I have an affection for early '90s bad action (Bloodfist 1-3 baby). Maybe it's because that's when I was growing up; there is a bit of comfort in the hair, the clothes, the cars, the guitars -- the golden age of Van Damme, Seagal, and my personal favorite, Don "The Dragon" Wilson. But I'm definitely not going to give a movie clearance to suck just because it was made then, it has to bring the goods. Breathing Fire does just that. The story is your basic fare: there's a bank heist, the bounty is locked away and in a bizarre twist, the crooks make an imprint of the key in the back of a plastic pizza, cut it into slices, and each take a piece. It's stupid and unnecessary, but it makes it vaguely amusing ("Find me that PIECE of PIZZA!"). There's also the murder of a bank manager and his wife, his daughter flees to the protection of one of his acquaintances, David, and they unwittingly seek refuge in the house of one of David's friends, a 'Nam buddy and coincidentally the murderer of the girl's parents. Michael, the murderous bank robber Vietnam buddy, is the father of two kids played by Jonathan Ke Quan and Eddie Saavedra, who are also martial artists in training and fight for the attention of the girl. Whatever. None of this really matters all that much except to provide the basis for a bunch of fights. The martial arts, coming from many of the actors' real-life training and stuntwork, seems to be a mixture of kung fu, tae kwon do, and straight brawlin', and is truly inspired. Ke Quan and Saavedra, although very young, show great athleticism. The moves are nothing groundbreaking, but they're performed with confidence and conviction, and you can tell the movie is made by a bunch of career stuntmen just having fun throwing themselves around. The David character (played by Ed Neil of future Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers fame) is especially fun to watch showing off his wushu skills.

The acting is... horrible. Ed Neil stares off to the side of the camera most of the time and delivers his lines like a nervous zombie, most likely reading his lines off a cue card. In one heartfelt scene his speech is so flat and dry I was expecting him to finish it by slumping over dead. In another absolutely hilarious shot he stares at the two boys through a hole in a barn wall, with an implied tear in his eye. The rest of the acting isn't too much better. Bolo Yeung lays down his requisite brick-wall-that-don't-like-you role, while Wendell C. Whitaker actually does an OK job as Tank, the repentant bank robber. It's barely even worth mentioning the bad acting though, seeing as anything else would be astonishing.

Breathing Fire is a movie made for martial arts fans by martial arts fans. A little research on the internet reveals most of the actors and directors (there's three) have backgrounds in stuntwork, and it shows. You can tell by their flexibility and well-honed moves that these guys know what they're doing. So forgive the bad writing and the terrible acting, and have a few laughs. I can think of worse things to do.