Prison on Fire 2 (1991)

Rating: C

Dir: Ringo Lam
Star: Chow Yun-Fat, Yu Li, Tommy Wong Kwong-Leung, Chan Chung-Yung

[11] This film falls a little bit between two stools. Part of the time, it’s almost trying to be like Porridge with Chung Ting Ching (Chow) a wisecracking survivor very much like Ronnie Barker’s character. However, there are some pretty brutal scenes establishing the tensions in the prison: not just between prisoners and guards but between Hong Kong and Chinese inmates. After the wrath of an especially sadistic guard descends on Chung for escaping to visit his son, he finds himself forced to team up with the head of the mainlanders. Make that between three stools, as the movie then slides towards “odd couple” territory. Individually, each of these work well, together, they’re less than the sum of the parts.