Burning Paradise is a 1994 film from Hong Kong-based director Ringo Lam. Lam is best known in the West for directing the film City on Fire, a movie that Quentin Tarantino has been unfairly accused of plagiarizing for Reservoir Dogs. He has made more urban crime movies rather than period martial arts films like this one.
Fong Sai Yuk (Willie Chi Tian-sheng) is captured by Manchu dynasty government agents and sent to the Red Lotus Temple, where Shaolin monks are tortured and enslaved by evil prison warden Kung (Wong Kam Kong). In this Wuxia (historical martial arts epic) film, Hung Hei-Kwan (Yang Sheng), a Shaolin monk pressed into service by Kong as his henchman, quickly comes into conflict with Fong—but it turns out that all is not what it seems with Hung.
The bulk of the movie is set in the Red Lotus Temple prison, which often feels a lot like the Temple of Doom or even the videogame Quake. There’s a sort of videogame logic involved, where you’ve got to get through this booby-trapped room or past these fighters to get to the next room/level. There’s also a bit of a horror aspect, which makes it somewhat unique in the genre.
It’s an interesting movie with some very good martial arts stuff—which is much more violent than I expected. The action sequences and some of the deaths are well-staged and very memorable. There’s a great moment where they are going to pray to a stone Buddha, which then sends out machine-gun fire. The villain Kong is a real monster, which helps.
Burning Paradise provides an interesting take on the genre, full of crazy traps and an appealing amount of gothic horror. I definitely enjoyed it, though not necessarily for the story. The choreography is as astounding as you might hope for in one of these films. The genre-hopping aspect of the movie makes it stand o ut. If you’re up for a martial arts epic, it’s definitely worth a look.
Eureka’s Blu-Ray release also includes a commentary from Asian film expert Frank Djeng, the original theatrical trailer, and a four-minute interview with Tsui Hark. It comes with a collectors booklet with new writing by film writer James Oliver.
★★★½
Ian Schultz
psychotroniccinema.com 