User Reviews

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.

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.

WARNING: Possible Spoilers

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this movie, as Don "The Dragon" Wilson is responsible for the original "Bloodfist", one of the most tedious and laughably cheap looking "martial arts" movies ever as well of a bunch of bad but fairly entertaining, or just plain bad Roger Corman produced flicks. However, this 1994 release from PM Entertainment is MUCH better and if you have 83 minutes you want to pass quick, then this is a worthwhile piece of 80's style entertainment.

Don "The Dragon" Wilson stars as Doctor Johnny Wu. Yes, it does seem awful odd to cast him as a doctor, but luckily you don't see much of that. He's about to go on holiday with his son up to a friends cabin in the mountains the same night. Meanwhile, a group of petty thieves break into the Mafia's basement and steal from the safe. They grab 2 bags from the corner which unfortunately for them, one contains a floppy diskette containing evidence which could put them down. The mafia catch them as they're escaping and a gunfight erupts, 3 get killed but the one with the money and the diskette manages to jump in a car and we get a typical PM Entertainment style high speed pursuit. If you've seen other PM movies such as "Rage" with Gary Daniels and "Executive Target" with Michael Madsen and Keith David then you know the score. Lots of vehicles crash and blow up without reason in a totally ridiculous but stupidly entertaining style. Eventually the one remaining petty thief crashes and the Mafia catch him, he refuses to let go of the bags. Meanwhile, Doctor Johnny Wu is on his way home from work and catches this and defends "Fingers", our petty thief. as the cops come, the Mafia leave the scene. An ambulance is called and "Fingers" is taken away. Meanwhile, Dr Johnny Wu picks up one of the bags which happens to be the one with the diskette and proceeds home. The other bag is brought into the ambulance. The Mafia then ambush the ambulance and find that the bag is not there, so they have problems. They then go to the home of Doctor Johnny Wu (how they found where he lives remains to be explained) and find out from his mother that he's spending the night with his son in a cabin up in the mountains. Meanwhile, Dr Johnny Wu has just met Kelly (Bobbie Philips), a female forest ranger who he spends the night with. She just leaves as the villains arrive and attack the cabin, his son manages to escape and is rescued by Kelly, who leaves him with an old friend of hers who lives locally. What follows is a cat and mouse game between the villains and Johnny Wu and Kelly. I won't spoil the rest for you, but you'll already have worked out that the good guys win.

Visually, the scenery is nice and much more importantly looks A LOT better than the Roger Corman produced Don "The Dragon" Wilson movies. The fight choreography is WAY better and at times looks rather impressive and a lot more convincing than the big budget Hollywood drivel ripped off from The Matrix, full of computer generated effects, slow motion and stunt doubles. The villains are all rather typical action movie villains who make tons of silly mistakes. The scene where he directed one towards a bear trap claiming the disk was there was pretty damn funny to say the least, many others shoot frantically at nothing, get crept up on and beaten up. Sound familiar? Well it is, but it's fun, moves quickly and if you like plain old 80's style action, I can almost assure you you'll watch this from beginning to end.

Nobody is going to win any awards for their acting but let's be honest, did you expect an oscar winning performance in a movie like this? I wasn't, and was able to accept what I got as nothing was outrageously bad.

If you're into an easy to follow, pass the time movie with non stop 80's style action then this will do nicely. In no way a cinematic masterpiece, but an incredibly fun dumb action flick for a Friday night.

Rating: 08/10