Flash Point

In his black leather jacket and oozing plenty of charisma, Donnie Yen's Inspector Ma Jun quite resembled his other character in SPL, which was also directed by Wilson Yip, because at one point Flashpoint was supposed to be an SPL sequel. But in any case, the character is slightly tweaked. Early in the movie, Ma Jun tells it straight to the camera that as a cop, his job is to apprehend criminals, and it's as simple as that. And the trailers would have you believe here's a man who's lightning quick with his punches, throws and kicks.

However, you've got to wait until the hour mark for all that. For action junkies, your patience is severely tested, but the wait is well worth every minute you're put on hold. I've caught the trailer at this year's Hong Kong Filmart, and it was one that had action and more action, with nary a line of dialogue. But in the movie, much time is devoted to attempts in building characterization, until the story realizes it better give what the audiences are here for, to see Donnie Yen kick ass.

Having teamed with Wilson Yip in earlier action productions like SPL and Dragon Tiger Gate, Donnie Yen returns as action choreographer for Flashpoint, and the cast adopts the fighting style called MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, which is something of a blend of various martial arts techniques, that audiences probably haven't seen before stylistically in close combat scenes. Flashpoint boasts some incredible action sequences with explosive hard hitting fight combinations, and the sole complaint I have is I can't get enough of it! What more, as learnt from SPL having real martial arts exponents like Sammo Hung and Wu Jing fighting opposite himself, it made the sequences look more authentic, and the pace at which they can go at each other much more frantic. Collin Chou (Seraph from the Matrix movies) stars as one of the chief baddies, and watching the two awesome gladiators duke it out is nothing short of edge of your seat material - you'll feel their pain!

But as I mentioned, you'll have to be patient during the story's buildup. Writer Szeto Kam Yuen (SPL, Exiled, Dog Eat Dog) weaves in yet another undercover story into Flashpoint, with Louis Koo's Wilson as the mole within a gang of Vietnamese brothers Ja Ge (Ray Lui, in an over the top impersonation of Tony Leung's Big D in Johnny To's Election), Tony (Collin Chou) and Tiger (Xing Yu). A simple romance tale is worked into for Wilson with Fan Bing Bing as love interest Julie, but as expected, action movies seldom have much time devoted for love scenes.

Without a doubt, Ma Jun as a character overshadows them all with his motivations and drive. His temper is as quick as his reflexes, and he doesn't tolerate bull from the top brass, which resulted in rather muted (or negligible) action for about three quarters of the movie because his behavior is reined in by order. And there is a scene though which will make you question his excessiveness, and wonder if his doggedness in pursuit and apprehension actually clouds his ethical and moral judgment.

Flashpoint is still an awesome action movie when the time came for it to deliver the goods, highlighting that Hong Kong action films still have what it takes to innovate within the genre. Oh, and stay tuned during the end credit roll for scenes of outtakes, which shows plenty of training that the cast had to undergo to perfect their MMA techniques. Sure packs quite a punch in this compact 90 minute movie.

If you're like me, after watching roughly 3 billion similarly themed period piece kung fu and wuxia movies, you're relieved when a contemporary kung fu flick comes along. This seems to be Donnie Yen's bread and butter. Sure, he was excellent in Hero opposite Jet Li and even Circus Kids was entertaining, but his performances in those films just don't match up to SPL or this film, Flash Point. He seems made for modern kung fu.

I'll leave plot explanation to others as it's a pretty standard cop-on-the-edge film that seems to have been done to death by Hong Kong over the past 15 years or so. What sets this apart is Yen's phenomenal and somewhat unique brand of kung fu and, for the first time (to my knowledge) his surprisingly good jiu jitsu. The flashy kicks and punches are standard Yen affair, but it's a bit of a shock to watch him pull off a slick arm bar, arm triangle, or leg triangle.

Yen's performance is only strengthened by a very talented supporting cast. There's no push-over fights here...it's like everyone is really fighting for their lives. That alone should be enough to get you past a fairly overdone plot (it's not bad, but if you've seen it once you've seen it 1,000 times). It's definitely worth the 85 minutes of your time if you're even remotely a fan of the genre.

Went out of my way to find this film based on a recommendation from a friend who insisted this was one of best kung fu films ever -- this film also pops up in a Google search for top kung fu films.

Reviewers notes: 1. Yen will go down in film history as one of the best MA stars. He can not only pull off the gravitas to play IP MAN but he is a natural in these police dramas. Manages to appear stoic but involved at the same time 2. There is a final fight scene over 5 minutes long which is worth the wait. Lots of MMA moves including some pro wrestling moves. Many fans call this "modern" kung fu but is probably the wrong name. Fun anyway 3. Aside from Yen and the final fight -- forgettable

Being a fan of Donnie Yen I eagerly anticipated "Flash Point". There was good and bad in it... first the good: The fight scenes are pretty awesome - in particular there is one which takes place at a driving range that lives up to what I was expecting. The introduction of grappling techniques (paying homage to MMA) is pretty cool. Cinematography & scenes of HK are at some times very stylish.

Now the bad: Kind of moves slow in the first half. In fact after the initial 5 minutes of action the next 20 minutes drags. The plot is not that great, and in the first half of the movie the action isn't enough to make up for this.

All in all, I've been a little disappointed with Donnie Yen's last two - this one and Dragon Tiger Gate. Neither raises the bar or comes close to the amazing SPL of 2005.

If you're an avid Donnie Yen fan, than no one has to sell this movie to you. If you like Asian action movies in general, than you'll be watching this too. What about the others, who are not that familiar with those types of movies? There's not that much back-story to hinder the action too much, neither are there real character developments, this shouldn't be a problem with you (if it is, don't watch the movie)

What should be considered, is the action, that is spot on here. Mixing many styles, Donnie Yen has created some extraordinary fight scenes for this movie. And although I'm for a little bit more character and story driven movies, I liked this one, because it was straight forward. And the action holds up to the promise it gives you ... That's all I can say, now it's up to you, to decide whether you want to watch it or not