[DVD Review (R2)] FLASH POINT
“Spectacular relentless violence” says DVD Review. “Hard hitting high velocity” says Neo. “Both are slight exaggerations if you ask me!” says Gazz at Stale Popcorn. Suffering from a pretty uninspiring title that has little to nothing to do with the actual film and suggests a more adrenaline pumping affair then what is actually on offer, Yip Wai Shun’s Flash Point is an entertaining enough piece of Asian cinema but suffers greatly from thinking that it is a lot better then it actually is.
Detective Jun Ma (Donnie Yen) is a maverick cop under serious pressure; the city in which he works has been taken over by three Triad brothers, he’s been demoted as a result of excessive use of force on suspects and he’s starting to lose the respect of his team. When Ma’s indecision over withdrawing a young undercover officer from the brother’s criminal gang leads to the officer being badly hurt, Ma snaps and goes on a vengeful spree that will not cease until the brothers are dead and the city is safe.
The above plot description would have you believe the film is a lot more action packed then it is. Hell, the back of the DVD cover boasts of being “packed with real contact fighting, manic John Woo style gun-play and incredible mixed martial arts action”. It’s disappointing to reveal that this isn’t the case. Jackie Chan’s New Police Story showed that it was possible to invest a film with relentless, non-stop action, inventive stunt choreography, strong plotting and good acting. Flash Point spends so much time essentially cribbing plot points from the vastly superior Infernal Affairs that the “real contact fighting, manic John Woo style gun-play and incredible mixed martial arts action” comes as an afterthought.
Donnie Yen is a charismatic enough lead and he’s unarguably an exceptionally talented martial artist. Too often found in the shadows of Jet Li and Jackie Chan, anyone who has seen his work in Hero, the enormously under-rated Seven Swords and his iconic face-off with Chan in Shanghai Knights, knows that Yen is a fantastic cinematic presence in this field and deserves more respect then he gets.
When the action does come in fits and bursts, Yen’s work as “Action Director” as well as star ensures that it’s pleasing to the eye and inventive enough. This is definitely the case in the final twenty minutes of the movie when we finally get to see some adrenaline-pumping, non-stop action and some cracking full-contact fighting sequences.
As a thriller the plot is something we’ve seen before and seen done better. As an action movie there are flicks out there with better and more frequent levels of action. Hell, thanks to Tony Jaa’s last couple of movies the bar has been severely escalated in terms of what an audience can expect with martial arts movies. However, Flash Point isn’t half bad. It’s a knock-off of better movies that’s for sure but it’s solidly entertaining stuff and when the action does come, especially in those aforementioned final twenty minutes, it’s stellar stuff well worth making the time for.
***
(That’s Three ‘Popcorns’)
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