Low budgets more often than not can hurt movies based on good ideas, even in Hong Kong. That truism applies to CHEETAH ON FIRE, which features the combined talents of: Gordon Liu, Cheung Man, Donnie Yen, Carrie Ng, Nadeki Fujimi, Shing Fui-On, Eddy Ko, and Ken Lo among other familiar faces! They all do their best...unfortunately, they aren't given a lot to work with!

A group of American CIA agents (Cheung Man, Fujimi and a brief appearance by Mark Houghton) travel to HK to bring back a criminal (Shing Fui-On) who has a top-secret computer chip to a new weapon. Unfortunately as they transport Shing to the airport for a trip to the U.S.A. with the help of HK police (one of them being Carrie Ng; I don't who the guy was who played her partner), Gordon Liu and Ken Lo lead a bunch of bad guys to attack them! A lot of blood gets spilled, Shing escapes, Gordon gets shot, and the affair turns into a race against time to stop Shing and preferably the computer chip from falling into the hands of a Golden Triangle warlord (Michael Woods). Oh, and along the way the good guys run into an enigmatic American agent (Donnie Yen) who joins the chase!

Circumstances must not have permitted the heavy talent involved here to not be involved in a worthier film, and that's a shame. What isn't a shame is they do their best, and it shows...there are honestly some shining moments, but they're few and far-between. But for the low-budget actioner it is -- which combines everything from kung fu to gun fu and even a military offensive! -- it isn't half-bad. If you're a fan of exploitationers like NAKED KILLER, you'll also find something to like. There's a surreal scene better seen than described that involves a quiet moment with the bad guys as Gordon Liu gets serviced by a hooker while a fellow bad guy takes a bullet from his back!