Ring of Fire III: Lion Strike Reviews

Fast-moving but tired sequel featuring martial-arts champ Don "The Dragon" Wilson in a reprise of his role as a Los Angeles physician who discards his Hippocratic oath whenever there are bad guys to be smashed or shot. In order to free the head of their "family" from the clutches of the cops, an ailing crime kingpin's henchmen take over the hospital in which he is convalescing. Dr. Johnny Wu (Don "the Dragon" Wilson), who practices at the hospital, locks the doors and singlehandedly wipes them all out. After an unrelated brawl in the E.R. ward, our healer-hero decides to spend quality time fishing with his small son (Johnny's hard-won fiancee from the first two RING OF FIRE pics having been killed by a drunk driver). At a forest resort, Johnny finds fresh romance with pretty ranger Kelly (Bobbie Phillips), a Gulf War vet who retreated to the mountains. Kelly is trained in the martial-arts, which comes in handy when a new pack of marauders attack. This time it's an uneasy alliance of the Italian-American and Russian Mafia, hunting Johnny Wu because his black bag was accidentally switched for one containing a computer disk that exposes their new global machinations. The good guys trash numerous wiseguys and KGB agents until Johnny's climactic one-on-one faceoff against ex-commie commando Sitjkoff (C. Nelson Norris). Despite the athletic stamina on display, this action vehicle goes nowhere, as it depends heavily on broad ethnic stereotypes, with the exception of Wilson's own turn as an upscale Asian-American action hero who's a health-care professional. Wilson's thespian skills are far outpaced by his kickboxing talent, and Robert Costanzo does a dim Danny De Vito impersonation as the main mobster. (Profanity, excessive violence)