Raging Fire - Fuoco incrociato

Raging Fire is a gripping cops-and-robbers action movie that is elevated by late director Benny Chan's attentive direction of its drama and explores its theme earnestly. Donnie Yen's riveting action sequences set a new standard for Hollywood-level production values in a Hong Kong action film.

Bong, an officer of the Regional Crime Unit, is an outcast in the police force due to his overly righteous attitude and a refusal to conform to the legal grey zone, much to the frustration of his superiors. Bong is left out of a police drug bust, where the entire police team is massacred by a masked gang of thieves.

The crew is led by Ngo, an ex-cop-turned-criminal and former protege of Bong. Ngo once beat an informant to death and Bong's unwillingness to lie in court cost him a five-year prison sentence. Ngo sets on exacting vengeance on Bong and the police department.

Benny Chan directs the drama with delicate hands, surrounding star Donnie Yen with character actors Ray Lui and the always underrated Patrick Tam. Chan effectively brings the audience deep into Yen's character moral dilemma, "Is it justifiable to do a bad thing to do some good?" Yen's cop says no while Tse's thief says yes.

Benny Chan ensures that every fight is dramatically motivated. The action sequences, including gun fights, car chases and martial arts, leap off the screen in a glorious adrenaline-pumping fashion and consistently feel dangerous. Through a combination of shooting on-location and CGI, the film makes great use of the Hong Kong locales that brings a consistent tactility and realism. It is also doubly fun if you know Hong Kong.

Nicholas Tse, despite putting in a huge effort in giving a complex performance, never finds proper footing for his villain. He acts as the calm and cool collected mastermind but goes completely unhinged in other moments. The film does a solid job earning the audience's sympathy by showing Ngo's backstory as a cop. However, that crumbles in the present story as we witness who the villain has become and the incongruities in his grand plan. Is the character desperate for revenge, wanting to score cash, or just completely nuts? It all falls somewhere between. As the third act rolls in, there's no more time for the script to clarify Tse's intentions.

That being said, Raging Fire has a lot to offer. Nostalgic Hong Kong action movie fans will walk away satisfied. The film ultimately won me over with its overwhelming ambition to break new ground. I wonder now what Benny Chan would have done with his next action picture.

Rest in peace, Benny Chan.

Good editing can improve on a so-so script but not even the best editor can improve on a convoluted, disjointed mess like this one. Good production values are no substitute for a solid story that hooks the viewer. An hour into this, you may still be wondering who you are supposed to root for. Yen playing a stoic cop looks lost.

Whilst the plot is nothing new, Raging Fire is an absolutely incredible action thriller full of memorable set pieces and is definitely a superb and bittersweet final film for director Benny Chan.

Donnie Yen gives an excellent lead performance whose physicality is balanced against more dramatic moments. Nicholas Tse is a superb villain, equally physically capable with believable motivation yet still managing to be gleefully evil.

Benny Chan's direction is phenomenal with a variety of standout set pieces including hand to hand combat, shootouts and car chases. The music by Nicolas Errèra is great, consistently ridiculously bombastic which helps to make everything even more dramatic.

I found it to be an excellent action movie.

I went to go see Donnie Yen bring it and he delivered, despite this feeling that Yen is hit by old age. You can tell he was avoiding the quick punches from Ip man that he most likely cannot pull off any more, but he makes up for it with this new raw, tough and tumble style, made to look special with some great camera work.

Than again, another reason for Yen's change of styles could be that I was expecting a kung fu flick but what I got was just this complete action film. It has everything you would expect from an action flick: Gun fights, car chases and fight scenes and what makes it nice is that you get more than one of all these things.

I can't honestly give a good examination on how the story goes as my mandarin is non existent and I read subtitles at a 6th grade level, but I'll give some credit to the acting that got me engulf in a story I was barely picking up. Some good character development was going here on the big screen.

I would love to say that this movie is as good as Heat, or somewhere around there because the movie feels like they 're trying to get there, but that's a little too ambitious. It's a decent police drama with a whole lot of amazing action and I'll leave it at that,

RAGING FIRE is a fitting swansong for Hong Kong director Benny Chan, who died during post-production. It's a cop thriller throwback to the likes of NEW POLICE STORY and INVINCIBLE TARGET, with Donnie Yen typically playing a dedicated cop on the trail of a gang of robbers headed by Nicholas Tse. The film suffers from being overlong - half an hour out would have improved that - and from over-complexifying a rather straightforward scenario. But the action zings, particularly in Donnie's two fight scenes, and the climax is a real delight. It tends to avoid cheese and overwhelming sentiment which is good too.