Review:
"Have you got Burning Paradise?"
"No, it’s just my pants. They’re cutting right up my crack."

OK, bad jokes aside, considering that ‘Burning Paradise’ is produced by Tsui Hark, with Ringo Lam taking a break from his usual contemporary movies to direct this dark and sinister period kung fu flick, which despite being absolutely brilliant, remains unseen by many action fans.

Burning Paradise takes place in the Red Lotus Temple, a hellish prison in which people are tortured, killed, beheaded and skewered. There are booby traps, hidden chambers, an arena, and underneath lies a cave full of dead bodies (except for one guy who lives down there). It’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

The Temple itself reflects the film’s atmosphere, which is dark, sinister and drenched in blood. The stark hyperrealism of Burning Paradise means that it isn’t exactly a fun film, but rather a compelling one. The horrors that unfold provide a real sense of danger, and at times the movie can feel like more of a horror film than a martial arts movie.

Which brings us to the bad guy, Lord Kung. He is evil. Very evil. Eeeeeeevil, if you will. He is a truly warped character, and one of the best bad guys around. He’s particularly scary in one scene in which he shows his power over his concubines, and to say that out of two girls, the one who is raped gets off lightly doesn’t even begin to describe how dark the scene is.

Despite the fact that it didn’t do too well at the box office, Burning Paradise is an excellent film. Apart from some occasional (misplaced) comedy, this movie has an atmosphere you could cut with a very big sword, and a kick-ass hero in the shape of Willie Chi as Fong Sai Yuk. Just don’t expect the same cheeky chappy as portrayed by Jet Li. This Fong Sai Yuk has seen his mates cut into bite sized pieces, and he’s pretty annoyed about it.

Inside is a torturous world where monks are made to denounce their faith and thrown to rot if they are crippled or unable to be put to work. On Sai Yuk's arrival he forces a duel with Bak, the right hand woman of psychopathic Sun (who is the master of the temple). When he defeats her he is on the verge of killing Sun when he is stopped by his Shaolin brother and old friend Hung Hei Kwan (Sheng Yang). It would appear that Hung has betrayed his humble beginnings and become a Shaolin dog.

Fong is wounded in the battle and thrown into the corpse pit. Sun has taken a shine to Tau Tau and grants her any wish so she asks to have Sai Yuk healed. Once he is free, Sai Yuk starts making plans to destroy the temple and free his brothers for the sake of all Shaolin kind.

Ringo Lam makes a splash onto a new genre and it's certainly an impressive debut. After taking yet another page from the tale of folk hero Fong Sai Yuk and with the use of fresh blood for the leading roles, he moved away from all that he had done before to bring a dark and brooding atmosphere to the film.

The fights are all excellently choreographed with some impressive wire work equal to that of the 'OUATIC' series. They include hand to hand combat, swordplay and spearwork that all present a real feast for the eyes. Leading actor Willie Chi shows that he has some credible skill and has never been used to such great effect (although that isn't saying much considering his only other notable film is 'Drunken Master 3') whilst Sheng Yang, another veteran of the Beijing Wu Shu academy, provides sterling opposition to Chi with flips and kicks galore as they go head to head on several occasions. However, the show is stolen by Sun played by Wong Kam Kong who oozes pure evil and has such a talent for odd paintings that they used it in the film.

'Burning Paradise' is definitely a worthy addition to the classic kung fu genre as well as the many legends of Sai Yuk. With top notch acting, action and directing, it just goes to show that you don't need Jet Li or Jackie Chan to make a folk hero classic (although Tsui Hark often seems to be lurking in the shadows).