The latest teaming of director Wilson Yip and star/action choreographer Donnie Yen (Dragon Tiger Gate, S.P.L.) brings the sort of top-notch martial arts we’ve come to expect – so why is it so light on action?
Flash Point once again teams director Wilson Yip (Bullets Over Summer, The White Dragon) and leading man come martial arts superstar come action director Donnie Yen (Iron Monkey, Butterfly & Sword), returning them to the familiar territory of cop-versus-gangster seen in S.P.L. after the comic book manga of Dragon Tiger Gate.
Set in Hong Kong before the handover in 1997, Yen stars as detective Jun Ma, a cop unconcerned if he has to break a few rules or bones when it comes to bringing criminals to justice. Wilson (Louis Koo, whose voice appeared only in Dragon Tiger Gate, Election, Protégé), is his rookie partner, working undercover to bring a new triad gang to justice, three violent brothers from Vietnam planning to carve out a big slice of the Hong Kong underworld for themselves.
Wilson’s cover is finally blown, with the brothers giving him a nasty blow from their car that send him flying off the road, but not without enabling the police to capture one of them, Archer (Ray Lui – also known as Lui Leung-wai, 2000 AD, Miracles).
With Wilson and another victim’s testimony, the authorities have enough to send Archer away for good, but his brothers are not about to let that happen. Soon brothers Tony (Collin Chou, The Matrix Reloaded, Fearless) and Tiger (Xing Yu, Kung Fu Hustle) plan to make sure no one is left to testify against them, and they’re not going to let anyone, even Hong Kong’s finest, stand in their way.
For such a predictable entry into the cop-versus-gangster genre, Flash point, though nicely played, is somewhat light on the action sequences. A few scenes set-up the convincingly brutal style of what is to follow, but you still have to wait a good 40 minutes till it really gets going. (Which considering compact 1 hour 24 minute running time doesn’t leave much time for the action.)
Instead it centres on the central characters of Jun and Wilson. Particularly Wilson, for whom we witness the lonely existence of the undercover cop, and the dangers of bringing loved ones into that. It’s well played by Louis Koo, but hardly challenging considering his recent appearances the Election series and a totally out-of-character turn in Protégé.
Donnie Yen is still unconvincing as a lead, despite – or perhaps because of – his undeniable skill in martial arts and in bringing them to the screen. Indeed, Donnie’s long career seems finally to be pulling in the audiences in Hong Kong, as the films success there testifies. He is without doubt the best action choreographer in the business, and Flash Point is no exception, but is it enough to make the film work?
In some ways the films seems almost a vanity project, a way for Yen to show of his new interest in Mixed Martial Arts, that style brought to the worlds attention by Bruce Lee, and a buzzword of the moment thanks to other releases such as Never Back Down. (And there I was thinking it was called Jeet Kune Do?)
But as far as vanity projects go, Yen’s choreography is pretty convincing. Employing top martial arts stars like Collin Chou, he embarks on a relentless 20 minute final showdown with him. It’s not as clean and clear cut as his mentor Yuen Woo-ping would have done, often resembling more of a scrap or at least a wrestling match, but all the more persuasive for it. It brings the less abstract, more grounded style of films Ong-Bak, and with it marks more of a return to sequences of Police Story and other notable 80s films. (There’s even a Jackie Chan style outtake sequence over the end credits.)
As Yen makes clear, this isn’t real kung fu, simply a way to bring a more realistic look to the screen – and therein lies Yen’s talent. It really DOES look convincing!
By no means an embarrassment, Wilson Yip direction is far beyond that, you often wish Flash Point had left much of the characterisations to a more serious film, and the need to set it before the handover of Hong Kong back to China – which doesn’t seem to have any true relevance to how the story unfolds (unlike in Exiled) – and instead centred on the action. It’s worth seeing for that alone, but you might just want to fast forward to the epic last half-hour. The setting of the film before the handover of Hong Kong back to China seems rather pointless, unlike in Exiled. It’s a shame, as with more knowing Asian films like City Of Violence around, it makes you realise just how could the combination of that with action sequences like this could have been…
Flash Point is released by as a 2-disc DVD iin the UK by Showbox/Cine Asia on 31 March 2008.
DVD details
Distributor: Cine Asia (UK)
Another Double disc package from Cine Asia has a fair bit of additional content amongst the extras. There's featurettes on the making of the film and the vigourous training the cast undertook for film, but both are a bit short and superficial. There's also a big batch of interviews, and other features including some deleted scenes which I have to say I'm surprised even made it to the cutting room floor!
All in all an excellent transfer and a pretty good if not outstanding package for your money.
