The Prisoner (1990)

A cop goes undercover to infiltrate a deadly prison where a team of mercernaries is being assembled.

Director:

Yen-Ping Chu (as Lawrence Full)

Writers:

Li Fu (as Lee Fu), Yun Chiao Yeh

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Cast

Credited cast:
Jackie Chan	...	Lung / Steve Tong
Andy Lau	...	Lau / Boss Lee
Sammo Kam-Bo Hung	...	Fatty Liu Hsi Chia / John Liu
Tony Ka Fai Leung	...	Wei Wang / Andy Lau
Yu Wang	...	Kui / Lucas
Chun Hsiung Ko	...	Prison Chief / Prison Superintendent (as Chun-Hsiung Ko)
Tsung-Hua Tuo	...	Chiu / Charlie
Barry Wong	...	Inspector Wong
Chuan-Chen Yeh	...	Fong
Jack Kao	...	Ho
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wang An
Chung-Kuei Chang
Jui-chu Chang
Kuo-Chu Chang	...	Miao-sheng / Seng
Rachel Chang	...	Woman in the rain (as Chang Shui-chu)

Storyline

Someone in a prison run by a corrupt warden fakes the deaths of convicts to later use them as expendable assassins. A police officer is sent into the prison to gather evidence of the corruption.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | death | warden | corruption | carnage | 

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Taglines:

When you're looking for the living dead you start your search in hell!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese English Tagalog

Release Date:

1990 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan Is the Prisoner

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blaine and Blake Ltd., Spartan Home Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min (USA)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's theme song, The Last Gunshot by Cui Jian, was written as a response to the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Beijing, China.

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Crazy Credits

An outtake reel in shown during the end credits.

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Connections

Followed by Burning Island 2 (1997)

User Reviews

Explosive action with all star cast

Film maker Chu Yin-Ping's Island of Fire (1990, Hong Kong) stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Andy Lau and Tony Leung and they're all great. Tony plays a cop who goes undercover into one infamous prison in order to search for the truth behind one criminal who was supposed to be dead but seems not to be that way. Jackie plays a sort of lowlife who kills a man and is sent to the prison. Andy plays a violent triad boss who seeks revenge for the man who killed his brother. Sammo is a man who misses his son and occasionally breaks free from the prison in order to see him, and is always badly beaten as a punishment. Living in that prison is dangerous and so are the wardens, and once violence finally reaches a horrific climax mostly because of Leung's character, some new aspects about the prison death sentences and those "killed" are revealed.

Director Chu has made many films which include a violent and gritty triad film Requital (1992) and Island has some familiar elements from that film, too. Fortunately Island omits all the possible comic situations which too often destroy many otherwise great or noteworthy HK films and make them more than irritating to watch. Island is serious and pretty dark film and that is a great thing.

There are couple of great and also emotional scenes which include the rice eating scene and Sammo meeting his son scene, but they remain a little separate as they don't, after all, give too much to the whole story, characters and film content and they just serve to give those scenes themselves some touching and dramatic elements without adding anything which would mean something important for the whole film. So this film is pretty shallow and misses any message or themes it may had been able to have. It has some heroic (bloodshed) scenes and scenes depicting the friendship and loyalty between the prisoners and those scenes are among the greatest things this film can give, but they are never handled as far as John Woo does, for example. Also, the ending is pretty non-believable but still great and gritty action scene which also could have meant something more than it now does. The gratuitous final image is there just to make the film look nicer and leave sweeter taste to the mouth, and thus it is pretty commercial and unnecessary, I think.

The film concentrates on to give us fierce martial arts fights and equally fierce gun battles and as a pure action film this film succeeds and should please the junkies of HK action cinema, but if one prefers films with something more than just action, then Island of Fire isn't among the greatest recommendations. I can appreciate this due to its high impact action and mayhem on screen, again something never/rarely equaled by Western cinema, but still I give this "just" 6/10.

The British DVD by Hong Kong Legends includes the rare deleted scenes (approx. 30 minutes) which were included only in the Taiwanese version of the film. They give many new aspects to the film character's and in a way improve the film. Also the interview with the director is among the most interesting (albeit brief) extras I've seen in any DVD.