Le cercle de feu III

la version française

It's like they put all of the biggest cliché's together and made a movie out of it. Every thing is wrong about this film: stereotypical portrayals of Russian villains, the mafia and ghetto thugs (and kick-boxing champions). Unbelievable coincidences like the fact that Dr. Wu has exactly the same bag as the burglars (so of course the bags are mixed up). And in the same scene Dr. Wu is first threatened with a gun, kicks the gun out of the mobster's hands and then starts to fight with the other mobsters, while no one thinks of pulling a gun and simply shoot the good ol' Dr. Painstaking efforts at acting, especially in the scenes that are meant to be sentimental and/or romantic. And cliché up on cliché... The fighting scenes are of the most boring kind; if this guy is a kick-boxing champion, then kick-boxing must be very lame...

Dr. Johnny Wu (The Dragon) is once again taking on the baddies in this third (and, to date, final) entry in the Ring of Fire series. Johnny and his son Bobby (Wilson's real-life son Jonathan) decide to take a break and they drive into the country to relax at the cabin of a fellow doctor. Unfortunately, this is really bad timing, as the Italian and Russian mobs are joining forces to form an international criminal alliance. Their first order of business now that they are teaming up (and gathering lots of street thugs as foot soldiers to boot) is to get some nukes, a ton of money, and a computer disc (what else?) with all the important information baddies need to take over the world. By sheer accident, Johnny Wu ends up with the disc, so, far from enjoying this idyllic pastoral setting, he's kicking and punching his way through wave after wave of goons who think they can beat him. Along the way, he gets help from local park ranger Marla (Barish). Will the bad guys get the disc? What will happen to Johnny and his son? Find out today... Lion Strike (as it's simply called in its on-screen title) is a movie of two halves. The first half has that wacky, freewheeling style we always love. Common sense is thrown to the wind and there are plenty of nonsensically enjoyable moments. The second half is your standard beat-em-up, filled with brain-numbing action bits. The fact that there are no less than three credited directors for this movie may have something to do with its schizophrenic character. While the first half has a machine gun-toting grandpa, an exploding helicopter, angry punks that drive their motorcycles into a hospital, and Don's son mercilessly beating up a bag of popcorn while wearing a li'l leather jacket, among other delightful moments, the second half just has some punching and kicking. So to whoever directed the first half of this movie, kudos. To the director (s) of the second half...you should have done better to keep the momentum of the first half going. Because this is a PM movie, after all, it has plenty of high-quality explosions, and its time-honored car stunt. And Michael Delano is in it. While criminals searching for "The Disc" has been seen in countless actioners, there are plenty of classic 90's moments on display, such as Don's first-generation cellular phone, and Bobby's bowl haircut, which no 90's tot could be without. And because Joe Pesci was huge in the 90's, there's a classic "annoying Italian guy" with a nasal voice named Vinny (Del Regno) ready to give him a run for his money. As in most Don movies, he gets shirtless for no reason. Moving on, there's also the tried-and-true final warehouse fight. The fact that this movie gives Don the opportunity to take on the Russians and the Italians, working in concert, among other goons, is somewhat novel. Fan favorite Michael Jai White is in it for a very small amount of time, inexplicably playing a guy named Silvio. We definitely wanted to see more of him. Also, as in other Don movies, at least one of his titles is on-screen with him in the opening credits, but why is "World Kickboxing Champion" in quotes? Is he not really? So, in the end, fans of the PM style or Don The Dragon will enjoy this, but we wish the whole movie delivered on the promise of its first half.

I should admit at the beginning of this review that I haven't actually watched any of the other RING OF FIRE movies, of which this is the third. However, I don't think I need to worry as they seem to tell unconnected stories. This one sees '90s action hero Don "The Dragon" Wilson playing a doctor (!) who accidentally comes into possession of a valuable computer disc that Russian gangsters are trying to get their hands on. Mucho action ensues. This is a very typical offering from PM Entertainment, but at least it offers tons of action so you can take your mind off the less-than-stellar scripting. The first half is the best and features attacks on hospitals by motorbike goons and Wilson kicking the heck out of anybody who gets in his way. The second half is mostly set in the woods and is less inventive, but still quite fun. The action is a good mix of martial arts, shooting, and the usual explosions. Watch out for Robert Costanzo, the traffic cop from DIE HARD 2, as one of the bad guys.

"Lion Strike" aka "Ring of Fire III" begins with a friendly sparring match between Don "The Dragon" Wilson and another guy on the roof of his hospital ("what kind of doctor are you?"), which is interrupted by the escape attempt of an elderly mobster patient via helicopter. Wilson manages to stop the attempt and kill all the bad guys, but his friend also gets severely shot. Then this entire sequence is completely forgotten and never referenced again. I've rarely seen a more random and incoherent way to open a movie. If you get past the first 10 minutes, this is a fairly OK low-budget actioner. Wilson is in pretty good form, Bobbie Phillips (is it just me or does she look a bit like Angelina Jolie?) makes a charming and compatible sidekick for him (but gets only one real chance to show her moves), there are some spectacular stunts and some pretty woodsy/snowy locations. A film you can take or leave. ** out of 4.

source: Lion Strike

Moviecut—Lion Strike

Lion Strike

Don Wilson kicks the s**t out of some cardboard character b-movie villains (Russian mob, American mob, garden variety street thugs) and delivers some stultifying dialogue with the brain-dead child playing his son (ominously with the same last name) and Natalie Barish, who plays a Ranger. (A Sloane Ranger maybe but that's all she could ever be.) Ah well, the Pacific Northwest settings are nice. And the fights are good. If ya like that sort of thing.

It's like they put all of the biggest cliché's together and made a movie out of it. Every thing is wrong about this film: stereotypical portrayals of Russian villains, the mafia and ghetto thugs (and kick-boxing champions). Unbelievable coincidences like the fact that Dr. Wu has exactly the same bag as the burglars (so of course the bags are mixed up). And in the same scene Dr. Wu is first threatened with a gun, kicks the gun out of the mobster's hands and then starts to fight with the other mobsters, while no one thinks of pulling a gun and simply shoot the good ol' Dr. Painstaking efforts at acting, especially in the scenes that are meant to be sentimental and/or romantic. And cliché up on cliché... The fighting scenes are of the most boring kind; if this guy is a kick-boxing champion, then kick-boxing must be very lame...