Born to Fight 6

ANGEL ON FIRE is an ultra-late addition to the girls with guns action genre from Hong Kong, shot and filmed for the most part in the Philippines. The director is none other than screen regular Phillip Ko, who also has a supporting role as (surprise) one of the bad guys. The great Cynthia Khan plays an Interpol agent on the trail of a stolen "precious thing" (no joke, that's all it's ever referred to as in the subtitles) who finds herself up against various bad guys. This is a real cheapie that nonetheless manages to be action-packed, particularly in the last 20 minutes. The actors are pretty wooden but the fights are fun and as a slice of so-bad-it's-good entertainment, this one hits the mark.

This is only the third Cynthia Khan film I've seen so far, and I'm already a big fan of hers - but how could I not be? She is a gorgeous woman, a good fighter, and a decent actress. In fact, I'm giving "Angel on Fire" a "** out of 4" rating basically thanks to her, because it probably deserves less. The plot is incoherent (with more different groups of villains than you'll be able to count), the editing is choppy, and the fighting, while good in spots (the woman who plays the thief arguably steals the show), is not up to par with that you can find in the "In The Line Of Duty" films with Cynthia. And making matters worse, my version was a subtitled one BUT with often illiterate ("How dare you are!") and unreadable (especially when the backgrounds are white) subtitles. A substandard presentation of a substandard movie.

Cheap and nasty is the best way to describe Philip Ko's 1995 action adventure starring the great Cynthia Khan and Yeung Pan Pan, as well as the man himself. At this stage of his career, he should have been making genuine classics regardless of the budget. It's not that the film isn't entertaining - it most certainly is, although, probably for the wrong reasons - but it's low budget production look, incoherent plot line, pointless random characters, and roughly edited (and choreographed) fight scenes keep this from being recognised as a classic femme-fatale flick!

While it jumps straight into the action, with lanky model Melanie Marquez stealing a relic from some Shaolin monks (leading to a ridiculous bicycle chase), the fights come dribbled throughout, shared between stars, and not really showcasing anything overly special. The wonderful Sharon Yeung Pan Pan plays a role that really didn't amount to much, except to get in on the action at the end. I must also note that, it was interesting to see Cynthia Khan dressed as Michelle Yeoh's character from Project S...

Waise Lee gets a cameo as Khan's boss, and director Ko pops in and out as one of the big baddies, getting in on the action here-and-there. Brit-kickers such as, the late Darren Shahlavi and Mark Houghton cameo as thugs, although only Mark gets a bit of action. Only working with what she had (the buck stops with Ko), Khan is clearly wasted here in terms of what we have seen from her in other films, and Marquez comes across as a, bit of a taller, Joyce Godenzi - although not as good in both her moves and screen presence.

Philip Ko has starred in some incredible roles over the years, and directed some genuine classics, but the results of Angel On Fire only make you feel sorry for him. The last 20 minutes is pretty much all-out-action and fighting, so if anything, you can always fast forward...

Overall: Sloppy, but has its moments, Angel On Fire is for Khan completists only, or Hong Kong film fans that really need to see everything on offer!