You are currently displaying Big5
火舞風雲 (1988)
Bet on Fire


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 08/20/2001
Summary: Overdone melodrama

First of all, I watched this film under a double disadvantage. The VCD was in Mandarin and had no subtitles. Made it hard to follow the finer details and work out character names.

However, the film seemed to suffer a rather incoherent story anyway. Also, the acting was an odd casserole of different styles. The key characters were played by Cheung Man and Cherie. Cheung overacted wildly (as did much of the support cast), while Cherie flounced around trying to look cool, and was often filmed in slow-mo.

Much of the action takes place in a nightclub and the principal characters are either hostesses or gangsters. The hostesses spend much of the picture bitch-fighting amongst themselves. Somewjere along the way, something happens to get a gangster boss seriously annoyed, then people start taking sides and getting seriously hurt and killed. Being unclear as to why this happened is one clear reason why I got less out of this movie than I expected from such a good cast.

As with many HK films, the climactic fight scene is the highlight, and of course spending an hour and a half watching Cherie and Cheung with glamour look is never entirely a waste.

But it should have been a lot better.

Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/21/1999

With a convict for a father, a sick mother and a college-boundsister, a young girl is forced to lead the life of a nightclub hostess. A tale of revenge & friendship.

[Reviewed by Tai Seng Catalog]