For a Phillip Ko movie, Angel on Fire is good stuff. That might not be saying too much, as the movies Ko has been involved with in a behind-the-camera capacity range from straight-up generic (Hard to Kill) to downright bad (Cyprus Tigers). He's only had one outstanding film that I've seen, 1989's Final Run (aka Kickfighter) -- and that was probably more from Ko's ex-wife Yukari Oshima's "go for broke" attitude and mad bumps that made that B-list cheapie more watchable than anything else Ko has made.

However, even on the most miniscule of budgets, Phillip Ko usually manages to put together some decent action sequences, and Angel on Fire certainly has that in abundance. Even though Ko didn't have much of a budget to work with (this production is yet another of his that was shot in the Philippines) and no real big stars to speak of, he manages to create an entertaning no-brainer action flick. Don't get me wrong. You're not going to confuse Angel on Fire with anything even near the top tier of Hong Kong action movies, but if you enjoy movies you can check out with some beer and trash-talking friends, then Angel on Fire is right up your alley.

As for the story, it's chewed up and reconsituted crud that has Melanie Marquez as a model-turned-thief who steals some sort of "precious object" (as specified by the craptacular subtitles, which somehow adds to both the cheese factor and enjoyment of the film) from a Buddhist temple. She double-crosses her boss (Phillip Ko) and heads to Manila to sell the object to another bidder, where she is also pursued by cops from both Hong Kong (Cynthia Khan) and the Mainland (Sharon Yueng).

The exposition has that "edited with a butcher knife" feel of Godfrey Ho's movies. Characters come and go and there are a lot of subplots that are never really fully dealt with; Sharon Yeung's character, in particular, has an odd habit of just popping into the movie and then leaving. Plus, there are a lot of gweilo characters that just come on for one scene and disappear -- it seems like they almost were just finding tourists and paying them a few bucks to be in this movie. Despite the schizophrenic way the film plays out, the action is good enough to warrant a viewing, unlike Godfrey Ho's films, which just come off as slightly warmed-up poop. At any rate, if you're some sort of movie snob, then stay far away from Angel on Fire. But if you have a soft spot for good-looking women kicking ass, you could do much worse than this.

(review from www.hkfilm.net)