This is a brutal portrayal of Hong Kong big-house life in Cantonese language. It concerns about a naive innocent(Tony Leung Ka Fair,The lover) who has been framed by accidental homicide and unjustly imprisoned behind bars. A mobster sets him up against other inmates and he's accused as informer. He becomes friend with a tough but sympathetic inmate(Chow Yun Fat,Better tomorrow) fighting Chinenes triads and against a cruel warden nicknamed scarface(Roy Cheung). The protagonists, each other, developing a fraternal friendship against their enemies and get involved with the unjust prison system commanded by nasties wardens.
The picture packs thriller, bloodshed, drama and lots of violence. Every prison clichés are exposed, including riots, fighting, abuse, evil security wardens, among others. The film contains a strong prison-drama in the wake of ¨Midnight express¨ with essentially the same argument but also displays touching images, such as the lyrical Christmas dance sequence and the emotive relationship between the two leading characters. This is the second and the best installment into ¨On fire ¨ trilogy , the first is titled ¨City on fire¨ and the third titled ¨ Prison on fire 2¨ where Ching again in prison troubled by an ongoing battle between local inmates and those from Mainland China. The trilogy is well directed by Ringo Lam. He's a nice Chinese director, filmmaker for Jackie Chan(Double dragon)and was hired in US for Jean Claude Van Damme vehicles(In hell, Replicant, Maximum risk), but nowadays he has returned Hong Kong for directing his usual Chop-Socky movies. Rating : Good and entertaining, the motion picture will like to Hong Kong movies enthusiastic and Chow Yun Fat fans.
