie Yen action-fest Crystal Hunt from the previous year, Yip keeps things moving at a decent pace, delivering a neatly shot, by-the-book action-thriller that never tries to be anything bigger. Interestingly, the film was captured by cinematographer Philip Ma who had been working in the industry from the late 1970s, lensing films such as Crack Shadow Boxers (1979), The Magnificent 3 (1980), The Gold Connection (1980), Centipede Horror (1982), Holy Flame Of The Martial World (1983), The Bastard Swordsman (1983) and its sequel, and so much more before capturing modern action pieces like No Retreat No Surrender 2 (1987), The Peacock King (1989), Princess Madam (1989), Tsui Fat's 13 Cold Blooded Eagles (1993), City Hunter (1993), Killer's Romance (1990), Cyprus Tigers (1990), Royal Tramp 2 (1992), Red Wolf (1995), and many others.

 

But I would say, for many who opt to watch Cheetah On Fire, that it would be the fantastic cast on offer that proves to be one of its biggest draws. Of course, leading that cast is the awesome and fast-footed Donnie Yen Chi Tan! While we all enjoy him for the global action superstar that he is today, this would prove to be an odd wee period of the young star's career. Having already made a magnificent debut in 1984's Drunken Tai Chi, Yen would quickly go onto impress in films such as Mismatched Couples (1985), Tiger Cage 1 & 2 (1988/90), and the highly regarded In The Line Of Duty 4 (1989). And although he proved very much to be the star of the show, as well as one of the greatest on-screen fighters in Hong Kong cinema, nothing bigger ever really came out of it straight away. Alas, Yen would sign on with Tsui Fat for a 3 picture deal to bring us Crystal Hunt and Holy Virgin Vs The Evil Dead in 1991, and Cheetah On Fire in 1992; three lower budget action flicks that would allow him to show-off his martial-arts talents and keep the wolves from the door at the same time. Of course, straight after this, Yen would join forces with Tsui Hark and Yuen Woo Ping once again to star in hits such as Once Upon A Time In China 2 (1992), New Dragon Inn (1992), Iron Monkey (1993), Wing Chun (1994), and Hero Among Heroes (1993) as well as the outrageously fun Butterfly & Sword (1993) and others. Another few wobbly years would follow, but by the turn-of-the-century, everyone and anyone that enjoyed action cinema knew who Donnie Yen was – and rightly so! Here, Yen plays a similar type of character seen in his earlier cop-thrillers Tiger Cage 2 (1990) and In The Line Of Duty 4 (1989); a no-nonsense cool-as-fuck man of the law who likes to punch before he thinks, and likes to hide the fact that he really does care for his teammates.

 

A bevy of cast members from Crystal Hunt (1991), and some from Holy Virgin Vs The Evil Dead (1991), return with Donnie to work with Tsui Fat once again with many of these same stars having already (or going on to) cross paths on screen many times. These include Carrie Ng, Michael Woods, John Salvitti, Ken Lo, Takajo Fujimi, Shing Fui On, Eddy Ko, and Gordon Liu, with the addition of the wonderful Sharla Cheung Man. Ironically, Cheung had just came off the set of the underrated Tiger Cage 3 (1991) – the only chapter of the series that didn't star Donnie Yen – with Cheetah On Fire being the only film that the two stars would star in together. Having only made her film debut just 5 years earlier in Wong Jing's awesome Magic Crystal (1986), Cheung Man would quickly go onto impress in films such as The Romancing Star (1987) series, Operation Pink Squad 2 (1989), Swordsman (1990), My Neighbours Are Phantoms (1990), Lee Rock 1 & 2 (1991), God Of Gamblers (1989) with Chow Yun Fat, and numerous Stephen Chow Sing Chi titles including All For The Winner (1990), God Of Gamblers 2 & 3 (1990/91), Fight Back To School (1991), and others. Here, Cheung almost manages to steal the show as the tough-as-nails lady cop and past love interest of Yen's character, shooting and kicking her way through the action scenes as if she's been doing it all her life. Of course, under Tsui Fat's direction, she has been artfully doubled for the most impressive moves on display. Joining her in the fight for justice is the lovely Carrie Ng who already had over 40 film roles under her belt by the time this came about. These included films such as City On Fire (1987), Fury (1988), Gunmen (1988), The Dragon Fighter (1990), Skinny Tiger Fatty Dragon (1990), The Dragon From Russia (1990), Sex & Zen (1991) and the aforementioned Crystal Hunt (1991). Here, Carrie impresses just as much on the action front, getting in on almost every fight and holding her own against the very best. The likeable Eddie Kwan joins the team as another one of the leading men in the story. While he's never been a major player on the Hong Kong film scene, fans can catch Kwan in films such as Once A Killer (1991), The Roar Of The Vietnamese (1991), Raging Angels (1998) with Carrie Ng and Eddy Ko, and David Lam's popular 'Storm' series such as L Storm (2018), P Storm (2019) and G Storm (2021). Prior to this, Kwan had just starred with his Cheetah On Fire nemesis Gordon Liu on A Fiery Family (1989) which was directed by Wilson Tong. And finally, the brilliant Takajo Fujimi stars as the last of the good guys – albeit with a twist towards the end that sees both her and Carrie Ng trading moves. Having made her Hong Kong film debut in 1989 alongside Moon Lee in Tony Lou's Killer Angels (that featured fight choreography by non-other than Tsui Fat himself), Fujimi would spend the next decade impressing in films such as Crystal Hunt (1991), Erotic Passion (1992), Pink Panther (1993), Girl On Fire (1994), Stuntwoman Ah Kam (1996), and again in Moon Lee's brilliant Mission Of Condor (1990) where she would star as a deadly assassin alongside the great Ken Lo and Eddy Ko.

 

Kicking off in 1985 with a role in Tsui Hark's Working Class, Ken Lo very quickly gained the attention of a certain Jackie Chan where he would then be given the opportunity to join the official Jackie Chan Stunt Team, as well as work as Jackie Chan's personal bodyguard. Starring in almost every Jackie Chan film from there on in, Ken soon made a name for himself as a prominent Hong Kong cinema tough guy and would start appearing in other studio productions such as City Warriors (1988), Devil Hunters (1989), Widow Warriors (1990), Lethal Panther (1991), Godfather's Daughter Mafia Blues (1991), the aforementioned Mission Of Condor (1990), and Holy Virgin Vs The Evil Dead (1991) with Donnie and Tsui Fat just prior to this. During his 40 years in the industry so far, Lo Wai Kwong has appeared in around 150 movies and has proven to be a firm favourite of many. Here, in Cheetah On Fire, he doesn't disappoint as he shoots, kicks, dives and punches through anyone who gets in his way. The impressive and equally prolific Eddy Ko – star of Hong Kong hits such as The 14 Amazons (1972), The Thundering Mantis (1980), Hitman In The Hand Of Buddha (1981), The Postman Strikes Back (1982), Duel To The Death (1983), Heroes Shed No Tears (1984), The Peacock King (1989), and Dreaming The Reality (1991) among many others – stars as the wealthy businessman who does what he can to protect the much wanted computer chip and its owner; the always enjoyable Shing Fui On who appears in only one of his twenty roles from 1992. Students and close friends of Donnie, John Salvitti and Mike Woods, return for another showdown with the martial artist after both starring alongside him in the awesome In The Line Of Duty 4 (1989), Tiger Cage 2 (1990), and Crystal Hunt (1991) – with Woods also having appeared in the first Tiger Cage (1988) movie also. While their fights here have never been as highly regarded as those seen in both In The Line Of Duty 4 (1989) and Tiger Cage 2 (1990), they still prove to be highly entertaining and impressive with Mike Woods stealing the show as the manic general of the rebel army. And finally, backing them and fighting alongside Ken Lo for the most of the movie, is Shaw Brothers legend and all-round nice guy Gordon Liu (complete with a head of curls). Already a massive star before Donnie Yen was even out of school, the popular martial arts star tried shaking his career up in the late 80s by playing roles on both sides of the law in modern action movies such as A Bloody Fight (1988), Tiger On The Beat (1988), Killer Angels (1989), Last Hero In China (1993), and many others. In Cheetah On Fire, Liu gets the chance to play one of his meanest, putting bullets in everyone without a second thought, delivering some powerful and bloody blows during hand-to-hand combat, and sinking his teeth into a woman he's fucking while one of his men removes a bullet from his back. It's a long way from the guy who starred in The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (1978), but it works – oddly.

 

Supporting Tsui Fat in the action department are three experienced names that have had their own fair share of action-choreography and starring roles over the years, including appearances in this. The first is Lung Sang; bit player in films such as A Fiery Family (1989), Killer Angels (1989), Devil Hunters (1989), Seven Warriors (1989), and Crystal Hunt (1991) – many of which he also worked on as choreographer, often working alongside Tsui Fat. It's also worth noting that Lung directed two of his own features with Takajo Fujimi's Girl On Fire (1994) and Robert Mak's Special Action Force (1997) which also featured Brit-kicker Mark Houghton who also has a small role here. Choi Hin Cheung joins the action team and can be seen in over 70 features with small roles in films such as Project A (1983), Yes Madam! (1985), Tiger Cage (1988), Seven Warriors (1989), Vampire Settle Of Police Camp (1990) alongside Eddy Ko, Bodyguard From Beijing (1994), and Fatal Move (2008) to name but a few. While he has worked behind the scenes on a small number of films, Cheetah On Fire would be his first full credit as action-choreographer. The last of the trio is Tony Tam Chun To; extra and bit-player in a host of Shaw Brothers titles from Chinatown Kid (1977) to The Flag Of Iron (1980), and The Daredevils (1979) to Legendary Weapons Of China (1982), as well as showing up in films such as The Prodigal Son (1981), Miracle Fighters (1982), The Champions (1983), Tiger On The Beat (1988), Queen's High (1991), The Barefooted Kid (1993), Forbidden City Cop (1996) and Donnie Yen's directorial effort Legend Of The Wolf (1997) where he played the fighter with the chains and being credited as one of the action-choreographers of that also. Aside from that, Crystal Hunt (1991) and this, Tony Tam would would keep a strong working relationship with Yen continuing alongside him on films such as Dragon Tiger Gate (2006), Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen (2010), Wuxia (2011), The Lost Bladesman (2011), The Monkey King (2014), and Kung Fu Jungle (2014). Between the four of them (including Tsui Fat), they deliver a host of hardcore action scenes that really entertain on every level. From the opening shoot-out between most of the main characters that see bullets tearing up the road and people spinning through the air as they open-fire, to the equally ballistic battle at the bad guys hideaway, the gun-play here almost puts to shame the slower, more poetic style of John Woo. A further attack on Eddy Ko's house and warehouse showdown gives fans the chance to relish in more over-the-top martial-arts action as Donnie Yen, Cheung Man, Carrie Ng, and Takajo Fujimi go toe-to-toe with Gordon Liu, Ken Lo, and others. Aside from a few moments of wire-work and under-cranking, the fights are fast and furious with some impressive stunt work – but then again, what would you expect from the same team behind the fight-fests that have been mentioned. While plenty more action follows, fans will no doubt love the closing battles that shift to the jungle and allow for even more outrageous gun-play and fight action. It's also here that Mike Woods and John Salvitti are introduced, Takajo's true identity is revealed, and viewers are on the edge of their seats waiting to see just who survives the brutal beatings that are being dished out.

 

While it may be far from perfect in terms of what the likes of Golden Harvest and Cinema City was putting out starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat around this time, Cheetah On Fire does the best it can as a low budget production. It'll never win any awards for it's script, story, or even the performances involved, but as one of many 'typical' early 90s Hong Kong action flicks it certainly entertains and has enough enjoyable moments to override the negatives. Having just recently picked up the newly restored German Mediabook Blu-ray from Shamrock Media, I can honestly say I've never enjoyed the film as much – having only seen via a dodgy bootleg VHS way back in the mid 1990s. While hardcore Hong Kong movie fans like myself will appreciate it for what it is, cinema snobs may have a hard time switching off and just going along for the ride. Either way, Cheetah On Fire still gives action fans what they want, and we can't complain about that!

 

Overall: A far from perfect piece but another enjoyable slice of early 90s Hong Kong cinema, Cheetah On Fire wins with its great cast and hardcore fight action!

 

Shamrock Media German Mediabook Extras: Mike Woods Interview, Cheetah On Fire Trailers, Trailer Gallery for other Shamrock Media Releases