Angel on Fire is a 1995 action movie directed by Philip Ko, starring Cynthia Khan, Sharon Yeung and Waise Lee. Given it's title, unsurprisingly, it is one of the many "Angel"-themed Girls with Guns action films churned out by Hong Kong cinema after Iron Angels kick-started the trend, and one of the last of its type as well as Khan's last action movie she made in her career.
When a priceless artifact from a Buddhist temple is stolen by International super-thief Natassia, Interpol Agent Siu-chung (Khan) is assigned to track it down, where the chase leads from China to Hong Kong to Southeast Asia, getting the attention of Inspector Wong (Sharon Yeung), fighter Ko-cheung, and the triads led by mobster Tony.
This film contains examples of:
- Action Girl: It's a spin-off of the "Angel" series, so that goes without saying that the protagonists are all asskicking lethal ladies. There is Interpol Investigator Siu-ching, super-cop Inspector Wong, and Dark Action Girl Natassia, all who get to kick plenty of asses throughout.
- Blown Across the Room: Happens constantly in the final battle. A mook shot by Ko-cheung with an M16 somehow flies backwards by around twenty meters for some inexplicable reason.
- Boyish Short Hair: On Sharon Yeung's character, Inspector Wong.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The cavalry being the police, who arrives at the scene of battle when Tony and his mooks are already shooting up the place. And the police ends up getting ambushed and shot from behind by Tony's men, suffering massive casualties before they can even get into the action.
- Covers Always Lie: For some baffling reason, every promotional piece and DVD cover of the film features Cynthia Khan wearing a long, black asskicking dress, an attire she never wears in the actual film at all.
- David vs. Goliath: Whenever Black Leopard, a huge, muscular Scary Black Man working for Tony gets into fights. He gets to battle Ko-cheung in a fighting ring, as well as both Siu-ching and Inspector Wong, one at a time, in the climatic finale. Inspector Wong eventually took him down using a bit of Waif-Fu and her skills as a Lightning Bruiser, combined with a little bit of Deadly Dodging, causing Black Leopard to ram his neck into a metal frame to death.
- Designated Girl Fight: Between Siu-ching and Natassia for the climax. Before there is a clear winner though, Tony interrupts.
- Falling into the Cockpit: In the final battle, Ko-cheung hijacks Tony's escape plane just as it's about to take off, fighting and eventually knocking out the pilot while the plane is still on the runway, and when the plane starts rising upwards, Ko-cheung realize that he doesn't know how to pilot a plane.
- Hero Stole My Bike: In the opening heist, after Natassia escapes from a temple and runs into the streets, she hijacks a bystander's bicycle as an impromptu getaway vehicle. The forty monks pursuing her, noticing a bicycle parking lot nearby, decides to imitate her. So if you're looking for a movie featuring forty monks chasing down a woman on stolen bicycles, this is the one.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: At the end of the movie, Tony had the main characters outgunned and outmatched, blasting away at them with his grenade launcher-attached machine gun. Ko-cheung managed to trick Tony into getting close by Playing Possum, and when Tony tries to blast Ko-cheung from point-blank, Ko-cheung suddenly gets up and fires a shot... into the grenade-tipped barrel of Tony's weapon, triggering the last grenade attached in it. Cue Ludicrous Gibs as Tony gets blown up by his own weapon.
- Interesting Situation Duel: The David vs. Goliath fight between Ko-cheung and Black Leopard, where both combatants are prevented from leaving the ring... because their waists are tied to each other's using a rope, ensuring both fighters are never more than 9 meters apart from each other. Luckily Ko-cheung Knows the Ropes, and quickly uses the rope as an Improvised Weapon to his advantage.
- Lady in Red: Natasia, the Dark Action Girl in her opening scene when she makes a getaway on a bicycle, with the back of her red coat flowing out behind her.
- Macguffin Melee: The final battle scene is a Mêlée à Trois between Siu-ching and Ko-cheung, the foreign crime gang, and Tony's mooks for the pouch containing the sacred Buddhist artifact. It was eventually retrieved by Natassia of the foreign crime gang, before Tony decides to betray and shoot her. Then Siu-ching had to chase Tony down in a final showdown.
- Outside Ride:
- Ko-cheung had to cling onto a taxi while Siu-ching is pursuing Natassia during a vehicle chase,
- Natassia briefly clings to the back of Tony's escape vehicle while trying to flee in the finale, before she gets jerked off and ends up rolling down a cliff.
- Scary Black Man: Black Leopard, played by African-American stuntman and fighter Winston Ellis, who is a reoccuring opponent for Siu-Ching, Wong and Ko-cheung.
- Sinister Shades: On Natassia in several of her scenes, as well as on Tony in the finale.
- The Snack Is More Interesting: in the final fight, while Ko-cheung and Siu-ching takes on Tony, near the battle Black Leopard is seen casually munching on a tin of biscuits. He even jokingly offers Tony a piece when Tony gets kicked in the face and falling down nearby.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Unsurprisingly, having Cynthia Khan starring alongside Sharon Yeung, Khan's Siu-ching is the more feminine girly-girl to the short-haired butch tomboy Inspector Wong.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Siu-ching in all her action scenes.
- Translation Train Wreck: The English subtitled version of this movie is hilarious, to say the least. "How dare you are!"
- Unconventional Vehicle Chase: Natasia making her getaway in the opening scene on a stolen bicycle, being pursued by around twenty monks.... all which are also on bicycles.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Natassia's eventual fate, getting an entire magazine of lead pumped into her by Tony after she got his diamonds.
