Bullet Points: Ring of Fire 3: Lion Strike
The original Ring of Fire was PM Entertainment’s answer to Romeo & Juliet with Dr. Johnny Wu (Don “The Dragon” Wilson) and Julie (Maria Ford) portraying the star crossed lovers from rival kickboxing teams.
Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel continued the love story of Johnny and Julie although it took things in a completely different direction with Julie getting kidnapped and held for ransom by a gang that operated under the streets of Los Angeles, forcing Johnny and his friends to go underground to rescue Julie.
1994’s Ring of Fire 3: Lion Strike hit the reset button with the Julie character being killed off (she was killed by a drunk driver, and while this horrific accident was not seen, since this happened in the PM Entertainment Universe, I assume there was a car flip involved) and Dr. Johnny Wu now finding himself in the role of single dad to his son Bobby…
- Sizzle Reel: The opening of Ring of Fire 3 really has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but instead felt like PM Entertainment sizzle reel… we’ve got two doctors sparring on the rooftop helipad of the hospital they work at. One of course is Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s Dr. Johnny Wu, the other is played by Timothy D. Baker, who I will always remember as the sad sack dad from No Retreat, No Surrender. While the doctors are sparring on their break, a few floors below, a mafia don who is being treated at the hospital is about to get sprung by his grandson. And this daring escape plan involves a helicopter… which means the mobsters on the run and Dr. Johnny Wu are going to cross paths… and cross paths they do. The end result… an exploding helicopter!
- Bad Guys R Us: With the attention grabbing intro out of the way, we can now get into the meat and potatoes of Ring of Fire 3. Don Louie (Robert Costanzo, Die Hard 2) is holding a meeting of underworld bosses at his palatial estate where they will discuss their plans of selling nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union… represented at this meeting are the heads of the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triad, the Bogata Cartel (played by Art Camacho) and former KGB man Vladimir Kuskev (Morgan Hunter, Cyborg Cop II). While all this is going on a couple of gang bangers break into Louie’s place and steal a bunch of stuff including a disk with the nuclear weapon distribution plans on them (you would think security would be tighter)… this opens the door for another PM Entertainment favorite, a car chase… as the Louie’s mobsters are in hot pursuit of the gang bangers. Nothing will get a doctor’s attention more than a flipped car and a fiery wreck and it just so happened that Dr. Johnny Wu saw the aftermath of the car chase on his way home from work… so he gets out of his car and tries to be of assistance… during the commotion Johnny’s doctor bag and the bag that the gang banger stashed the stuff he stole from Louie get swapped… which means our good doctor has unwittingly become a target for the bad guys.
- Fishing Trip: The next day, Johnny Wu and his son Bobby head up to the mountains for a father/son fishing trip. Johnny and Bobby stop into town near the cabin where they meet a the foxy park ranger Kelly (Bobbie Phillips, TC 2000) and Johnny ends up helping Kelly kick the ass of some poachers… that serves as a helluva an ice breaker and next thing you know Kelly is coming over for dinner. Johnny, Bobby and Kelly have a pleasant evening… until a bunch of Louie’s goons show up and shoot up the place looking for the missing disk. They even go so far to blow the cabin up (which seems foolish if the disk was stashed somewhere in the cabin). From there Johnny, Bobby and Kelly find themselves on the run from the mafia goons, but things are about to get worse…
- The Russians Are Coming: When Louie’s guys don’t get immediate results Vladimir sends some of his former KGB cronies up to the mountain to get the job done by any means necessary… including kidnapping Bobby setting up the classic action movie swap that leads to the even more classic action movie showdown in an industrial setting with Dr. Johnny Wu going up against the mob and the Russians.
Nobody can accuse the Ring of Fire movies of being redundant. All three films are uniquely different and while the third chapter in the trilogy has some lapses in logic, overall it was a fun 90 minutes.
Now for a trilogy of Bonus Bullet Points to wrap things up…
- Familiar Faces: Michel DeLano is the only other character from the first two Ring of Fire movies to return. DeLano plays Johnny’s friend on the police force, Lopez. I will always remember DeLano from his role in Fists of Iron… Michael Jai White (The Hard Way) played Silvio, one of the gang bangers who broke into Louie’s place.
- Sound Advice: Watch out for bear traps.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a biker ride his motorcycle into a hospital lobby, then this is the movie for you.
