Besides having Gordon Liu in a terrible-looking wig, A Fiery Family doesn't really offer anything unique. But it does do a decent enough job in what it sets out to do: delivering some chopper-wielding fisticuffs with a dose of melodrama. So, if you're in the mood for a good old-fashioned Triad potboiler, this should fit the bill.

Norman Chu plays Koo, a Triad who is trying to go straight after getting out of prison. But he is pulled back into "the life" in order to save his brother-in-law, Wei (Gordon Liu), from loan sharks trying to collect a large debt. Teaming up with his brother, Pang (Gwan Lai-Git), Koo does a hit on a lawyer pursuing a case against the dai lo Law (Lo Lieh). The hit does not go smoothly and the brothers are captured by the police. Wanting to repay Koo and Pang, Wei and his wife Ming (Che Ling) decides to break out the pair. Now being chased by both the cops and the Triads, the group tries to make their way to the relative safety of Taiwan.

During this time period in Hong Kong, films like this were the cinematic equivalent of fast-food cheesburgers. Cheap and easy to make in order to provide a quick fix, literally dozens of similar productions were made every year during the late 1980's. A Fiery Family doesn't do much to seperate itself from the pack. Director Wilson Tong (who also acted as producer and action director on this picture) keeps things moving along at a fast enough clip, though, so even the dreaded musical montage/flashback sequence featured in way too many movies of this type as a way to pad the running time isn't too off-putting.

Combined with satisfying performances from the leads (especially Gordon Liu), A Fiery Family ends up being a movie that becomes more than the sum of its' parts. It perhaps could have used a bit more bloodshed, especially after seeing how much things pick up during the claret-tinged finale, but overall this is a pleasing enough entry in the Triad action/drama genre that will provide ninety minutes of enterainment for aficionados of gangster shenanigans.

RATING: 6.5