School on Fire, City on Fire, Prison on Fire: seems like Hong Kong was a rather dangerous place to be in the '80s, a veritable inferno thanks to top HK action director Ringo Lam, who directed the aforementioned trio of movies, and who returned to briefly reignite the series in the early '90s with this sequel to Prison on Fire.
In Prison on Fire II, Asian superstar Chow Yun Fat reprises his role as convict Ching, who must stay on his guard after he is wrongfully accused of identifying gang leader Boss Dragon (Sung Young Chen) as the killer of a fellow prisoner during a riot. Ching must also keep a wary eye on sadistic prison guard Officer Zau (Elvis Tsui) who would like nothing more than to see him beaten to death by Dragon's men.
The first 40 minutes or so of this prison drama is rather uneventful, with little in the way of action or tension as Lam sets up his characters and plot, injecting a little too much not-very-funny humour and maudlin sentimentality into proceedings for my liking. Fortunately, things pick up once Boss Dragon has been fingered for the killing (oo-err!) and makes a break for freedom by leaping into the sea from a cliff, with Ching following suit soon after, the two men forming a bond while on the run.
The latter half of the film is far more entertaining, thanks to better pacing and more action, the best moments being a tense chase through the jungle and across some rickety corrugated iron rooftops, the hilarious sight of Ching and Boss Dragon simultaneously suffering from a bad case of the squits, and a brutal finalé that sees treacherous inmate Skull (the man who framed Boss Dragon for murder) and wicked guard Zau finally get their comeuppance.
