Today’s quick review: Sky on Fire. Ziwan (Zhang Ruo Yun), the son of a medical genius, hijacks a truck of Ex-Stem Cells, his late father’s work, on its way to Sky Clinic. But when Jia (Chang Hsiao Chuan) hands over Ziwan in exchange for life-saving treatment for his sister Jane (Kuo Tsai Chieh), Sky security chief Tinbo (Daniel Wu) chooses to disobey Tang (Fan Huang Yao), the company’s greedy founder, and do the right thing.
Sky on Fire is a Chinese action thriller about murder and betrayal at an advanced biomedical company. Sky on Fire deals with the aftermath of the fire that killed Ziwan’s father, allowing Tang to steal his research and sell miraculous treatments to the rich and powerful. Ziwan’s attempt at revenge quickly spirals out of control, engulfing everyone from Tang’s altruistic wife Ko Yu (Zhang Jingchu) to Jane, a terminal cancer patient, in the chaos.
Sky on Fire fumbles its opening. The movie suffers from an excess of factions, ranging from Sky and its security staff to Ziwan and his accomplices to neutral parties like the police. Untangling who wants what from whom makes the early stages of the movie hard to follow, and the problem is only exacerbated as characters like Jia, Tinbo, and Ko Yu switch sides.
Once the movie gets going, it becomes a fairly engaging action thriller. Tinbo emerges as the de facto hero, Tang uses brute force to hunt for Ziwan, and Ko Yu agrees to treat Jane using the Ex-Stem Cells. But even at the movie’s best, it struggles to keep the current situation clear. Otherwise tense scenes and explosive action are undermined by half-explained conflicts and vague objectives for the characters.
Sky on Fire has some worthwhile ideas, but their execution leaves something to be desired. Action fans who are willing to sort through the plot to get at the actual conflict will get something out of the movie, if only for its pyrotechnics. But casual viewers will find that it gets off to a rocky start and never gets interesting enough to justify the effort. Approach with caution, if at all.
For a more streamlined sci-fi thriller about experimental life extension technology, try Self/less. For a superhero action comedy about stolen technology and corporate espionage, try Ant-Man. For a Chinese action thriller with a clearer plot, try Connected.
[4.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6157600/). I give it a 6.0 for decent action trapped inside a tangled plot.