Burning Paradise

The Red Lotus Temple, where most of Ringo Lam's "Burning Paradise" takes place, is a real house of horrors. The temple prison is where followers of Shaolin are taken, mostly to be killed in various gruesome ways. The lead character, Fong Sai Yuk, is a Chinese hero who has appeared in other movies, such as the two starring Jet Li. Here, Fong Sai Yuk's opponent is the insane military man who controls the temple. This guy is impervious to weapons, as Fong finds out early in the picture. More than anything else, "Burning Paradise" is a horror movie. Instead of a haunted house where visitors die, you have prisoners in a temple in which there seems to be no escape. Still, the movie is well made. If this movie were released in the US, it would easily get an R-rating for violence.

I have always been keen on watching Hong Kong movies, but all of them failed to meet my expectations...until now! BURNING PARADISE doesn't contain the flat humor most HK movies have, nor a second rate story line that has been dragged into the film. The story is not complex, but there are never scenes that are just there to fill some "intelligent" space (the only truely intelligent martial arts film I have seen is CROUCHING TIGER, but since Hollywood is involved it is no true HK movie for me). There are some incredible fight scenes in this movie, from the first one(which is one of the coolest I have ever seen, yet so short) to the last main scenes! But mind, there's also a lot of blood that flows (people cut in half, decapitated, etc). The production is pretty good and the special effects show that the fantasy of the writer can be fulfilled even though some shots must be pretty technical (notice: the sheet of paper that he throws and got pinned into a wall!). Yep, it's not Tsui Hark or John Woo that made my favorite Hong Kong film, it's Ringo Lam! And I'm sure as hell going to check out more from this director! Ace.

Burning Paradise is director Ringo Lam's dark take on the wuxia film. Much of what he did with the heroic bloodshed genre, he did here. If you have seen some classic Shaw Bros. Period kung fu flicks you should be familiar with the struggle with the treacherous Manchu's from up North reeking havoc through China. This is the struggle of Shaolin monks in an underground prison camp run by the villainous Manchu's. The tone is bleak and told in a fairly straightforward fashion with minimal humor. While this is a fantasy film, it's approached with more gritty realism than something like Swordsman 2. There is no lack of action to speak of. The entire film is jam packed with lots of exciting wire fu sequences and it gets quite messy with a lot of blood..The hero of the film(Fong Sai Yuk is a popular figure in thsrs films and is played much more serious here than the lighthearted take on the character that was made with Jet Li). The mood of the piece is very somber and bleak. The film looks sharp and the period costumes are good as well. Much of what the film does, it does well. There are no major stars in this film, but rarely matters as everyone is good in their roles. Ringo Lam tells this story his own way and at his own pace making a very solid entry to the swordplay genre that is also both unique and well made.

(1994) Burning Paradise (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION/ HISTORICAL FICTION/ COMEDY

Another 'Fong Sai Yuk' period period piece whereas most of the action takes place in the "Red Lotus Temple" similar to tombs the Indiana Jones does his adventures in except that the person who lives in this one pretty much may also be the one who build and designed it. Anyways, cult martial art figure baddie has main objective was to capture and destroy all the Shaolin Temples before making their pupils/ students to work as slaves for the "Red Lotus Temple" showcasing folk lore hero Fong Sai-yuk at beginning stages attempting to run away from being captured along with his Shaolin teacher but are eventually captured. Wires was used for the fights at the early stages but not so much as the film progresses.

Nasty unrelenting action set in a prison that's itself a really creepy and important "character".

Top-notch wire work, good mix of fighting styles (including paint-fu!), and fine production values -- with the sore exception of some rubber weapons in the crowd scenes.

9 out of 10.