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
Jimmy Wang Yu	...	Kui / Lucas (as Yu Wang)
Chun-Hsiung Ko	...	Prison Chief / Prison Superintendent
Tsung-Hua To	...	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 | corrupt cop | 

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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

Official Sites:

film information

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

Jackie Chan was reportedly so displeased with the movie, and that his name and image were being used to sell it, that he bought the rights and attempted to shelve it indefinitely. Despite his efforts the film was released in several parts of Asia none the less.

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Crazy Credits

An outtake reel in shown during the end credits.

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Alternate Versions

Taiwanese video is 35 minutes longer than Hong Kong version and features more character development of the Taiwanese actors and bit players.

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Connections

References Bad Boys (1983)

User Reviews

Island on Fire: The Taiwan version.

Island on Fire (1990) was released in three different version, the Hong Kong theatrical run, the badly dubbed nonsensical U.S. version and the original two hour plus Taiwan cut. The best one out of the three is the Taiwanese print. This film was a "charity" film that was made to help the director who was in some real "financial" trouble with some shady characters.

The director's best friend "Jimmy" Wang Yu called up some actors who "owed" him some favors. The top flight actors did the work for little or no pay. They were making a movie that was going to make some money, not a classic or anything like that. Just a quick film that'll make some fast bucks. Let's take a look at the different prints shall we?

1.) The Hong Kong cut is a fast paced action film. Only the bare bones are left. Little plot is left in the way of seeing some of the actors on the screen. The story is simple, someone is hiring dead criminals to whack important people. Tony Leung Ka Fai get's involved when his fiancée's father get's whacked by the "dead" assassin. After snooping around he finds out that they're coming from a Taiwanese prison. So, old Tony gets himself arrested and his buddy pulls a few strings to get him inside the "big house".

2.) The United States print re-dubs a lot of the scenes making many of them nonsensical. The dialog is drastically changed and some scenes are just re-dubbed (i.e. Jackie Chan is thrown in prison for accidentally killing Andy Lau's brother).

Whilst in prison Andy Lau tries to have some of his inside men try and kill Jackie. Wang Yu doesn't want the prisoners killing each other or stupid things like that. He wants it civil inside. So to placate Lau's men he slices his arm and squeezes out some blood whilst telling them, "Let Lau know that I have bled for his brother, there will be no violence in my prison." Well, to that effect any way.

In the U.S. version he just cuts his arm to show the two how "crazy" he can get. "You wanna see crazy! I'll show you crazy!!" he tells the two as he cut's his arm?! Doesn't make any sense. It goes on like this for ninety minutes! The DVD is horrible, not only is it badly dubbed but the "commentary" is worthless. Hell I know more about the movie than the guy they put on it.

3.) The Taiwanese cut is over two hours long and it fleshes out the characters. Unlike the Hong Kong version, the film is fully subtitled in English (the subs disappear during the last eight minuted in the Hong Kong print). What I like about the Taiwan version is that the true motives of the characters are revealed. The movie makes a lot more sense and you call feel for them. It's also not as jumpy and confusing.

The rest of the movie is real interesting. You'll be in for a surprise by the wild ending and the shocking conclusion!

Highly recommended!

Taiwan print: A+

H.K. print: B

U.S. print: F-