Laserdisc Title: "ISLAND OF FIRE" Cantonese & Mandarin Version
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single Disc)
Directed By: Yen-Ping Chu
Starring: Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Yu Wang
Production / Year: 1991
Running Time: 96 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, Mono, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: ---English Subtitled also---
Distributed By: Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd
Catalog / Spine Number: ULV3108

IMPORTANT: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Very Good - Very few very light to very minor hairline surface swirls or very light fingerprint marks
Jacket: Excellent - Normal shelf wear, few creases, slightly worn-out corners or edges but no signs of spines splitting

Synopsis:

Island on Fire (1991) 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.

Though Jackie Chan is billed as the star of The Prisoner, he's actually part of a stellar ensemble cast including Sammo Hung (Dragons Forever, TV's Martial Law), Andy Lau (Saviour of the Soul), and Tony Leung Ka-fai (The Lover). Leung plays a cop who goes undercover in a prison to dig out corruption; Hung is a roustabout prisoner who keeps breaking out to see his son; Chan plays a pool shark who accidentally kills a gambler; and Lau is that gambler's mob boss brother who's sworn to kill Chan. They all end up in the same prison, resulting in a complex, engrossing, and sometimes brutal story--think of it as the Hong Kong version of HBO's Oz. Which is not to say it isn't full of the bizarre narrative shifts that make Hong Kong movies such a perverse pleasure: Chan got into a fight with this gambler because he was trying to raise money to buy his dying girlfriend a black-market liver; at one point, Hung escapes and takes his son to the park, where they buy cotton candy and have some quality time; and at the end the whole movie takes a bizarre lurch into John Woo-style gunplay spectacle.

This isn't a criticism--this crazy quilt of emotional tones and genres adds to the movie's entertainment value without detracting from the emotional power of some gripping scenes of prison conflict. For new Jackie Chan fans who've seen his American movies and want to learn more about why he's one of the biggest stars in the world, this is probably not the right place to start; but for anyone looking to experience more of one of the world's most exuberant and engaging bodies of cinema, The Prisoner offers jolting fights and hairpin twists and turns.

THIS IS NOT A DVD!!! THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

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